The Bible is really very practical. In an earlier post, I outlined the Steps to Victory as seek God, trust God, obey God, pray till it's over. This post fleshes it out a bit more.
1. Identify the Battle
2. Side-step or block the attack
3. Counter attack
4. Repeat 2 & 3 with prayer and consultation with God until it's over
1. Identify the battle by Seeking God
This first step can occur in a split second. Problems can spring up suddenly from nowhere, and the danger is that we just react to the problem. Being alert and watchful means that you are able to have a quick assessment of the situation before choosing your response. For me, that 'quick assessment' usually takes the form of a little prayer that goes, 'God...what's happening here? Show me!', then seeing where the battle lies.
But sometimes we don't even realise that the problem is a test of our ability to stick to God's principles.
For example, it's easy to think of a misunderstanding as an unpleasant event that just happens to have destroyed your friendship - but what if you realised that you would have to fight to keep that relationship alive, and therefore refused to allow that misunderstanding to hurt you, or the other person?
Another example is when a tragic thing occurs in your life, and you are crippled with hurt, regret, fear, whatever. You can let the experience steam-roll over you, or you can treat it as a battle to keep your peace, joy, and to get back what Satan stole from you.
Realising that a situation is actually a battle gets you halfway to victory. Not everything is a battle, and not everything needs to become one but when you have one brewing, you'd want to know it.
Once you've identified the battleground (eg. relationship, pride, future hopes), remember who you are: For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God...and if children, then heirs and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:14, 17); and remember who you have: "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" Matt 28:20.
Winning a battle is only possible from the position of a Child of God in the power of God.
2. Side-step or block the attack
You don't have to receive what that person has said or done to you as a personal thing. That office situation might be difficult but once you take it personally, you are weakened.
This step requires trust in God. If you don't trust that God will keep His promises, you won't be able to side-step that attack of fear, and it could really cripple you. If you don't trust that humility is better than pride, you will try to protect your pride and lose the round.
An effective block is to stay in God's love. It is effective for several reasons: firstly because when you are secure in the love of God, it is harder to be hurt by others - it helps you see the problem in the bigger picture; secondly, because love sets you up for a great wet blanket over most petty arguments: a soft answer turns away wrath (Prov 15:1), whereas the opposite is great for turning a little disagreement into full-scale war.
Love also...
suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:4-7)Staying in love protects YOU, and it also enables you to win the battle faster. Don't lose sight of the value of that person or organisation; avoid seeing THEM as the enemy. That's what Satan would love you to do. Staying in the love of God in itself takes some skill and experience: exercise it often.
3. Counter attack
This step is most effective when we OBEY God, and apply His Word.
2 Cor 10: 4-5
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of ChristA carnal counter-attack is to instinctively act on your fear, retaliate, protect your pride and hurt that person back, or you take steps to prove yourself, whatever. Many battles are fought over the protection of our pride, or the protection of our right to something, including the right to worry. A spiritual Christian will ruthlessly deny their carnal instincts the right to be acted on, and choose God's ways: only God's ways position you for victory.
The definition of 'victory' in a spiritual battle is also different to what most people think. In most cases, people people think 'victory' means 'I get my way', or 'I keep my pride', or both if possible! To a Christian, 'victory' should mean that God's principles are upheld, and that He is glorified.
The weapons Paul talks about in 2 Cor 10 include (but is not exclusive to) grace, soft answers, godly humility (developing this character in yourself makes you less susceptible to attacks against your self-worth or pride), prayer, the Word of God.
4. Keep at it till its over.
Battles are not usually one-KO moments. Sometimes they are (hooray), but there are long ones that require you to stay alert, to keep dodging the attacks, and keep employing counter-attacks. The specific counter-attack you require will come from your time with God in prayer and the Word. It can be draining, but remember - everything you go through is to mold you more into God's image, and to train you to be able to help others to victory. He won't allow anything to go beyond your ability to handle it.
So let's look at some examples.
Scenario 1: Someone just called you useless, and you've suddenly seen red and lost it. A shouting match ensues.
The Attack: the word 'useless'; Satan injects some venom with it ("see, you've been working hard at it but no one cares")
Wound: feeling condemned and worthless; your ego is shot.
Status: 1 (or several, depending on how deep you let the insult go) life lost.
Aftermath: Both people are wounded, several 'lives' are lost, both have lost the battle. Satan has won: he's managed to drive a rift in this relationship that was just getting mended from the last time they fought. He also knows now which attacks work really well, and he'll keep recycling them. This is the cause of re-occurring arguments or 'you always do this' moments.
In such a scenario, who is the REAL enemy?
Rewind - let's say you are alert enough to assess the situation before reacting.
Scenario 2: someone called you useless
The Attack: the word 'useless'; Satan injects some venom with it ("see, you've been working hard at it but no one cares")
Defensive Move: you recognise the attack and intercept the word 'useless' before it can hurt you, and think, "poor thing, they've had a hard day. It's true that I could have done that better."
Counter Attack: Swallow pride, and reply graciously, "Sorry. Let's re-do that." [notice that the correct response is NOT to put yourself down, but to side-step the urge for defensiveness.]
Wound: nil
Result: Other person is taken aback and is silenced.
Status: XP won
Let's say Scenario 1 has occurred, and you only realise what really happened AFTER you're both hurt. All is not lost. It's harder now to gain victory, but it is more than possible if you follow God's principles.
Action: retreat and consult with your Commander in Chief (ie pray to God). When you do this, God also applies 'heal' (sorry about the gaming references but it's easier to explain) if you let Him. To get to the point of 'heal', you need to have your rant with God, get the hurt off your chest, surrender the problem to Him, then ask His opinion and direction for what to do next.
Counter-attack: Applying God's instructions eg. God has placed in your heart to apologise first, even though you didn't feel it was your fault. So you wait for the right time (VERY IMPORTANT), and do so.
Result: Forgiveness all round, found 1 life (or more), XP gained.
In more difficult battles, the other person continues to say or do hurtful things, or they refuse to forgive you, and you will need to employ more counter-moves.
Sometimes you set out meaning to obey God but it doesn't happen, and you need to start over. Sometimes you have to retreat to lick your wounds and reassess your position. In those moments, always remember to include God. You must remember that victory is guaranteed, but only IF you stick to God's way of dealing with things.
The scenarios I've painted are intended to be common, almost every-day ones. Of course, there are others that are not so common-place. But the principles are the same. There are also other powerful weapons we have access to as children of God that I have not mentioned here. I encourage you to study God's Word for yourself to find out what these are. Ephesians chapter 6 is a good start.
Other common attacks used by the enemy are fear, intimidation and rejection. These need to be dealt with faith (ie we remember what God said about something and choose to believe that instead of what message the fear or rejection seem to be giving us - doing this is like using it as a shield (Eph 6:16) against the attack) and the Word of God (ie we do what Jesus did in His great temptations, we pray and tell the real enemy, "it is written..." - this is the Sword of the Spirit). Get the picture?
Spiritual warfare is not supposed to be complicated. You only need to follow God's guidance. But it IS tough. And yet, you are more than able! Did it ever occur to you that once you were born again, you are a supernatural being, not a natural one? You were born to operate from the spiritual realm, and to experience victory again, and again. God is with you - seek Him, trust Him, obey Him, and stick with Him till it's over.
Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS might! (Eph 6:10)
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