The Spiritual Warfare Answer Book
By Dr. David Jeremiah
When Satan choreographs difficult circumstances in our lives, it is not just to inflict pain; it is for the purpose of destroying our trust in God.- (Introduction: Location 166)
For many followers of Jesus there is a lot of confusion about spiritual warfare and the spiritual realm in general from a biblical perspective. One of the things I like about this book is it will broaden your perspective on spiritual warfare. And since we have a tendency to not talk much about spiritual warfare this book can help broaden understanding of what it is by answering questions about it that you may not even realize you have. I think the name of spiritual warfare alone is challenging for many and can conjure up images that are inconsistent with reality. Jeremiah does well to unpack what Spiritual Warfare is and why it’s important to moving into deeper questions about it.
A large number of pastors and teachers, however, ignore or downplay spiritual warfare to the point that many professing Christians don’t even know they’re in a war. This lack of awareness puts Christians in serious danger. (Why Study Spiritual Warfare?: Location 185)
Jeremiah’s book answers a broad range of questions about spiritual warfare and actually many of these are questions alot of followers of Jesus have without even knowing how the questions relate to spiritual warfare. The formatting of the book helps as well. It is a compact book with short, easy to read question/answer sections specific to spiritual warfare. This allows the reader to jump back quickly to specific questions for further reference. Which is one of the things I like about the book. Here are a few of the questions this book seeks to tackle:
- Against Whom Are We Fighting?
- How Can I Be Certain I’ve Been Called to Battle?
- What Do We Know About Satan’s Origin?
- What Caused Lucifer to Fall from Heaven?
- How can I discern Satan’s lies from God’s truth
- Is Satan God’s Opposite?
- What Are Some Ways We Give Ground to the Enemy?
- What Is the Purpose of Prayer In God’s Armory?
- Am I Really to Pray “Always”? Is That Even Possible?
- What Does It Mean to Be “Watchful” In Prayer?
- How Can I Develop an Effective Prayer Life?
- What Are Some Ways I Can Pray for Others?
Reading this book will open your eyes to the spiritual realm, and better equip you in facing the challenges of fighting unseen forces. For me, my favorite part of the book is the section God’s Armory, where Jeremiah does an excellent job of unpacking what is meant by the “Armor of God” and expanded my understanding of this beyond what other authors have been able to do to date.
When Paul says the well-dressed Christian soldier must wear the “breastplate of righteousness,” he means that the righteousness of Christ should be like a second skin that will protect us from spiritual assaults by our enemy.
We’re fighting in a war that, in essence, we have already won. So even though the battle against Satan rages, we don’t have to fear defeat. We know victory over sin is ours in Christ. So, we put on this helmet of salvation—this knowledge of what Jesus did—and the helmet of salvation is our hope in Christ.
When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he used the Greek word machaira for sword. He wasn’t talking about what we would think of as a sword today; he was talking about a dagger, a weapon that people used in hand-to-hand combat. That metaphor suggests, then, that the sword of the Spirit . . . is a very precision-oriented instrument.
In other words, the Bible is an armory in which the individual swords of the Spirit are kept until you need them for close combat with the enemy.
“We are NOT fighting other religions, groups of people, political parties or even other countries!”
“Who are we REALLY battling?
Satan and his host of fallen angels!”
The Spiritual Warfare Answer Book is divided nicely into four main sections that each take you further into specifics of Spiritual Warfare:
- Terms of Engagement
- Behind Enemy Lines
- God’s Armory
- The Warfare of Prayer
The Spiritual Warfare Answer Book
NOTE: I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
Wow !!! This book sounds awesome I have never read anything by this author but I have seen his books out there – I am going to have to get this one !! Thank you so much for sharing.
I know you blog about a lot of books – out of curious do you have a few favorites that you would recommend aside from this one ??
Thank you so much – God bless you always
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“Moving Mountains: Praying with Passion, Confidence, and Authority” by John Eldredge is one that comes to mind as well as “Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ” by Neil Anderson.
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