Spiritual Warfare

Your short-term mission trip may push you beyond your comfort zone to the edge of a spiritual cliff where you face a dilemma: Do I go deeper with Chist in this experience? Or do I withdraw into the protective shell of familiar attitudes that feel safe? If you choose to fly with Holy Spirit wings, these dos and don’ts of spiritual warfare may help you.

The Dos

1. Do Apply Your Faith
   Most spiritual warfare comes down to a simple act of faith. Trust Jesus in the unfamiliar and dare to believe promises from the Scripture that have been little more than doctrinal truths until now. Cling to specific verses and ask friends to pray with you as you wait for Jesus Christ to win the victory.
2. Do Confront Your Sin
   Lessons of faith go slowly when we aren’t honest with ourselves. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you areas of personal failure. Then do the work of personal restoration to Christ. A new environment can free you to see your need of the Lord’s forgiveness more clearly. And the challenges of a different culture can spur you to clean your own house.
3. Do Accept Spiritual Change
   Spiritual warfare can be as practical as finding a chance to grow and saying “yes.” On a short-term mission trip, this often involves deciding to leave familiar notions of your own culture behind – recognizing that many values you hold originate in your society not in the Bible. It’s not easy to leave this emotional security. But if you understand it as spiritual warfare, you can lean on the Word and on others for help.
4. Do Enter the Battle on Behalf of Others
   Look for ways to help others maximize their own stretching experiences – encouraging, serving and enableing them. This requires you to shift your focus away from small personal issues that may obscure the deeper work of Christ. Some call this leadership. Others call it servanthood.
5. Do Pray Against Evil
   Many traditions in the Church teach about this aspect of spiritual warfare. Some simply ask for the Lord’s protection. Others tell the devil to flee. Yet others claim specific territories for Jesus, praying against territorial spirits. Be diligent – whatever your training in prayer – and build personal and team prayer into your schedule.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Adopt a Rambo Complex
   Spiritual warfare isn’t human warfare. You don’t bomb villages, overcome the weak, take prisoners, demand submission, and hold “peace talks” once the damage is done. It’s easy to run over others in the name of Spiritual Work. But as a short-term missionary, you aren’t called into an area to be a personal hero. Your chief warrior is Jesus Christ. And He died for his enemies – you included. Now you are called to this same tactic. To lose your life for others – in the name of Jesus.
2. Don’t Blame it all on Satan
   It’s too easy to hide our own weaknesses and failures behind “attacks from the evil one.” If you aren’t getting on well with a team practice humility and servant hood. If a national leader decides to change your plans, leave your ego behind and learn someting. Don’t blame the devil. When things go wrong, don’t spend your time cursing the darkness. Rather ask the Holy Spirit for switches to turn on the Light.
3. Don’t Blame “Wicked” Cultures
   When we enter a new culture, certain things feel “wrong” because we’ve already assigned negative values to them in our own society. Perhaps you’ve been taught that “tardiness” or “uncleanliness” is next to ungodliness. Or that dancing is cursed. Or drums. Your training may tempt you to label these things “heathen” and to deal with them by rebuking the devil. But take care. Don’t equate spiritual righteousness with your own cultural preferences and training. Don’t inflate a false sense of spiritual pride and obscure what the Lord is really doing.

Spiritual Warfare
Pg 84, The Short-Term Missions Handbook, First Edition
© 1992 Berry Publishing Services, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

*** Teens4Jesus would like that thank the Short Term Mission Handbook for allowing permission to use this article. ***

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