Spiritual Warfare: How to Use the Sword God Gave You

Have you heard about spiritual warfare, but you’re wondering how to come out undefeated? Read on to learn how to use the sword God gave you. 

On the odd occasion, I joke that I’m a mess. For example, in a given hour, I: 

• transferred the washed laundry but forgot to turn on the dryer
• put the milk in the pantry
• burned dinner

“Where is my brain?? I’m just a mess!”

But does God want us to be or even think we’re a spiritual mess? 

The Spiritual Battle

Sometimes I feel like I’m walking through a wardrobe of coats and I can’t see anything. I want to stumble out of them into a whole new world like they did in Narnia. I wish I could see in the spirit realm so I can see what God sees. 

Because there’s a spiritual war going on.

Instead, He allows me to sense the battle. I think about how I’ve been tripping through the coats: touching temptations, tasting my foot, testing boundaries, talking about trials. 

Panic-stricken, I pray Help me, God! I’m a mess! 

He simply responds, “I have given you a sword.”

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

First, I have to pick up the sword God has given me.

Next, I have to learn how to use it.

Finally, I need to know it well enough to fight victoriously with it.

When I can wield my sword, it becomes my liberation.

The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The written Word has love, instructions, commandments, truth, warning, judgment, wisdom, knowledge, strategy, and victory. 

This is God’s verbiage. I want to talk like my Father talks.

But more specifically, apply it to my situation.

Speaking This Way Is the Spiritual Warfare That Affects Me, God, and the Devil. 

It Affects God

God hears it and sends it and change happens. Isaiah 55:11 is certainly a powerful verse! I can’t see into the spirit realm, but what I say goes into the atmosphere and there is either life or death in the power of what I speak (Proverbs 18:21). So I need to speak Truth.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11 

It Affects Satan

I submit to God through this kind of verbalizing and the devil hears it and flees (James 4:7). Jesus gave me power over him (Luke 10:19), and he is defeated. The “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” doesn’t apply to him! He runs from the one talking like God. 

The key to your victory is targeted prayer. You want to know how to get the devil running away with his tail between his legs!

It Affects Me 

I hear it and my faith rises. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). It’s like a boomerang; faith is going to come back every time. My thinking aligns with Truth when I hear it. When my thinking aligns, my words come in line, and my actions follow suit.

God doesn’t want me to misuse His grace or believe lies the enemy whispers, so He begins to speak to my heart. He reminds me to pick up my sword. He invites me to come and know His:

• loving promises
• wise commands 
• pure truth 

…and it makes me free.

It’s not easy to get into the habit of speaking His Word when trouble comes. I may not feel like it. I may have been listening to the lies of the devil. Or I may not even agree at first! But I do it through obedience. And because I know who I am in Christ.

This my friend, is spiritual warfare.

So I don’t declare I’m a mess. Instead, I learn to speak what God says about me, because that is what is really true. 

God’s Word works. It doesn’t return void. Instead it changes me or my situation. Because there is power in what God speaks. That’s the better option.

The Best Spiritual Warfare Scriptures

What does the Bible say about spiritual warfare? You can start by checking out these powerful Bible verses.

Matthew 4:2-10

When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’” 

Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’” 

Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” 

Matthew 16:19

I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

Luke 10:19

Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.

2 Corinthians 2:11 

That no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, 5 throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  

James 4:7

Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Prayer Resources to Level Up Your Spiritual Warfare

What about the spiritual warfare around you? Are you aware of the types of attacks coming against you? And even more importantly, how to pray with precision against them? 

You need resources to level up your prayer life!

The Scripture Arsenal: Your Liberating Spiritual Warfare Manual will give you a greater understanding of spiritual warfare and awareness of the spiritual attacks against your life. Learn how to pray with precision and fight victoriously. Check it out here.

Or, if you’re new to the Christian faith, you might like to check out my Prayer Guide: What Every Believer Needs to Know.

Use these concise daily prayers to help you live yielded to God in every area of life. Add the general ones to your morning prayers or pick a specific topic to pray. Or get the 45 Daily Prayers eBook from the Live Yielded Shop.