Types of Spiritual Warfare, A Simple Family Worship Method, and Family Worship as Spiritual Warfare
AN IDEA FROM ME
What are some types of spiritual warfare? Here are five:
Evangelism. Proclaiming the Gospel pushes back the kingdom of darkness by proclaiming truth, winning converts, diminishes the enemy’s ranks, and increases the ranks of God’s soldiers.
Apologetics. Defending the faith tears down strongholds and exposes the plots and ploys of the enemies. Apologetics is the taking of every thought captive to the control of Christ, clearing the way for the gospel to go forth and take root (2 Timothy 2:24–25). Apologetics sanctifies Christ the Lord (1 Peter 3:15), overcoming darkness with light.
Baptism. Michael Heiser talks about how 1 Peter 3:14–22 depicts baptism as an antitype to the typology of the flood. It is a “visceral reminder to the defeated fallen angels. Every baptism is a reiteration of their doom in the wake of the gospel and the kingdom of God. (See: DrHeiser, “Baptism as Spiritual Warfare,” Michael S. Heiser, 9 April, 2012, accessed 7 May, 2024, at https://drmsh.com/baptism-spiritual-warfare.
Discipleship. Teaching disciples to follow Jesus is waging spiritual warfare. It diminishes the control and power of Satan in the world.
Prayer. Satanism is self-reliance. Prayer is the antidote to that. Paul calls on the Ephesians (Eph. 6) to pray for him! And he tells them to pray “at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (6:18).
—Source: my teaching notes for the episode, “What Spiritual Warfare Actually Looks Like.” Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr32BBfpvgk.
A QUOTE FROM SOMEBODY ELSE
Family worship isn’t meant to check off a box on a holiness checklist. It’s a constant place of meeting when things are going well, when people are sick, when new opportunities are on the horizon, when loved ones die, when siblings fight, when babies are born, and all the ups and downs of life. It’s the humble bringing of our families to Jesus knowing that in him we live and move and have our being….
When I started family worship for our family, I caught wind of one essential piece of advice. It’s what has kept it going all these years. Here it is: Keep it simple. We actually don’t even call it “family worship.” At our house, every night before bed, we have “Sing and Pray.”
If you don’t know what to do, this is it:
Read something
Sing something
Pray
It doesn’t need to be overly planned out and it doesn’t need to involve a systematic theology textbook.
—Source: Ralph Mullenax, “How to Worship as a Family (Simple Guide).” Read it here: https://thethink.institute/articles/how-to-worship-as-a-family-easy-guide
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
In what sense can family worship itself be a form of spiritual warfare?