Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Warfare

Introduction

This bible study subject (Spiritual Warfare) is born out of an appreciation of the fact that life is spiritual. That is, we (humans) are spirits, living in a spiritual world, surrounded by the Holy Spirit, spirits of just men made perfect, angelic spirits, and demonic spirits. All these spirits (including humans) are divided into two camps: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. It is the opposing interests of these two camps that forms the basis for the great war that every human being has been born into. 

In this bible study, we would trust the mercy of the Lord to grant us understanding of the different aspects of this spiritual war that is important for us (His people) to be aware of, so that we can daily live a victorious Christian life, and can serve effectively as agents to advance the Kingdom of God on earth, according to the Lord’s burden in Matthew 6:10.

Texts: Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 3:14-15; Ephesians 6:10-12; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; 1 Timothy 6:10-12; 1 John 5:4-5

The Origin of the war

  • Read Genesis 1:1-31
  • We would better appreciate verses 1 to 3 with the following analogy. Verse 1: In the beginning Bob built the two-storey house (the top floor and the ground floor). Verse 2: And the land was bushy and without form, and bandits had occupied deep into every corner of the land. And Bob surveyed the area. Verse 3: And Bob said let the land be cleared and the bandits driven back so that I can build the two-storey house (the top floor nicknamed heaven, and the ground floor nicknamed earth). Then when the house was finished Bob brought His children to live in the house. It was a big house.
  • To begin to appreciate the war that we were born into: in this analogy, what do we think will be the attitude of the bandits towards Bob’s children?
  • Genesis 1:2 says: “… and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”. This verse tells us that when God was creating this world (the heaven and the earth), there was a “darkness” and “waters” that existed in the place where God created this world. The warfare becomes obvious when we realize that this darkness is a spiritual darkness that is also referred to as “waters”. Revelation 17:15 gives an example of how “waters” is used symbolically to represent a multitude of persons. Meaning, the darkness in Genesis 1:2 that is also referred to as “waters” can be understood as referring to a multitude of spiritual persons that make up the kingdom of darkness. These persons are satan and his fellow fallen angels. They are the “bandits”.
  • We can therefore understand that, in summary, Genesis 1:1-31 is telling us that when God created this world, the spiritual space where this world is located was initially occupied by a multitude of spiritual persons (satan and his fellow fallen angels), and God drove them back to make spiritual room for this world where He put us.
  • But why would God do this, knowing fully well that these spirits of darkness would seek to attack us (beginning with Adam)? 
  • Read Genesis 1:26-28; Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1; Psalm 97:6.
  • These passages tell us that the way God created the physical world was not just by random choices or by pursuit of art. Rather, this physical world was deliberately designed in a specific way to clearly communicate God’s message to us. Included in this physical world design is the fact that: there is a sky, there is a ground, the waters are divided into those that are above as clouds and those that are below as sea, there are other living beings other than humans (like lion, crocodile, scorpions, horses, etc), there are mountains, there are valleys, there is an outer space surrounding the earth (and this outer space is dark), etc. Basically, everything that God created in this physical world (including the animals) is designed to communicate a clear message.
  • Knowing this: What is the full implication of what God said in Genesis 1:26-28? What does it mean for man to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth? What is there to subdue? And what are the fishes of the sea and beasts of the field and birds of the air that we are to rule over? The full scope of this mandate combined with the pre-existence of a multitude of dark spiritual persons in the spiritual place where this world is created is the origin of the spiritual warfare that every human was born into. Selah!

The Battle Uniforms

  • Read Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:24; Ephesians 6:11; Colossians 3:12-14; Galatians 5:19-23. 
  • In these passages (especially Colossians 3:12-14), godly virtues like mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, etc are referred to as things we should “put on”. In the context of battle, the things that a soldier puts on are his army uniform and his weapons (his armour). As such, the kind of virtues (character traits) found in a person are an indication of the uniform he or she is putting on, and such an identifier of which kingdom the person belongs to (or which kingdom has planted its flag on the person).
  • Knowing this, we can understand that the works of the flesh are the uniform of the kingdom of darkness, and the fruits of the Spirit are the uniform of the Kingdom of God.
  • Why does the presence of the works of the flesh reveal that the person is either suffering defeat or is totally colonized by the kingdom of darkness? They are the fruits of the spirits of darkness. Selah!

The Weapons of War