5 Spiritual Warfare Tactics You Need to Know About

Here are 5 spiritual warfare tactics that the enemy uses that you need to know about.

Putting on the Armor

Paul warns us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12) which is why he tells us that we must “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Eph 6:13).

The spiritual armor includes 5 things that are needed and these 5 things correspond to at least 5 ways that the enemy tries to take us down.

An Assault on the Truth

The Enemy loves to mix truth with error and even a half-truth is a whole lie so beware of false ideas or teachings of those who appear to be a minister or an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14-15). Place everything against the Word of God to see if it is true or not which is why Paul said that part of the armor is “having fastened on the belt of truth” (Eph 6:14a) and truth is found only in the Bible.

Compromising with Sin

Wicked spirits love it when we try to justify our sin. Many that have tried to do this have used what I call “proof texting” methods. That is they take a text out of context in order to make a false pretext by teaching or believing that “the Bible doesn’t really call that (whatever it is) sin.” Beware of such methods which is why Paul said part of our armor should be “the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14b) which means that we are to strive to live a holy life and not compromise on sin because God doesn’t.

Another Gospel

We need to be aware that there is “the” gospel and other so-called gospels which Paul says are really no gospel at all (2 Cor 11:4). All too often you’ll hear gospels that tell you that you should be doing certain things to complete your salvation but if you add one drop of poison to a bottle of spring water, it renders all of it as deadly so this is why Paul instructs believers to “put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15) because works + salvation = nothing but Christ + nothing = eternal life (Eph 2:8-9).

An Attack on your Faith

Jude writes to “have mercy on those who doubt” (Jude 1:22) because many of us have doubts from time to time which is why Paul says we are to “take up the shield of faith” which the Enemy is constantly firing fiery darts at so this “shield of faith” is so that “you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Eph 6:16).

Attacking our Mind

For many believers, their mind is frequently being assaulted by the Enemy by trying to put negative thoughts into our minds which is why we are told to “take the helmet of salvation” and put it on and then take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:17). Why is the helmet used? Because it protects the head and our knowledge of God and the sword, which is the Word of God can be used to guard our minds with the immutable promises and truth of God. The more you stick your head in the Word the more the Word sticks in your head. Our knowledge of God’s promises are guarded by His Word and the more you read it, the more you can strengthen this “helmet of salvation” and having more and more reassurance of just how firm God’s Word is that you are saved (John 6:37, 39; John 10:28-29) and nothing, including death, life, rulers, angels, powers, things now or to come, or no created thing can ever separate you from God’s love (Rom 8:37-39) because we’ve read there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). That’s one strong helmet of salvation, isn’t it?