A Practical Method For Spiritual Warfare

In this article, I want to suggest a powerful, practical method for spiritual warfare—one that I believe will be a game-changer in your everyday life. We'll explore how consistently announcing what is true and renouncing what is false can become a potent weapon, helping you navigate the unseen battles that often manifest as struggles in our thoughts and emotions.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

At the Catholic Easter Vigil Mass, there is a significant moment where the congregation renews their Baptismal Promises.

In essence, the priest leads the faithful to announce what is true and to renounce what is false.

For the purposes of this article we’ll begin with the questions that invite annunciations. He asks:

"Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?"

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father?"

"Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?"

In responding “I do” to these questions, we are in a very real sense aligning ourselves with reality. While emotions may be present, they don’t need to be. Simply stating our agreement with the way things are is enough.

Prior to the above questions are a series of questions which invite renunciation:

"Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?"

"Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you?"

"Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin?"

In responding “I do” to these questions, we are renouncing, repudiating, what is false.

To those who may attend Holy Mass once or twice a year they may be surprised to discover just how seriously the Church takes the reality of the Devil and spiritual warfare. But anyone somewhat familiar with the Scriptures and the consistent teaching of the Church would not be. Here I could dump a multitude of Scriptural verses proving my point, but one will suffice. From the first letter of St. Peter:

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

And now for the main point of this article: Just as it is beneficial to regularly align ourselves with what is true (say through an act of faith), it is also beneficial to regularly repudiate, and disassociate with, what is false.

And given that our lives are situated squarely within a world at war. A world which “lies in the power of the evil one.” in which demonic forces are seeking to blind us to the things of God (2 Cor. 4:4). This is something we are going to be needing to do in one form or another on a daily basis. Multiple times a day.

Let me offer a personal anecdote that will illustrate this. I was about to interview someone on a topic that I knew would get blowback from the Demonic realm. I was going on a walk praying my rosary before my guest arrived. While I was walking I slowly became aware of a sort of oppressive force. I felt sad and restricted, somehow. Anxious. I’m not sure how long I was feeling that way, but at any rate I didn’t become conscious of it until that moment. I stopped walking and tried to sum up what I was experiencing in a word. It clicked. intimidation. That’s was it. I felt intimidated. And so I said the following prayer:

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I renounce the spirit of intimidation. And I announce in the name of Jesus Christ the truth that God is for me and therefore no evil spirit can overcome me.” Or something like that. I prayed it again. And again. And the oppressive spirit just lifted. Vanished. In it’s place was a sense of confidence and joy and freedom.

Let me give you one more example of how this renouncing and announcing prayer might work. I’m taking this from my friend, Dr. Bob Schutz who runs the very beautiful apostolate John Paul II Healing Center. Suppose you are overcome by a sprit of unreasonable powerlessness (as opposed to our natural limitations as creatures). An unreasonable fear that you are weak, pathetic, incapable of change, and so on. Well, since this is, in fact, a lie, you’d do well to renounce it and then announce the truth. You might say something like:

In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce the lie that I am powerless, weak, unable to change, not capable; that I am stuck, trapped, that I don't know what to do". In Jesus name, I announce the Truth that Jesus promised that his grace is perfected in my weakness, so that when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Co. 12:8-10). I announce the Truth, that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). I announce the Truth that "Where the Holy Spirit is there is freedom. (2 Co. 3:17). Therefore I accept the truth that I am empowered by Christ and liberated by the Holy Spirit. I announce the Truth that through Confirmation, I am anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives and dwells in me."

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

How many of us walk around under the influence of some spirit and just chalk it up to a bad mood, or the annoying people we have to interact with, or a poor night’s sleep. Certainly these may be causes, but the fact that we so infrequently even question whether something spiritual is afoot, is, I think illustrative of the fact that we either do not believe we are in a world at war, or, if we are, that we are not important enough to come under the assault of evil spirits. Your life will begin to make a lot more sense to you when you finally accept that you are loved beyond your wildest imaginings, and hated beyond your wildest fears.

But the ultimate truth to announce is this: we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.

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