Spiritual Warfare

Before I began my close relationship with Jesus, I used to be very interested in the paranormal. I used to read and believe in horoscopes, I used to go to psychic fairs and I had my tea leaves read. I used to love to watch those TV shows on the paranormal and stories of hauntings. I found it all so fascinating. I also loved to watch the psychic shows on TV. I even purchased different types of stones that were supposed to help you with different areas in life like finances or love, etc.

The more time I spend with God in His word which is the truth, the more I learn about how deceived I used to be. There is our triune God, God the father, His word (God the son, Jesus) which is the truth and the Holy Spirit, and there is satan who is also called the father of lies because there is no truth found in him or his gang. In the scriptures below Jesus is talking to the men who were seeking to kill him regarding who was influencing them to behave the way they were:

John 8:42-47 (The Message)

"If God were your father," said Jesus, "you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn't come on my own. He sent me. Why can't you understand one word I say? Here's why: You can't handle it. You're from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn't stand the truth because there wasn't a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me? Anyone on God's side listens to God's words. This is why you're not listening—because you're not on God's side."

Having suffered for over a decade with agoraphobia and severe panic attacks, I believe I can say that I have had my share of personal experience with spiritual warfare. Dabbling in the occult as I have in the past only added more grief to that experience. Spiritual warfare is when Satan and his kingdom of darkness are working against what God and his kingdom of light are doing on this earth.

At the beginning of my study in God's word I began to question, "If all spirits that are not from God are evil then why do some of them appear to help solve crimes and lead the police to solve murders through psychics or bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones by relaying information from the other side." I believe the answer is because the spirits or "spirit guides" those psychics are listening to are deceiving spirits that work for Satan. Think about it, if they can convince the nonbeliever that they are good spirits who only want to help, then they can fool the nonbeliever into believing there is no heaven or hell, per se, and therefore no need to worry about where we go when we die. They are only helping so they can keep the nonbeliever deceived and from finding out the truth which is, after all, their ultimate goal. If they have to solve a crime here and there or provide comfort to a grieving soul then so be it.

When a close friend of mine began to pray for my healing from panic attacks and freedom from fear he experienced "spiritual warfare" in a dream which is one of the ways they (the spiritual realm) can communicate with us. These dreams (when coming from satan's gang) usually seem very real and are meant to intimidate you and fill you with feelings of fear. I have attached below his words from part of this dream:

"I had a dream with you in it the other night. My ex showed up and I was watching my nephew. She came to me and asked if I could help her husband. I said yes, if you can watch my nephew. She said yes and we walked to where her husband had been 'stuck' somehow in a pool. By the time we got there another man was in the pool and he was a doctor. Her husband was drowning and the man couldn't get him out by himself. I jumped in to help, but it was too late. When I picked him up I saw a big red spot on him and the doctor said “he's been infected.” We pulled him out of the water, but after that I couldn't touch my nephew. I asked her to take my nephew back to my family since I couldn't touch him. She said 'no'. So I was desperately looking around for someone to help me with him. You showed up and you said you came to help me. We both realized that this meant that you had overcome your agoraphobia. I took you to my nephew and you picked him up. Then, somehow I found out that I wasn't 'infected'. I took your hand and we started to go back to my family, but we began seeing "inside" people, like what they were really like and some were evil. They tried to overtake us. They pushed me down trying to get to you and they tied me up. At that point I was kind of waking up, but I claimed that the binds with which they tied me were broken in Jesus' name and I broke free and we left. Then I woke up."

Here is how I interpreted his dream. His ex and her husband represent nonbelievers. Him being willing to help his ex's husband reveals his heart and how he will help anyone in need. The husband being infected represents sin and dark spiritual forces. Him being infected represents our vulnerability to spiritual attack. His young nephew represents purity. Us seeing inside people’s hearts I believe represents our ability (through the help of the Holy Spirit using discernment) to sense when evil forces are at work. Me being over the agoraphobia represents his prayers for my healing.

I think this next part of the dream is very interesting. When the people tried to overtake us and are trying to push him down to get to me shows me that he is my spiritual warrier friend and that he has been standing in the gap and praying for my healing and his prayers have been very effective. Us holding hands with his nephew represents the scripture found in Matthew 18:20 (NLT) "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

Him and I are standing in agreement concerning my healing. He has been praying for my healing and those prayers have been effectively making things happen and it really ticks off the evil spirits that have been holding me in bondage through fear for so long. Since his prayers are being effective they are turning their attention off of me and coming after him. This dream is evidence of that. The dream has the perfect ending though, he knows his authority in Jesus' name and he broke those binds as quickly as they tried to put them on him. What a happy victorious ending. I am so blessed to have a friend like him in my life. Even though he lives in another country, distance does not limit what God can do through a praying friend.

