Every warrior knows the first rule of any fight: identify the threat before you attack. Get that wrong, and you’ll spend everything you’ve got on the wrong target and ultimately loose the battle.
The guy who cuts you off in traffic. The boss who takes credit for your work. The coworker angling for your job. The neighbor or the friend who let you down, or maybe turned on you. And the big one of course, your wife, your kids, and your own family and it’s always the people closest to us that can hurt us the worst.
When someone is in your face, stabbing you in the back, or opposing you, threatening you, or outright hurting you, it feels obvious who the enemy is. They are standing right there and every bone in your body is telling you to do something about it. And if you do, you run the risk of destroying everything.
Paul teaches us who the real enemy is: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). He wrote that as a prisoner of Rome, “an ambassador in chains” (Ephesians 6:20), and he still knew the soldier guarding him wasn’t the real enemy.
God created more than the world you can see and touch. The Scripture teaches us about the spiritual world and it’s all around us. He created it and it is every bit as real as the material one we live in. God rules the spirit realm and His Holy Spirit lives in each believer committed to Jesus Christ. Satan, also lives in the spirit realm but he turned from God and he with his fallen angels were cast down to hell as we learn in 2 Peter 2:4, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment”
Jesus called Satan a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).
You can’t see him, but he works against you through those you can see, those people that let you down, hurt you, offended you, and who are a threat. That’s satan’s strategy. He deceives, tempts you to strike back, justifies you hurting those that hurt you. He pushes your buttons and gets you swinging, leaving a trail of destruction in your wake, and he walks away untouched.
So stop fighting the wrong war. The person across from you isn’t your enemy. Often he’s the enemy’s target, the same as you. Your real fight is in the unseen realm, and that’s where you win it.
What You Can Do
When conflict, offense, or a threat comes at you, follow these steps:
- Turn to God first. Before you speak or react, go to the Father in prayer. “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Submit to Him first, and then resist.
- Take your authority. As a baptized believer in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), you are not defenseless. Jesus said, “I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). You’re not asking for permission. You’re standing on what He already gave you.
- Forgive the person. The man attacking you is not the source. He’s under an influence he may not even recognize. From the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Release the person so you can deal with the real enemy.
- Reject the spirit out loud. Name what is coming against you, whether it’s anger, division, deception, or hatred, and refuse it out loud. Jesus didn’t negotiate with demons. He rebuked them: “Be quiet, and come out of him!” (Mark 1:25).
- Silence it in the Name of Jesus Christ. Paul did it in Philippi: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her” (Acts 16:18). There is no higher name (Philippians 2:9–10). You can say something like this:
“Father, I forgive [name]. Spirit of [anger/division/strife], I reject you. I silence you and command you to leave, in the Name of Jesus Christ.”
Then walk forward in peace. The battle was never yours alone.
Scripture References (NKJV)
- Ephesians 6:10–20
- Ephesians 2:2
- John 8:44
- 2 Peter 2:4
- Jude 6
- James 4:7
- Matthew 28:19
- Luke 10:19
- Luke 23:34
- Mark 1:25
- Acts 16:18
- Philippians 2:9–10
The devotional body stays as it was. This section replaces the earlier one and runs about 280 words. If you’d rather not include the sample declaration, cutting it brings the section down to about 230 words.
