From Prisoner of War to Combat Veteran
This next group of blog posts comes from the third book in the Basic Training! series: Stage 3 Spiritual Warfare. By this time in the Pureheart process, you’ve locked down your devices, identified your triggers, you’re getting your acting out cycle under control, established accountability with your B.O.B group, and “Severed Spiritual Chains”. Because it is vital to your healing and maturity, we’ve devoted all of Stage 3 to teaching you about Spiritual Warfare. Have you ever met the devil? Demons? Do you know how to stand your ground against the cosmic forces of evil? Do you know how to fight against demons? Or how to equip yourself with the life-saving armor of God? “Stage 3: Spiritual Warfare” offers you a specific strategy for winning the invisible war that rages about you, starting with the fundamentals as laid out in this introductory chapter.
Brace yourself—it’s time for battle!
From Prisoner of War to Combat Veteran
Any demons out there know you by name? I conclude with a short section on tips for transforming yourself from a hapless POW to Christian warrior known and feared by demons. Remember what the demon said to the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:15): Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you? I know Satan knows my name; he had a special present for me on my 50th birthday (sadly for him, I was closed for deliveries!). But what about you? Does the devil know and fear your name?
And before you get all modest, fearful, and/or hopeless, remember how screwed up, addicted, and demonized I used to be. If I have a Wanted poster in hell with my face on it, then any Christian can get one! It definitely takes courage, but it isn’t rocket science.
Here are some tips to get you started. But expect much more ammo for the fight in later chapters.
Combat Veterans
Hanging out with combat veterans like myself is a great way to start. Soldiers who have been there and fought in many battles—and who then train newbie recruits—is a tradition as old as war itself. I’ll give you a basic introduction in my chapters, but make sure you use the recommended reading lists to start building a spiritual warfare library. These books are written by soldiers far more experienced in the spiritual realm than myself, so learn from their wisdom and experience.
Here’s a veteran tip to get you started. You mess with demons, they will mess back. As Scripture plainly teaches, once you clean out the house, your demons go out and get big cousin Bubba! In my experience, it often takes months of warfare to fully get rid of demons. Having rebuked/removed demons from hundreds of Christians, I can tell you from personal experience that typically this is only the beginning of the battle. Rarely have I rebuked a brother’s demons and seen instant and permanent deliverance. The most recent example was a brother who was extremely suicidal—he was instantly delivered from all thoughts/temptations of suicide, and months later remains free. Given the fact that this brother would likely have killed himself without deliverance from demons, God gave him a much-needed miracle.
This is the exception to the rule, however, because you need to learn how to fight and overcome demons! How else will you learn how to wrestle in the spiritual realm? It’s a basic requirement of spiritual maturity: to transition from spiritual child to spiritual father, you must overcome the evil one (1 John 2:12-14). This is precisely why the Spirit leads Jesus into the Wilderness to be tempted by the devil—Jesus could not start His ministry until He had first personally overcome Satan.
Likewise in your case, expect the hard way, and keep resisting/removing your demons (Cousin Bubba included) until they finally give up in defeat. Think months of battle typically, and if you need to, add fasting to your arsenal (more on this later). Like the Israelites of old, God has deliberately left enemies in your personal Promised Land so you can learn the life-saving art of war: He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience (Judges 3:1-2).
Memorize the Word of God
This is when you must have the Word of God hidden inside you! It’s one thing to read the Word, another thing to study it in depth, but memorizing Scripture puts it into your spiritual DNA like nothing else can. Demons can instantly tell if you really believe the Word (or not), but when you marinate your spirit with the Truth, that’s when the heat brings out the flavor!
Plus, Scripture plainly teaches faith comes by hearing, and when you memorize, you literally hear yourself saying the same passages aloud over and over again. I’m currently memorizing Ephesians (yes, the entire letter), and no, it isn’t as hard as it sounds. It does require discipline to review it daily and the ability to use memory aid techniques (which are widely available online). Memorizing Scripture is also the fastest way to destroy Strongholds. And instead of fantasizing about sin (Heartholds), you can now spend your secret times memorizing/meditating on Scripture.
Never Fight Alone
Having already drilled this one into your skull, I’ll only recap. To adapt an old song, In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion isn’t sleeping—he and his pride (pun intended) are prowling around looking for yet another Happy Meal Christian. Lions typically only attack when the victim has been isolated from the herd! I just had a pastor threatening to quit one of my counseling groups, so I gently and tactfully (that’s a joke, btw!), reminded him how foolish it would be to go back to the same exact thing he was doing before, when he was failing so miserably at living pure. The devil doesn’t care why you leave the herd (insert excuse here_________), as long as he gets you fighting by your lonesome. Give up on your BOB/BOS group, on accountability, on small groups, close friends, and your local church—and you’re guaranteed satanic stomach stew!
Test the Spirits
Start doing something you’ve never done before, despite the blatant command in Scripture. Indeed, explain to me again why we Christians, if we’ve nothing to fear from demons, are required to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-6). The context in this passage is demonic attack via false teachers, but remember, demons can also use the world system and/or direct demonic attack. Again, they don’t care how you end up deceived and devoured as long as you’re lunch. Remember, false teachers don’t know they are false, and likewise, if you’ve been deceived and/or devoured, you likely don’t know it! Hmm, maybe this is why we are supposed to be testing the spirits.
Start with the fruit in your life (judge the tree). Are you still bearing the poison fruit of perversion, narcissism, lies, willful sins, hypocrisy, addictions, and sin? Have you repeated these behaviors literally thousands of times? Doesn’t this describe a slave at his/her master’s beck and call? Start praying that the Spirit will specifically expose the areas where you (and your family) have been both deceived and devoured by demons—a prayer you’ve likely never once prayed! Finally, pay serious attention to these chapters. I’ve removed both my own demons and those of my counselees, so I write from lots of practical experience. Test those spirits so you can turn the tables on the destroyer and do what Jesus does: destroy the works of the evil one (1 John 3:8)!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is nothing less than destroying the enemies of your soul and winning your personal WWII!
Your Brother in the Battle,
Timothy
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Excerpt taken from Pureheart Ministry’s Basic Training! Stage 3: Spiritual Warfare
Copyright ©2023 Timothy Davis