26/08/2026
FACING SPIRITUAL
WARFARE
Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you
have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to
there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind
does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:20–21
O
ne subject I have not yet expounded on in this book is spiritual warfare.
Let me step out of the book of Titus to focus on what Jesus said about
spiritual warfare. Read through the Gospels and follow the ministry of
Jesus, and it is hard not see how much spiritual warfare He encountered.
Spiritual warfare is a significant part of leadership today. Too often,
though, it is either ignored or overly emphasized. And when people focus
on one thing to the exclusion of everything, heresy results.
Behind spiritual warfare is the devil. Look at this scenario in the book of
Luke.
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit
into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing,
and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
Luke 4:1–2 It might be hard to imagine this, but we need to understand that the
enemy trying to destroy us is the same enemy who tried to destroy Jesus in
the wilderness. But notice it says that Jesus was “led by the Spirit into the
wilderness.” Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you as you engage in spiritual
warfare.
Later in Christ’s ministry, His disciples were asked by a man to heal his
son from seizures brought on by a demon. It was the first time they had
faced spiritual warfare, and they failed.
After Jesus cured the child, the disciples asked, “Why could we not cast
it out?” Jesus explained, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and
fasting” (see Matthew 17:14–21).
If you study Scriptures about the devil’s workings, you will see that he
does not often duplicate his attacks. As he tried
