Much of both my personal study and my preaching lately have focused on spiritual warfare. Whether or not we realize it or admit it, if we are Jesus-followers we face conflict on a spiritual level daily.
Many people think of spiritual warfare in physical terms. Some see physical illness, financial distress, or problems with material things in our lives as the devil’s attack, but the Bible teaches us that spiritual warfare takes place on an invisible battle field – what Paul refers to as the “heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Granted, the devil will try to use these physical and material circumstances against us, but they are not in and of themselves the battleground. Spiritual battle takes place over HOW WE REACT AND RESPOND to them. The devil will try to muddle our thinking and demoralize our emotions by tempting us to focus more on our circumstances than on God. The primary theater of operations in spiritual warfare is our MIND.
Preparing Our Minds for Spiritual Warfare
1 Peter 1:13 challenges us to prepare our minds for action. We cannot wait until spiritual attacks occur to defend ourselves, but we must ready ourselves for the inevitable onslaught of the devils devices. Let me suggest three readiness steps you can begin doing today that will put you in a better position to prevail in spiritual warfare.
1. Take control of your thoughts.
Peter encourages sober-mindedness for Jesus-followers. Sober-mindedness means we discipline ourselves to think the right way. The devil, at his core, is a liar and tries to convince us to believe his lies and not God’s truth. 2 Corinthians 10:5 identifies faulty logic (arguments) and arrogant reasoning (lofty opinion) that contradict God’s truth.
As we take control of our thoughts we will discern which thoughts are consistent with God’s truth and which thoughts deviate from God truth. We will cling to the godly thoughts and jettison the devil’s lies. Simply put… think about what you think about.
2. Focus on the eternal over the earthly.
Peter calls on us to “set [our] hope fully” on what we will receive in eternity with Jesus. “Fully” indicates that we are not to vacillate but rest completely in the truth that we will one day, by God’s grace, realize all He has promised to us. When we gaze at eternity we realize that even the best we can receive here on earth is no match at all for what God has prepared for us in eternity. We are destined for eternity not doomed to the earthly.
The devil’s lies present no attraction to the heart set on eternity. We cannot allow ourselves to bet bogged down with this world’s pursuits and values when we have heaven awaiting us. We can prepare our minds for spiritual battle when we fill our minds with heavenly values and fix our gaze on heaven’s realities. (Colossians 3:1-4)
3. Choose transformation over conformity.
We must choose each day between the “passions of our former ignorance” (before we begin following Jesus) or holiness in all of our conduct. Holiness is not perfection, but rather an awareness that we are set apart to live a distinctive life. We choose several times every day whether to obey God or follow our fallen heart.
We prepare for spiritual battle when we remind ourselves each day that, by God’s grace, we are no longer what we once were, but instead we are new creation in Jesus. God’s plan for us is not conformity to our culture but transformation into Christ-likeness. Romans 12:2 serves as reminder that this transformation takes place in the mind (the battleground) and demonstrates itself in discerning and doing God’s will rather than following culture’s cues.
If we take these three steps every day, we will find ourselves more prepared to engage, withstand, and defeat the enemy. The battleground is OUR mind, let’s take possession of it and take it captive to obey Jesus.
We do not win spiritual battles on physical grounds and with physical weapons, but we win when we take our minds captive and focus our thoughts on Jesus.