eft-sw_What is Spiritual Warfare ?

What is spiritual warfare ?

I didn't find any one set of guidelines to answer the question: What is spiritual warfare? I imagine that most people have heard of exorcism, and many have also heard of deliverance. But I discovered that the arena of what is termed spiritual warfare goes beyond either exorcism or deliverance. From my perspective, it covers not only casting out of devils, but also resisting the devil and he will flee from you. It also includes knowing our rights and/or authority as believers in Jesus Christ. It may also involve the Holy Spirit giving us an unction to pray for someone else.

It also involves not giving the devil a place to re-enter our lives once we've discovered his presence and sent him packing, or perhaps throwing him out again a 2^nd or 3^rd time, or however many times it takes. It also involves allowing God's love and mercy in to heal us and guide us, and help us develop new habits; and then passing that gift on to others as we feel lead to do that. It can also be the simple, yet sometimes very difficult act of moving forward with something God has put on your heart to do, when 'the world' is screaming something else at you. It is walking by faith, and not by sight.

There is a lot of information available on the topic, both in books and on the internet. I'll combine information from both sources. As I mentioned in the Introduction, (to the e-booklet, see the download page) there is a lot of information I haven't included, because I want to keep it mostly relevant for use with EFT.

First, from a website called: Spiritual Warfare Ministries Online, is found the following:

This site is about taking possession of our inheritance in Christ and overcoming our enemy's assaults. We believe that victorious Christian living is possible when sound Biblical principles are incorporated in our lives and practiced daily. We must maintain our focus on the Lord and not become consumed with the enemy's activity. We are not to fear the enemy, but are commanded to resist him and overcome him in the authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What Is Spiritual Warfare? By Don Rogers

Our ministry's stress upon spiritual warfare is an attempt to bring about a proper balance in Christian lives. So many Christians have become passive and fearful. Some are satisfied just to believe the right things and attend church services and activities each week. This type of lifestyle is quite different from that which Jesus had called believers.

Spiritual warfare is a pro-active approach to our faith. We actively resist the devil when his hosts harass us. We actively pursue spiritual disciplines that will make us stronger and better prepared. We actively engage the enemy when people are in spiritual bondage.

It has become common to attribute a natural or human explanation to most problems and leave it at that. The one who has a spiritual warfare perspective will be inclined to test the situation to ascertain whether or not there is something more than natural influences involved. For instance, when my daughter started having a series of painful bone cysts develop at the base of her spine, we challenged them with prayer and spiritual authority and they disappeared.

I further believe that although EFT isn't meant to replace exorcism or deliverance, we may find that in the cases where either of those may be necessary, EFT is likely to be helpful. That is just a guess, based on my own experience with EFT and some of the many testimonies I've read in email newsletters. From my own experience and research, I believe that the devil's lies are very much tied into trying to influence one's emotional state, and / or that a negative emotional state is, to a greater or lesser degree, what gives the devil / evil spirit 'grounds' or a 'legal right' to stick around. I suspect, and hopefully we'll discover one way or the other, that once you discharge the emotional 'charge' with EFT - banishing the evil spirit will be much easier. It won't be subject to nearly as much turmoil as I've read about in the several accounts of exorcism or deliverance I've read.

Here is an interesting excerpt from C.S. Lewis, from his book Mere Christianity:

One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe - a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel.

Enemy occupied territory - that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing to our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. I know someone will ask me, 'Do you really mean, at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil – hoofs and horns and all?' Well, what the time of day has to do with it I do not know. And I am not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects my answer is 'Yes, I do.' I do not claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I would say to that person, 'Don't worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you'll like it when you do, is another question.'

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