What is spiritual warfare?

The truth is, what you are saying is not Scriptural. Angels and demons are not ideas or concepts in the Bible; they are persons. Jesus was not wrestling with ideas either. “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” ~Matthew 4:1. The devil is a real adversary.

Demons know Jesus, talk to Him, and know they are going to be judged. “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” ~Matthew 8:29. This is not a metaphor; this is personal knowledge.

Scripture is quite plain: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” ~1 Peter 5:8. An adversary that walks and seeks is not a metaphor of how you think.

Paul is not talking about intellectual ideas either. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against… spiritual wickedness in high places” ~Ephesians 6:12. This is a real spiritual battle.

There is a battle between truth and lies, but this is a battle of truth vs. lies, not truth vs. your imagination and ideas. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God” ~2 Corinthians 10:5. The lies are not your imagination; they are the deceptions of the devil.

As soon as you turn demons into ideas and concepts, you begin to rationalize what the Bible clearly teaches and spiritual battles become psychology instead of what the Bible really is.

God is telling us to stand up against a real adversary. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” ~Ephesians 6:11.