I literally grew up in a Christian home where my father taught us about Spiritual Warefare. As a child at the time, I didn’t really understand what it is, and even late into adulthood I would just ignore or put thoughts away about the existence of spiritual warfare and witchcraft in my daily life. For many years I was a weak Christian and still have my moments but I still pray in the Lord on a daily basis.
However, as it is, the topic of Spiritual Warfare and the existence of witchcraft kept coming up back into my mind and I couldn’t shake it.
As a young teenager and again as an older 20-something I was prayed over by faith-fearing women in the church about my maternal grandmother’s intent to dedicate me to the line of hereditary witches of the next line of her generation.
I didn’t understand much about what that meant because dad always warned me to stay away from it. But one day I looked up some information for the sake of better understanding what it was that they meant for me to stay away from to know what I am fighting because I can’t fight an enemy that I am ignorant of. God knows my heart is to keep my peace with Christ because I know that those who practice witchcraft will not see the Lord at the end of the day. I want to keep my salvation and that is important to me.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelations 21:8)
I had to know what I was fighting spiritually within myself so I looked up the different types of witchcraft practiced in the Caribbean and common witchcraft in the USA and Latin America since that is where my family goes a lot to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of course, I prayed first in the Holy Spirit and plead the blood of Jesus over my computer to keep any of those evil influences from enticing me to practice anything evil but I got a better understanding of what it is I’m supposed to be fighting with spiritually on the daily basis.
I’m not going to share my findings on the topic in this article because I will not encourage anyone to practice witchcraft as the Bible warns us time and time again that those who practice witchcraft will not inherit the Kingdom of God— that is they will perish in hell.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelations 21:8)
I’ve had a lot of unrest with this spiritual battle over the years of my youth and spent a lot of time investing my heart and emotions with the Lord as I have grown up in the church to understand not to mess with evil spirits in any way so I encourage you to do the same and seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to keep your mind at peace as we expect His return for our Salvation.
Feel free to read over the points in this post in chunks as many times as you like. It is a really long post and would take time to digest it.
I have to admit something
I am not a perfect Christian. I fail a lot with my own words, attitude, thoughts, and struggles on the daily basis. I literally go through everything else that young people go through and now that I am approaching my thirties I feel my struggles are a little more mature and wonder why God has permitted me to struggle so heavily as a youth but I realize each day that it is less and less about me and more about not giving up and maintaining a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (1 John 4:19; Romans 5:8; Proverbs 24:16). It is not about following strict religious standards that make you look any more pious before men but really forgiving yourself and allowing Christ’s forgiveness to heal your heart in this cycle we call life.
We literally break His heart every day with how much we fail Him daily and He is still there to love us and pick us up as we let Him work in our lives. I mean— just look at the way He shepherded the disciple Peter. He was one of the biggest knuckleheads and Jesus still died for Him and loved him til the end (John 21:15–17).
Once we choose to accept Jesus into our hearts (Romans 10:9-10) as our Lord and Savior we must strive to keep our salvation (Philippians 2:12-23). As new Christians who encounter the ministry of Christ by reading about His experiences in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) with the people He encountered on earth praying and healing them, we also learn about His dealing with Spiritual Warefare as He had to cast out demons from many people and we are called to do the same in Jesus’ name.
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-14)
Therefore, we are instructed to fight the good fight of faith and encounter spiritual warfare as well (2 Timothy 4:7).
The spirit world is just as real as the natural world that we see and touch.
The Bible talks about spiritual warfare like this:
The first three references to our spiritual battle refer to the types of government
Principalities: ruled by princes
Powers: that influence these governments
Rulers of the darkness of this age: you can notice the acts in the nature of those types of communists, socialists, and dictatorships, etc
The last reference refers to a spiritual presence or entity that we cannot see but that does interact with the natural world.
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places
a spiritual host is an entity without flesh and blood (in this case it is referencing to evil spirits) the heavenly places reference the earth’s atmospheric layers and beyond. God is found in His abode in the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2)
When we look at statistics of the U.S. there are 1.5 million people practicing Pagan Witchcraft living in the United States.
Though the influence is dormant because many Americans take witchcraft as entertainment through watching horror movies and playing with the paranormal, the truth of the matter is that there are people practicing witchcraft behind closed doors influencing the way we think and feel in our daily lives.
You literally think you make a friend but that person is putting spells on you behind closed doors slowing down your productivity in daily life. These evil ceremonial rituals make you feel lethargic and worthless. It ruins your sleep, disturbs your dreams with constant erotic visitations, influencing you towards certain types of friendships and romantic relationships that you really don’t want to be apart of, and so on and so forth. We really have to be careful and watchful of the types of people we let get close to our hearts. Listen to your gut and pray to ask God who are your friends. Not everyone’s intentions are as they seem to be.
