This Is Not Your Average War: What Makes Spiritual Warfare Unique
We use the word "war" in all kinds of contexts today. For instance, there are military wars. Additionally, we also talk of corporate wars, trade wars, culture wars, class wars, bidding wars, and even wars of words. However, when it comes to a spiritual war, true spiritual warfare, we’re dealing with something entirely different. In fact, spiritual warfare is unlike any of these because it operates by different rules and uses different weapons. Therefore, it requires divine weapons to defeat supernatural enemies.
A Different Battle
The Apostle Paul highlighted a distinct aspect of spiritual warfare in Second Corinthians 10. Specifically, he contrasted it with worldly warfare. Here’s what he said:
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3–4 (ESV)
Paul founded the Corinthian church and then left to plant other churches. Subsequently, he learned problems had engulfed the church, including divisions, spiritual immaturity, lawsuits between members, tolerating sexual immorality, and more. As a result, Paul himself became the focus of verbal attacks. People questioned his authority and his methods. In the second letter to those Christians, Paul acknowledged the spiritual struggle while saying, "We do not wage war as the world does."
His insight is crucial. If we try to fight a spiritual war using worldly methods, we'll lose every time. For example, it's like trying to take on hell with a squirt gun, or run a marathon wearing heavy armor. Clearly, the tools don't match the task.
Divine Power vs. Worldly Weapons
Here’s the remarkable part: "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Furthermore, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient."
When we think about having divine power to demolish strongholds, that’s a really big deal. For example, you remember the Star Wars movies, right? The Force allowed the Jedi to do amazing things such as to move objects with their minds, influence people’s thoughts, and perform incredible feats.
Nevertheless, the divine power we have within us is far greater than that fictional Force. Someone might say, "Yeah, but can you lift a spaceship?" Well, show me a spaceship, and maybe I will. After all, Jesus said you can move a mountain. Clearly, there's much that we have accessible to us through divine power.Supernatural vs. Supernatural
Our spiritual enemies can’t be tracked by radar, pushed into a corner, or cut off from reinforcements. In other words, human strategies such as trying to ignore attacks or use willpower to defeat attacking thoughts are useless when battling supernatural beings. Fortunately, we’re equipped with spiritual weapons to fight and defeat spiritual enemies.
Think about it: If you’re fighting against "rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (as Paul describes in Ephesians 6), what good would human weapons do? For instance, how would political maneuvering, financial pressure, or physical force help against beings that operate in spiritual realms? Of course, it wouldn't! That's why ...
God equipped us with divine power and spiritual weapons that are perfectly suited for spiritual battles.
The Practical Implication
This changes everything about how we approach spiritual conflicts. Instead of relying on human wisdom, manipulation, or force, we learn to operate in divine power. It's not about what we can do, but what God does through us. More importantly, instead of fighting flesh and blood, we target the real spiritual issues behind the problems we see.
When Paul says we "take captive every thought to make it obedient," he’s describing spiritual warfare at its most practical level, that is, the battle for our minds and the thoughts that shape our reality.
Identify Attacking Thoughts
Consequently, we can identify any of the endless possible satanic thoughts that push their way into our minds, such as: "God doesn’t love you. You should get even with those who hurt you. Give up on God. You’re foolish to trust God. No one cares about you. God doesn’t care what you do."
Identifying those thoughts as a spiritual attack, part of the spiritual war, shouldn’t intimidate us. Rather, it should encourage us to react. For this reason, don't be passive. We have supernatural power that far exceeds anything our enemies can bring against us. It is called the Armor of God. In future posts, we will expand upon this. In the meantime, read about it now in Ephesians 6:10-18. This armor enables us to resist those thoughts with these specific truths: "God loves me. My intention is to do the right thing to everyone. God hasn’t given up on me, so I won’t give up on God. I am wise to trust God. God and many others care about me. God cares what I do and I want to please Him."
In summary, understanding this unique nature of spiritual warfare is essential before we can effectively engage in it.
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