Forging the Sword

Greetings to you, I the Stranger bid you welcome. The following commentary shall be divided into three parts. The first part shall consist of what I hope you are doing. The second what I expect you shall do. And both parts have this as their topic, spiritual warfare. So I shall begin, and I pray you benefit.


1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:1-6.


This verse gives to us the basic layout of redemption, but I would point out it also shows the manner in which we wage warfare. This is the progression of man, he is sinful, he follows demons (i.e. either by possession or the ideas put forward by demonic influence), he is dead in his sins. But God, who loved us even while we sinned, raised us out of our death with the Resurrection of His Son, and seated us with Him in heaven.

Warfare is not a difficult concept to grasp, and in its makeup it is rather simple. And it is based on one crucial thing, the furtherance, proclamation, and deliverance of the Gospel.


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. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

2 Cor. 10:3-5


When the gospel is not our central and major theme warfare is nothing. It has no purpose, no destination, no point, and no goal. It is, in essence, degraded to an experiential subject and not given the seriousness it requires. And when the gospel is overlooked the enemy is either unaffected or not very affected (which can really make your life difficult). In light of this I propose the five things you should be doing right now.

1. Be regenerate. I know this isn't exactly a constant action but if you are not a Christian then spiritual warfare is not for you. See Acts 19:13-16. In fact those not bought by His blood are subject to demonic attack, influence, and possession (John 8:43-45). But if you are indeed a son and joint heir with Christ then the following steps are yours to employ.

2. Study the Word. All the time, breathe it in, memorize it, apply it to wage warfare against your own flesh. In fact if you practice warfare against sin then you shall find warfare against spirits follows the same pattern. If you resist long enough and quote scripture at your sin then it disappears. Thus with spirits.
James 4:6-8

3. Become a prayer warrior. If you are practiced in prayer then almost necessarily you are cultivating humility as well as the mindset of prayer. Or in other words, when there are trials in your life prayer comes as your first attempt to rectify your situation. Then when the enemy descends it is natural to turn first to the Father. And our example of humble prayer is found in our Lord;
Matthew 26:39; Psalm 35:1-3

4. Engage in fellowship. In order to build a network for you to rely on as your covering when in the midst of battle. The prayer of others are bolstering in the thick of battle. And having another to stand with you is comforting. Somehow it eases fear and pain. Also our hearts are deceitful, we would be blinded to sin, which makes us vulnerable to attack, and our fellows keep us humble and grounded in God (Proverbs 27:6).
Hebrews 3:12-13; James 5:16; 2 Timothy 2:3.

5. Grow roots in assurance. Faith is vital. In order for you to stand in the day of darkness you must have faith. Without faith you shall quickly fall, and fail despite whatever else you have done to prepare. And faith comes through God's Word as a matter of course, this wraps around to just how important the study of His Word really is.
Romans 10:14-17; Psalm 27:1-3

This is the preparation for battle and it is important for you to be already partaking of these things. For battle may possibly come at any moment, do not live with this in fear but rather may its truthfulness lead you to take this matter seriously. The next part shall be what you need to do when attacked by sin and its consequence.

Dt