This year I felt God had placed one of my uncles on my heart to pray for him. I know he has, in the past, been tormented by evil spirits. I began to fervently pray very specific spiritual warfare prayers over my uncle. I never told him about it, I just prayed. My uncle does not live close to me and I never get to see him. Once in awhile we will chat live on Facebook or on the telephone, but not very often so to hear from him is rare but it is treasured when I do.

I am not sure if it was weeks or months later but one day out of the blue I received an email message from my uncle saying he had the strangest dream. He then went on to tell me the details of his dream. He had never sent me a detailed email about a dream before this. He had no idea about the prayers I had been praying nor about the dreams I have had and translated, some of which have been prophetic and one which is still coming true now. If you would like to read that one it is called "The Tornado" and it is in my April archives. The other two posts on dreams that I have translated are called "The horse is led to freedom" from March and "Jesus visits me in a dream" from November.

I had prayed that the Lord would send forth his holy warring angels to my uncle and bind up any and all evil, lying deceiving spirits attached to him and remove them from him. I also prayed and asked God if there is any way that I can help him then bring me to his mind and have him communicate with me when the need arises. The fact that he sent me a detailed email about his dream is an answer to the latter part of that prayer. His dream is below:

"I had the weirdest dream the other night at work, while I was sleeping at the hotel. I heard something at my window, so I opened my curtains, and there was an angel or something like it. It had no eyes though which managed to freak the living crap out of me! Its wings were white with gray and bluish tones. It held a a stick with a chain and a spiked ball and wore Roman type clothing. It was at least 8 feet tall and it spoke to me. It said, "It's time." I said I think you have the wrong room lol! I asked time time for what and it said, "It's time for battle" and that's when I woke up. It was so real, and if that is what angels look like I really don't want to meet one! This is the third time this month I have had quasi religous dreams and its all been based on me fighting something evil, and it scares the shit out of me!"

This is how I interpret this dream. My uncle mentions that there was an angel or something like it. It was the "or something like it." The "angel" he saw at the window was, in fact, a "fallen angel" (a demon). Satan and his gang were angels who lived in heaven at one time until pride got the better of Satan and he decided he wanted to be like God, and he was thrown out of heaven along with his gang which happened to be one third of the angels in heaven. Here are some scriptures that explain this:

Isaiah 14:12-14 (NIV)

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Revelation 12:9 (NLT)

This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.

Luke 10:18 (NLT)

Jesus said, "Yes, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!"

Revelation 12:7-9 (NIV)

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Revelation 12:4 (NIV)

Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth . . .

He then goes on to say it had no eyes. These "fallen angels" are from the kingdom of darkness, there is no light in them. This "fallen angel" had black holes where the eyes (the light) should be.

Matthew 6:23 (NLT)

But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

Angels are filled with light as evidenced in scripture. Below is a description on an angel Daniel saw:

Daniel 10:6 (NIV)

His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

When my uncle saw this "fallen angel" he mentions that it scared him pretty badly. This is another indication that this dream is from Satan as he enjoys instilling fear into people. The weapon he describes the "fallen angel" holding is a medieval weapon called a flail. This "fallen angel" was clearly dressed and prepared for battle, weapon and all. He says it was at least 8 feet tall. From descriptions I have read about people where God had momentarily opened their eyes to the spiritual realm and have seen angels, they have described them to be about 8 feet tall. Since "fallen angels" were angels at one time it would make sense that they would be the same height.

The "fallen angel" said, "It's time for battle." Later on my uncle said to me, "I also had the impression it wasn't him I was to battle with, but beside him." This is the part that truly saddens me and the very reason I felt the urgency from the Holy Spirit to pray these very specific spiritual warfare prayers over him. This "fallen angel" knows my uncle is on his side of this spiritual battle. He also told me this was the third time he had had a "religious dream" that month. This is no coincidence that he was having spiritual warfare dreams at the same time I began to fervently pray spiritual warfare prayers over him.

If you have accepted Jesus into your heart you have nothing to fear. The bible says:

Romans 8:31-39 (The Message)

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

You need not worry about this spiritual warfare that goes on all around us in the spiritual realms because God has not left us without weapons to fight back. Deceived people need to be freed from the deceptions of Satan and God has equipped us with everything we need. Satan is a defeated foe living on borrowed time and he knows it.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (The Message)

A Fight to the Finish 10-12And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

Prayer is one of our most powerful weapons and it should be taken very seriously. It is powerful against the dark spiritual forces in this world. I pray that this post will not only strengthen many of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but also that it will shed some light into the truth for those who have areas in their lives where they are still being deceived.