From one perspective, the life of Jesus is a study in spiritual warfare. From his birth, the enemy was targeting Jesus. First of all, Satan incited Herod to kill all the males in the region of Bethlehem under the age of two in order to eliminate the possibility that one of them would grow to be a king who threatened Herod’s throne. The fact that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus became political refugees fleeing to Egypt while Jesus was still a toddler also put the family in danger. The fact that angels drew near to pronounce both promises and warnings in visions and in-person tells us that there was much afoot in the spiritual realm.
As Jesus began his ministry, God himself spoke audibly confirming that Jesus was his son in whom he was well pleased. Then, after his baptism by John, we are told that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit for forty days of fasting and temptation. Some versions say that the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness. This would be a difficult introduction to spiritual warfare launched by the public ministry of Jesus. The language of the gospels suggests that he was tempted throughout the forty days, with an ultimate confrontation at the end.
At the end of his fasting, Jesus had a personal confrontation with Satan who challenged him to demonstrate his deity if he really were the Son of God. He was betting that Jesus had an element of pride and arrogance that would prompt him to demonstrate who he was when Satan questioned him. After all, Satan was filled with pride and arrogance and would have gladly demonstrated his power if it had been questioned. The first two temptations…turning stones to bread and jumping from the pinnacle of the temple mount… were kind of a dare. In essence, the accuser was taunting Jesus with, “I dare you to prove who you are.”
The last temptation was to take a shortcut to becoming king and ruling over the nations of the earth, whichis his appointed destiny. Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would simply worship Satan. The offer was to fulfill his rightful destiny without the cross and the suffering. We all want “a crown without a cross” and Satan tempts us with spiritual short cuts all the time. Jesus responded with the word of God in all three moments of temptation which is the ultimate way to resist Satan.
Later we see Satan manipulating Judas so that he ultimately betrayed Jesus. In fact, we are told that Satan entered into Judas just before the final betrayal. We can’t know for sure, but it seems likely that Satan was in Gethsemane that night whispering that none of us were worth what Jesus was about to go through. On that night, Jesus asked the Father if there was any other way. Of course, the flesh in any of us would have been looking for an exit from the appointed plan but, perhaps, Satan was amplifying the moment and the fear Jesus was wrestling with. Remember, Jesus was tempted in every way that we have been tempted, yet was without sin. As Jesus resisted the temptation, angels came and ministered to him.
I am convinced that we, like our master, are in the midst of spiritual warfare ourselves much more than we recognize. Failing to derail Jesus, he is busy trying to derail those who follow him. The problem is in recognizing his activity. The most effective demons are those who work subtly in our lives to move us out of God’s will inch by inch rather than in catastrophic ways that would immediately raise a red flag in our minds that we are under spiritual attack. He takes his time, studies our vulnerabilities, looks for things in our life or bloodline that will give him a legal right to afflict us, and studies our wounds to see how to use those against us.
The best strategies of the enemy leave us feeling as if life and time are simply taking their toll. Our health issues, our discouragement that moves into mild depression, our insecurities that develop into generalized anxiety, our view of ourselves as victims and questions about God’s goodness or fairness seem to come up like weeds. We have thoughts that we know are contrary to God’s word and we wonder why we think that way. We wonder why we don’t have the faith we once did, why lustful thoughts seem to dominate our imagination, why anger or jealousy begin to define us, and why we can’t forgive certain people in our lives.
In many cases, we simply conclude that we are not spiritual; that we don’t love Jesus anymore and that God tolerates us but is not pleased with us as his children. We become discouraged and often give up on our spiritual growth or our relationship with God all together. The truth us, many times the fear, the depression, the bitterness, and the lust are not originating in us, but are demonic spirits constantly whispering those things that stream across our minds as though they originated in our hearts. Then the accuser fills us with shame and discouragement and tries to convince us that we are beyond hope and that spiritual growth is out of our reach.
Certainly we need to recognize the thoughts that are contrary to God’s word and repent of them, but even more we should recognize the source of those thoughts as demonic and banish those demons from our presence by the authority of Jesus Christ. Thoughts that persist in the face of repentance and prayer or that press in even harder when we resist, are most likely demonic affliction. Until the demons leave, the thoughts will gain ground rather than fading away. My experience has taught me that more of our struggles are spiritual than we think. When resisting thoughts, impulses, or destructive behaviors, we should assume first that a spirit is operating. We should command the spirit to leave and then deal with the flesh through prayer, repentance, and the word. We should command these spirits to leave as soon as we see a pattern of thoughts contrary to God’s word and will for us. We should command them before we start to come into agreement with them. If we assume out thoughts are always our own, those thoughts may become a stronghold that will be more difficult to dismantle.
Satan loves to work in the shadows and make us just miserable enough, tired enough, and depressed enough that we assume it is just life in a fallen world. We then look to doctors and counselors for help when the underlying cause is spiritual. Until the spiritual realm is addressed, no counseling or treatment will be sufficient. Paul declares that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but spiritual powers. Let me encourage you to start there when life isn’t as it should be and God’s blessings always seem to slip away. When you recognize a pattern of ungodly thought, make sure there is nothing in your life giving the enemy a legal right to afflict and oppress you. After that, command the thought as if it is a spirit. Command it to leave and never return. If the thoughts weaken then the spirit has left and you and the Word can continue to renew your mind. If the thoughts press in harder, then command harder until the spirit leaves.
