Remember the early 90s? It was the era of big hair, oversized shoulder pads, and the intercessors all focused on spiritual warfare! Looking back on these trends, we might cringe a bit— they seem so dated and even foolish. What were we thinking!?
That was a time where there was a genuine awakening of intercession and a widespread hunger to grow in this ministry, to understand how it works, and to be known as a “seasoned intercessor”-- one who was effective and fruitful in prayer. Spiritual warfare became a part of this package and suddenly there were books, conferences, and courses on how to become a mighty spiritual warrior.
Yet it all kinda got out of hand and we started to focus more on what we imagined the demonic was doing rather than noticing the very real ways that God was blessing. Every little bump in the road or interpersonal conflict was interpreted as a demonic attack, which meant those who were going furthest down this road became uncorrectable, as anything uncomfortable was rejected as “from the enemy”.
We drifted into fantasy and imagined ourselves dressed in medieval-like spiritual armour, wielding all manner of weaponry at principalities and powers. We shouted at a lot of demonic spirits that we had “discerned”, and often participated in odd prophetic actions to break their influence over our cities. Lots of shofar blowing and flag waving! Like the outlandish bigger and bigger hair and shoulder pads, it all got quite strange. But thankfully, the Lord kept us and soon the Church began to notice that this unhealthy focus was producing real unhealth in our lives and so these practices of spiritual warfare were largely abandoned.
The practice of spiritual warfare more or less got packed away with the out-of-fashion big shoulder-padded blazers and knitted leg warmers that we pulled from our closets to send to the thrift store. And now we don’t want to return to spiritual warfare’s bad fruit, so many just avoid it altogether. It’s still associated with the excesses of the 90s and so often has been left, metaphorically, gathering dust in the thrift store.
However…
If you know me you know I daily pray the Lord’s Prayer, and in that prayer, you find a petition that is spiritual warfare: “…deliver us from evil”, or as it could just as correctly be translated, “deliver us from the Evil One.”
This is how Jesus taught his Church, at all times, through every age, to pray— so we can’t avoid the reality that this is His idea. We might want to avoid spiritual warfare because of past excesses, but we also might be avoiding it because of the influence of rationalism which always pressures us to see things as natural rather than as spiritual phenomena. A rational worldview dismisses the supernatural as primitive superstition and it especially mocks the discernment of demonic activity. We should ask, has the pressure from the rationalist worldview made us embarrassed to step out and identify what we are seeing or experiencing as demonic activity?
If we do avoid spiritual warfare altogether because of past wonkiness, or the influence of rationalism, we’re missing a beautiful and fruitful way to pray, something that will lead us closer to Him. With this in mind, I’m crafting a series of articles to take a fresh look at spiritual warfare, in an endeavour to equip us to stand through times when we are buffeted so these seasons don’t leave us marked with fear, trauma, or worse. If all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28) , then this has to include seasons of spiritual attack. God can consistently take what the enemy throws at us and retool it for our good (Gen 50:20), so perhaps as we explore this topic we can discern some of those very good purposes of our loving Heavenly Father that can only be actualized through these painful times.
Let’s start by cleaning the whiteboard of everything we’ve been taught that’s not clearly rooted in scripture. Let’s set aside the convoluted teaching that was more fantasy than theology, more extrapolated experiences than Jesus-centred biblical truth. But then let’s also be content to trust Jesus with what we can’t fully explain, even if it means we have some loose ends and mystery — rather than insisting that everything to do with the nature and function of the demonic realm must be fully disclosed to us.
Another reason I feel prompted to write on this topic is that since the beginning of July, I’ve been prophetically discerning that we (the Body of Christ, particularly in North America) are heading into a season of warfare. The Lord wants to prepare us to walk it out in a much healthier way, more marked by a peaceful trust than we have known in similar seasons in the past. What I’m seeing on the prophetic horizon is like when you are paddling your raft down the peaceful river, when all of a sudden you feel the spray in the air and notice the churning of white water rapids dead ahead. It’s unavoidable, but it will be ok. I’m not anticipating this turbulence to be a prolonged season, but it’s coming and for some, it’s probably already here.
This shouldn’t frighten us, Jesus is in the boat with us and we can utterly trust Him to protect us and sustain us. There is nothing He has not overcome, friends, He’s got this. He’s confident that He can apprentice us in how to paddle these kinds of waters, and we will end up knowing Him better, and loving Him more.
I’m excited to see what He will teach us and how He will strengthen us over the next months.
Wow, so looking forward to upcoming teachings, Sara! thank you!
...looking forward to these teachings Sara...thank you!