Spiritual warfare is not limited to moments when we are praying against demonic attacks, casting out devils or confronting obvious manifestations of darkness. Sometimes the battle is happening much closer to home. It is happening in our thoughts, our conversations and the offenses we continue to rehearse long after the original wound occurred.
Katie Souza recently delivered a blunt warning about what can happen when we allow those things to dominate us.
“You’re inviting devils to come,” Souza said. “Every time you allow yourself to meditate on what this person’s doing this to me or that person’s doing [to] me, you are being earthy, unspiritual, devilish and demonical.”
That statement should get our attention because Scripture makes it clear that believers can give the enemy ground. Paul warns us in Ephesians 4:27 not to “give place to the devil.” That warning appears in a passage dealing with anger, corrupt communication, bitterness, wrath, evil speaking and malice.
The enemy is looking for a foothold. We need to make sure we are not the ones giving it to him.
1. You Can Give the Enemy Ground
Consider Peter. When Jesus told His disciples that He would suffer, be killed and rise again, Peter rebuked Him. Jesus responded with the unmistakable words, “Get behind me, Satan.”
Peter loved Jesus. He was not consciously attempting to cooperate with Satan. Yet his thinking stood directly against God’s plan for Christ to go to the cross.
Souza points to this encounter as an example of how sincere people can come into agreement with the wrong thing. Peter was hearing Jesus through an earthly perspective rather than understanding what God was accomplishing.
That should cause us to examine our own lives. What are you agreeing with because it feels justified? What offense are you continuing to rehearse because somebody genuinely hurt you? What fear have you accepted because the circumstances appear frightening? What bitterness have you excused because you believe the other person deserves your anger?
Spiritual warfare requires us to understand that not every thought deserves our agreement. Not every emotion deserves control over our actions, and not every offense deserves permanent residence in our minds.
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2. Watch What You Entertain
This is where Souza’s message becomes uncomfortable, because the flesh can enjoy the very things that are poisoning us spiritually.
“Your soul actually finds satisfaction when somebody starts gossiping about somebody,” Souza said. “Your soul actually finds satisfaction when you can complain about a situation that you’re going through.”
We know exactly how this works. Someone hurts us, and we replay the conversation. We think about what we should have said. Then we tell someone else what happened. Later, we tell another person. Each time we tell the story, we relive the offense, reinforce the anger and give bitterness another opportunity to put down roots.
Souza connects this behavior with James 3, where Scripture contrasts wisdom from above with wisdom that is “earthly, sensual, demonic.” James says envy and selfish ambition produce confusion and every evil work, while wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful and full of good fruit.
That gives us a powerful test for our own spiritual lives. Look at the fruit of what you are entertaining. Is this thought producing peace or strife? Is this conversation producing mercy or bitterness? Are your words moving you toward forgiveness or keeping the wound alive?
We cannot continually feed gossip, offense, fear, anger and complaining while expecting those things to have no spiritual consequences. If we want victory in spiritual warfare, we have to stop feeding what we are trying to defeat.
3. Live From Where Christ Seated You
This is where Souza’s message moves from warning into empowerment. We are not powerless people desperately trying to survive whatever the enemy throws at us. We belong to Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and Scripture tells us that God has raised us up and seated us with Christ in heavenly places.
Souza calls this living “ascended.”
“You are a citizen of heaven,” she said. “You have a right to everything that’s in heaven. Why are you focusing so much on earth?”
The point is not to pretend our earthly problems do not exist. Being heavenly minded does not mean ignoring bills, family problems, painful relationships or difficult circumstances. It means those circumstances do not get to determine our spiritual position.
When offense comes, we choose forgiveness. When fear comes, we answer it with faith. When gossip begins, we refuse to participate. When bitterness tries to take root, we bring it before the Holy Spirit instead of nurturing it. When the enemy attacks our minds, we answer his lies with the Word of God.
That is spiritual warfare lived out in everyday life.
The enemy wants you staring endlessly at what somebody did to you because as long as you are consumed with the offense, your attention remains fixed on the wound. The Holy Spirit calls us back to Christ and reminds us who we are, where we are seated and what Jesus has already accomplished.
Souza describes this as learning to “go up and stay up.”
“Don’t let somebody arguing with you bring you down,” she said. “Don’t let a disappointment cause you to come down from being seated. Don’t let somebody wanting to pull you into a conflict … cause you to come into agreement with that.”
We do not have to descend into every argument somebody invites us into. We do not have to answer every accusation, rehearse every offense or participate in every conflict. Sometimes spiritual victory is recognizing the invitation for what it is and refusing to accept it.
4. Shut the Door and Take Back the Ground
When the Holy Spirit reveals an area where we have given the enemy room, our response should not be condemnation. It should be action.
We repent where repentance is necessary. We forgive those we have refused to forgive. We stop repeating the gossip. We break our agreement with bitterness, reject fear, guard our mouths and renew our minds with Scripture. We pray in the Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to expose attitudes and thought patterns that have become so familiar that we no longer recognize how destructive they are.
Souza recommends starting the day with Scripture and prayer, memorizing biblical truths, limiting toxic input and filtering our reactions through God’s Word before responding. She also warns against allowing relationships built around earthly thinking, gossip and conflict to continually pull us back into the same patterns.
These practices may sound simple, but they are profoundly important in spiritual warfare. The battle is not always won through one dramatic confrontation. Sometimes victory is found in what we refuse to entertain tomorrow morning. It is found when the gossip starts and we do not join in, when the old offense surfaces and we choose forgiveness again, or when fear begins speaking and we immediately answer it with the promises of God.
You do not have to remain chained to what somebody did to you. You do not have to spend another week replaying a conversation that happened months ago. You do not have to allow fear to narrate your future or bitterness to poison your relationships.
Most importantly, we do not have to surrender spiritual territory Jesus Christ has already purchased for us.
The enemy will gladly exploit whatever ground we willingly surrender, but we are not helpless against him. Jesus has already won the victory. We have His Word, His authority and His Spirit dwelling within us.
Our responsibility is to stand in that victory, fill our minds with truth, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and refuse to give the devil a foothold. When the enemy comes looking for an open door, he should find it shut by believers who know exactly who we are in Christ.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
