Shortly after joining the Church, I read an article by Monsignor Charles Pope entitled “On the Spiritual Attack of Our Converts and What to Do About It.” A friend had recommended it because, after a period of intense spiritual consolation, I soon began to experience spiritual dryness. I shared the article with my Order of Christian Initiation of Adults class. Several responded that they also were experiencing spiritual warfare or had seen it in the lives of others.
Spiritual warfare is real, and we are called to actively resist the devil. “Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he will run away from you” (James 4:7). Cling to the Lord, and he will rescue you (Ps 91:14).
How are we to actively resist the devil? Ephesians 6:10-18 provides the answer:
[G]row strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put on the full armor of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. That is why you must take up all God’s armor, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full. So stand your ground, with truth a belt round your waist, and uprightness a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One. And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God. In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion.
Our strength to triumph in the spiritual war comes from the Lord (Eph 6:10). “You can rely on the Lord, who will give you strength and guard you from the Evil One” (2 Thess 3:3). “Take strength from the grace which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2:1).
To resist the devil’s tactics (Eph 6:11) and avoid being outwitted by Satan’s scheming (2 Cor 2:11), we must put on the full armor of God — truth, uprightness, an eagerness to spread the Gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God — and pray on every possible occasion (Eph 6:14-18). In the abundance of his grace, God provides us full armor; without it, even if we fully exert ourselves, we cannot put up any resistance (Eph 6:11, 13).
The Word is the piece of armor that Jesus used in resisting the devil’s temptations (Matt 4:1-11). The devil is full of lies (Jn 8:44), but if we make the Word our home, we “will come to know the truth, and the truth will set [us] free” (Jn 8:31-32). Psalm 91 is a powerful psalm to pray daily for God’s protection.
Finally, praising God is an important tool in the spiritual war. “Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the world! Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens, even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms, you make him a fortress, firm against your foes, to subdue the enemy and the rebel” (Ps 8:1-2).
May the precious blood of Jesus protect us in the spiritual war (Rev 12:11). Happy Easter!
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