I never really thought about or even heard of the term spiritual warfare until I came on the Race.
Sleeping on the roof and waking up to hearing Buddhist monks chanting in Cambodia every morning was the first time that I ever experienced spiritual heaviness. It’s hard to even describe. It was so strange to me that I always felt this weird heaviness when I heard them because I didn’t know why listening to people chanting would make me feel that way. I kind of just brushed it aside and figured that I was grumpy that they had woken me up at 4 in the morning.
As we spent more and more time in Cambodia and visited the Buddhist temples, I began to learn more about spiritual warfare, why I was feeling the way I was feeling, and how real it actually is.
As we moved to Africa and began living in a mostly Muslim community, I again felt a lot of spiritual heaviness. There was a lot of chanting here too. When we would go to the local churches, it wasn’t uncommon to see the pastors and congregation casting out demons from people.
Spirits and demons were things that I knew about from reading my Bible, but I thought that they only resided in Bible times.
Why was I seeing these things happening in front of my eyes and feel this kind of heaviness that I had never experienced in my life before?
I’ve learned that the enemy attacks us in many different ways. He is sneaky in his attempts. He often uses things that we wouldn’t expect to get us to believe lies about ourselves, the world, and God, and to turn from The Truth (Jesus). In Asia and Africa, there were lots of spirits and demons.
Experiencing this, I began thinking about how I have encountered spiritual warfare in the past without even knowing it. Heaviness looks a lot different in America (or Western culture) and it is easy to forget that because sometimes we become numb to it. The Lord revealed a lot of things in our society that are being twisted by the enemy so that we believe these lies without even knowing it. It happens all the time on the internet, on social media, in music & movies. We listened to a podcast the other day that pointed out that there’s a reason that that they’re called social media feeds. They often feed us lies. Our perspectives can easily be shifted. It’s so easy to turn our eyes from the Lord to things of the world. Being off of social media these last two months has made me realize just how much social media can have an effect on me and my relationship with God. These things are so common but they can also bring a lot of darkness to our lives. Heaviness from these things feels a lot different than the heaviness I have felt on the Race but it is just as valid.
I think that science can also sometimes be another one. Science for me is one of the biggest ways that I see God and know not only of His existence, but also His power and authority. To me, such intricate things have to have a Creator. Science can often become a topic where defensiveness and divisiveness comes in which is just a scheme of the enemy.
Just because things like social media or science can sometimes be used to get us to believe lies, it doesn’t mean that other things can’t be used. Being from a western culture doesn’t mean that we are immune to evil spirits or demons. And being from a place like Africa doesn’t mean you are immune to having the enemy use the culture around you to distort your perspectives. Yes certain things are more common in certain places, but the enemy likes to try and catch us off guard and it’s our job to be aware of it.
Learning more about spiritual warfare has been such a powerful reminder of the fact that we are called to put on the Armor of God every. single. day. Evil is still evil. But the victory has already been won. We have been given authority over everything because Jesus conquered death and all evil when He died on the cross. God gives us eyes to see the lies if we ask Him. It’s important to get rid of the lies and then to fill those places up with truths – The Truth (aka Jesus) – otherwise we are still vulnerable to attack.
-Elena
That’s funny because we just had these similar talks over the weekend. We as humans can justify anything to justify our reality being okay. We have moved so far off center and have an attitude of “if it doesn’t hurt me, then just do it or I’m okay with it or we just have to adjust”. If God is not your center, we will fall to worldliness! If it feels wrong the first time you hear it ( which can be the Holy Spirit guiding your moral gauge), it probably is and should not “over time” be justified as okay! You are right, evil does not pick just one continent, one faith, one person. It is sneaky and happens little by little. God is our only truth and gives us an internal gauge to follow.
Isn’t it crazy that we need to get out of our “normal”, our country, so we can see things for how they truly are? I am so glad you have had the opportunity to recognize the spiritual beings that are at work around you. The verse your referenced about putting on your armor in Ephesians 6 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms….that’s why we armor up each day….they are alive and active, and our enemy seeks to devour us….we need to be prepared. Now, when you come back to the states, your sensitivity will be heightened and you will be ready for battle. Also, your experiences give you the platform from which to share the realities of the spiritual world, we in the west tend to ignore or brush off. Our God is victorious through Jesus our Lord and Savior. No need to fear. Awareness is key, and Abba will give us discernment through His Spirit so we know what to do, think and say when we run into the enemy. Stay strong and fight smart — with God’s sword, His Word!!