The Bible says,
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23)
I have literally lost many friends who I thought were my friends in High School and College who in reality were doing evil practices behind my back. That doesn’t mean I retaliated physically but instead, I cut them out of my life and prayed for them that Jesus saves their souls. As long as we wake up on a new day we still have a chance to receive mercy from the Lord (Lamentations 3:22-24). Remember, Jesus loves the sinner, not the sin.
In my experience assisting on mission trips abroad, I have learned that the power of evil is more evident in third-world countries like Central and South America as the practice of Shamans— spirit doctors— is very real terrorizing the lives of average citizens. These third-world countries are the poorest among the nations as their experience with evil entity powers in the spiritual realm affects their real daily lives. Many people call their church pastors crying asking for prayer as they fear the loss of their livelihoods or being run out of their homes because of some job a witch doctor did on their life or family. We do not see this fearful reality as greatly in the U.S. as it is taken as entertainment in the paranormal and horror movies we digest regularly.
That is why many third-world countries’ families pray in Jesus’ name to break the power of the devil in their lives.
For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, so that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
When we receive Jesus in our hearts for salvation we have to continue to fight the good fight of faith every day. (2 Timothy 4:7)
That is why we are instructed to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-12)
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, (Ephesians 6:10-19)
It is important to note that our interactions and relationships with other people as Christians is not physical battle but it is a spiritual struggle. I’ve witnessed domestic violence as an account of spiritual warfare in the home when two people do not agree in the Lord. They take things out on each other physically and relationships fall apart because one partner is weaker in the faith than the other. It is a spiritual law.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand (mark 3:25)
We should not be physical with each other but note that our battle is spiritually influenced as noted in scripture (Ephesians 6:10-12).
Pray for each other. Love each other as Jesus commanded (Luke 10:27; 1 John 3:23) and forgive one another ridding evil off your flesh (Matthew 6:14, Ecc 11:9-10).
Wear your full armor of God daily.
The battle is in our minds, so wear your helmet of salvation.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:4-6)
This scripture is great to reference in Jesus every time you have a nagging thought or invasive thought that does not go away. I’ve used this many times I have felt people influencing me to think a certain way towards them as in a friendship or a romance that I didn’t want to partake in. I also use this when my own thoughts run away with their own ideas that are not truthful at all. I guess all women go through the latter at some point all the time in life, haha. It’s a matter of being strong and trusting God with your thoughts.
So I just pray in Jesus’ name as these are your spiritual weapons to pull down strongholds and cast down arguments bringing it to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
Recognize that Jesus is our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Wear your helmet of Salvation daily as it helps to keep evil bombarding thoughts away. (Ephesians 6)
Conclusion
Spiritual warfare is a real in our daily lives. The spirit world— though it is invisible— is as real as the natural world that we see and touch every day. Whether we realize it or not, we have to accept the fact that there are 1.5 million people practicing witchcraft in our population today in the U.S. that means that millions of people are partaking in the very evil that God warned us against practicing as it would eternally separate us from Him in Jesus forever.
For that reason Jesus came to destory the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
We shouldn’t take the spiritual realm lightly and consider walking with Jesus to give us peace in the day to day as we expectantly wait for His return for our Salvation (Isaiah 9:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:14). As a future wife, mom, and caring family member and friend. I know that one day I will have to leave my parent’s home and not have the same spiritual covering that I have by being protected living with them who pray for me every day that I would once have no longer as soon as I choose to go out and live in the world independently.
Even as I live at home with my parents, I know that even if people don’t interact with people everyday they are expectantly watching me. Social media is a great way for people to keep tabs on each other without us even knowing it. Even though people don’t say anything there is always someone watching you and paying attention to your posts. Envy is a real thing in the community and people hate to see you live happily. So be careful of the secrets you share with other people and guard your heart from the friendships that you know the Holy Spirit is warning you about.
Remember you are not alone in experiencing the struggles you are facing (1 Peter 5:6-10). The battle is in your mind and you are more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:31-39). Feel free to read over the points in this post in chunks as many times as you like. It is a really long post and would take time to digest it.
Confession of Faith for Salvation
If you have read this and would like to receive in Jesus in your heart or have already at some point but find yourself in a backslidden position feeling God’s tug on your heart to return to Him to keep fighting the good fight of faith righ now is a good time to come back to Jesus.
Pray this prayer in the privacy of your own home.
Dear Jesus,
I confess with my mouth that you are the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God has raised you from the dead on the third day. Please come into my heart so that I may receive your salvation today.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
Scripture says,
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)