Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.?Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.?For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.?Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.?Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.?As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.?With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.?Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.?Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

https://network.crcna.org/leadership-development/introduction-spiritual-warfare

http://thefrontporch.org/interview/spiritual-warfare-in-christian-ministry

We are continuing our journey into prayer by approaching the topic of prayer as spiritual warfare. For many of us, spiritual warfare is not something that we talk about on a regular basis or even in our Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, or Catholic churches. Many might even say, that is something only Baptists, holy rollers, evangelicals, or crazy people talk about.

Today, I am going to need your help as we talk through prayer as spiritual warfare.

When you think of the ?spiritual warfare,? what comes to mind?

When you hear the word ?devil/satan,? what comes to mind?

When you hear the word ?evil,? what comes to mind?

How does all of this connect to prayer?

In the bible, there are many different references to spiritual warfare with primarily 3 different enemies. The 3 enemies are the world (John 17), the flesh (Matthew 26:41, Romans 7:14-20, Galatians 5:16-17, Genesis 4:3-7), and the devil. When we get too cozy with worldly things-greed, wealth, selfishness, idolatry-we are in a battle with the enemy. When we let the desire, seduction, and sin of the flesh overcome us-lust, adultery, pornography-we are in a battle with the enemy. When we see hatred, fighting, genocide, the ?isms, wars, and more; we are seeing the evil in this world-I would say that is the devil. Pretty much evil or the devil is present when the Word of God is absent.

So when we think about spiritual warfare, remembering our 3 enemies-world, flesh, and the devil/evil, is important.

When I think of the spiritual warfare that is happening in the world, the images that cross my mind are from the Holocaust and WW2. Emma is really fascinated by WW2 history right now. And we visited the WW2 Museum in New Orleans over Christmas. The images of concentration camps, Japanese internment camps, POW camps, the aftermath of destruction of the war across the globe is imprinted in my mind. I also remember when Schindler?s List came out and how many nightmares I had because of the images left in my mind. WW2 was a war about world power in so many different ways. General Tojo Hideki, Emperor Hirohito, and Adolf Hitler embodied people who cozied up with the world and the enemy.

When I think of spiritual warfare that is happening with the flesh, I remember a story Aisha, the keynote presenter at 1001 worshipping communities shared from her context. The basement of the old church always felt creepy to her. She started talking with some folks in the church and community, and people were also afraid to just come into the building because they felt there was something evil in the church. Aisha spent some time trying to figure out the next step on how to ?get the creepy feel? out of the basement. So she grabbed some friends and folks from church and they decided to go to the basement, sing songs, pray, and get rid of the evil that was in the basement. After a good length of time and prayer, Aisha shared that you could almost feel the Spirit of God come back into the space and the evil spirit leave. Now, why do I say this is spiritual warfare connected to the flesh? As she talked with more people in the community, they learned that years ago one of the pastors of the congregation had molested and raped the youth of the church in that basement. That is evil of the flesh. Through prayer against the evil that was felt in that basement, the community was able to heal and use that space for good. Now there is a vibrant food ministry in the basement-filled with the Spirit of God.

When I think of spiritual warfare that is happening with the devil, I remember spending time in the psychiatric ward as a chaplain at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. I was asked to visit with an older lady who was only speaking gibberish, nothing was clear in her speech. I was at a loss on what to do, so I decided to read her the passage in Mark about Jesus sending the possessed spirits into the bodies of the pigs. After that I just prayed for her to have a clear mind and be able to spirit. Then for the next 15 minutes we talked and told me about her life. As we talked, I realized the power of prayer and scripture in a new way. I remember her coming out of her clarity and the words of gibberish coming back. Then she was gone again. I prayed again for her to have clarity, but it was gone. In hindsight, I know this woman battled with a deep mental health issue. But I also realized she was possessed by the devil. The devil, for some reason, had a hold of her. It was a fight with scripture and prayer that beat the devil off for a period of time.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.?Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.?For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.?Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.?Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.?As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.?With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.?Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.?Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

Wherever there is evil in the world, there is the potential for good. It is our responsibility to transform it.

Abraham Joshua Herschel spoke of the ways in which God is no longer at home in the creation because we act as if God doesn?t exist. Instead of being divine agents as we should, we effectively remove God from the world with our inaction. Heschel says, ?to pray means to bring God back into the world?to pray means to expand God?s presence.? When we pray and expand God?s presence, there is less room in the world for evil to be present. When we pray, we resist evil.