What is spiritual warfare?
Answered by New Wine
Spiritual warfare is the ongoing conflict every believer is in with spiritual forces opposed to God, fought from the victory Christ already won at the cross, with spiritual weapons rather than human ones.
What the text says
Paul frames it in Ephesians 6:12: our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil. The enemy is not people.
That means warfare is not a special season or a ministry for a few. It begins the day you are saved.
And the victory is not in doubt. Colossians 2:15 says Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities and triumphed over them at the cross.
Bill Johnson puts the consequence plainly: we are not fighting for victory but from it, learning to apply what Jesus has already won.
The weapons
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strongholds, arguments, and every high thing raised against the knowledge of God. Derek Prince presses the point that tanks and bombs do not reach this enemy; spiritual warfare demands spiritual weapons.
Much of the fight is in the mind. Johnson stresses that taking every thought captive to Christ is where effectiveness is decided.
Standing or advancing?
Here the teachers I have in front of me emphasize different things.
- Watchman Nee reads Ephesians 6 as defensive: "stand" is the repeated command, the strong man is already bound, and the church's work is to maintain Christ's victory rather than attack.
- Derek Prince notes that the first five pieces of armor in Ephesians 6 protect, but the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, is the weapon of attack. He also teaches that believers pray through opposition and pull down strongholds.
These are not necessarily opposed. Both begin from a finished victory. They differ on how much initiative the church is called to take, and the library invites you to study that for yourself.
A necessary distinction
Warfare is the whole of the believer's resistance and standing. Deliverance, commanding a spirit to leave a person, is one specific ministry within it, not the whole of it. Not every struggle is demonic; flesh, grief, and sickness have their own remedies, and discernment guards against both denial and fixation.
You are already in the war, and you are already standing on a won battle.
So fight the way Scripture instructs: armed daily, thinking clearly, and resting in the finished work of the cross.
Sources
New Wine drew this answer from these teachings.
- The Glorious Church — Watchman Nee
- Spiritual Weapons For Spiritual Warfare — Derek Prince
- Spiritual Warfare: God's Strategy for Winning Every Battle - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church — Bill Johnson
- How Childlikeness and Creativity Defeat the Enemy - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church — Bill Johnson
- God's Remedy for Guilt / The Perfect Sacrifice — Derek Prince
