SocialGalactician Lord Mountebanks asked if we know anything about spiritual warfare. And when a 'Lord' asks something, a Delta is somewhat obliged to do what he can. Unfortunately, I am not (yet) a veteran of spiritual warfare. Right now I'm kind of not a threat to El Diablo, so he does not bother with me. If and when I get my spiritual house in order, the prince of this World might start to take interest in me. But that's neither here nor there. What is here is what I know about spiritual conflicts, in the hope that it helps the reader. So, in no particular order, here are the major differences between physical and spiritual warfare.
First, there is your identity in the conflict. What I mean is that, in any physical battle, from a scuffle with your brother to the Battle of Kursk and everything in between, you are a party to the hostilities. There is also the object of interest, and it's not you. For example, when scuffling with your brother, both you and your brother are parties to the conflict. The object of interest is the TV remote, or the toy car, or whatever. In physical/material warfare, there is usually a territory that is fought over. In short, there is something that gets fought over, and it's not you.
In spiritual warfare, you are the object of interest. Well, your soul is. You are the battlefield. The parties to the conflict are God the Father of Jesus Christ of Nazareth versus whomever the devil decided to field. To an extent, you can be a party to the conflict, through prayer. But the battle is fundamentally about you, you're not one of the fighters. Yes, you have Free Will, but what you do with that Free Will is what the spiritual conflict is about. It is kind of confusing, because confusing you is part of El Diablo's Battle Plan.
Second, there is the will to win. In a physical conflict, your will to achieve whatever you consider a victory is one hundred percent certain. Going back to the previous examples, you want the remote, or the toy car, or control of the Kursk Salient. Granted, there are all manners of decisions that have to be made over the course of the battle, but the general objective is clear and present.
In the spiritual realm, the objective is not clear. Again, this is due to the confusion that the prince of this World likes to sow, but it is also because you are the battleground. The remote, the toy car, and the Kursk Salient did not themselves pursue a particular objective, and neither do you. Yes, we all say that we want Jesus to win the spiritual battles in our souls, but some of us, such as the ticket takers, clearly do not want Jesus to win with all their heart, all their mind, and all their soul.
Third, there are the sides. In a physical/material conflict, there is one side and the other side. While there are some exceptions, it is generally the case that you are on a particular side with a particular objective. No matter the physical battle, you are on your side and you are pursuing your objective. You want the remote, the toy car, or the Kursk Salient.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the spiritual realm is very different. Being the battlefield, you are both the ally and the enemy, sometimes more of one than the other, but never entirely one. Original Sin guarantees that part of you was, is, and always will be, the enemy, while God's Grace guarantees that part of you will always be an ally.
Fourth, there is the condition of the battle. There is a clearly defined victory, and you can usually observe how close you are to victory or defeat. You can tell who has the remote, the toy car, or whether or not your tank got hit in the firefight. In other words, there are clearly defined objectives and parameters of success.
On the other hand, the spiritual war affords us no such luxury. We only know when our participation in the spiritual war ends, namely when we die. But it is only then that we find out how well we did. Before that point, the precise status of the battle for our souls is anyone's guess.
There you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen. That is what I can confidently tell you about the spiritual battles. As they say, knowing is half the battle. I pray that this adds to your understanding of the spiritual battle and helps you win!
In most ways, you are the battlefield in the spiritual war. However, you do have a choice in the matter. Either you take the ticket or you do not.
TLDR: In the spiritual war, you are the battlefield that is fought over. This makes a lot of things really confusing. Good luck!
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