Warfare Basics
EVERYDAY THERE IS A WAR being waged in all of us all of the time, whether we are aware of it or not. This war is happening without and within. There is a tension or pulling happening between good and evil, temptation and strength. The world is pulling us down to the earth and God is drawing us up to Him.
The goal of unseen warfare is to restore one’s relationship with God, which is the path towards being sanctified. In simple terms, we are all called to be saints. As outlined in the scriptures, this is a process that includes affliction and suffering.
As God has demonstrated throughout history, He can enact His will through even such messed up people as you and me in startling and glorious ways. Through deliberate spiritual battle, we can unite ourselves with God’s Will, be healed of our brokenness, and use our spiritual potential in submission to Him. This brings true contentment and peace in the troubled world through which we journey through.
We call this battle of unseen warfare the practice of ascetical theology. We will explore this as taught in the scriptures, and in the writings of the early Church Fathers, desert monks and nuns, mystics and saints, early spiritual writers and ascetics from both Eastern and Western Christian traditions, as well as more modern theologians and philosophers. That is almost two millennia of Christian thought and lifetimes of scriptural study to guide us.
This ancient discipline has historically been associated with ascetics and monks who left society to make it their way of life. These monks and nuns were great philosophers and practitioners. In their writings, we find an exquisite transmission of spiritual wisdom, insight into human behavior, and enduring teachings on overcoming the human condition with virtue, grace, and prayer.
Unseen warfare is all about change and personal transformation so as to reconnect with God. “Christianity is an entirely new way of being human,” as St. Maximus the Confessor († AD 662) said. When we are hurting, despondent, unhappy, disturbed, angry or just plain dissatisfied, we often think that this is the world’s fault. When someone, something or some event causes us hurt we tell ourselves the cause of these afflictions are from without. We tell ourselves: “this or that must change before I can truly be happy.” This seems very logical—almost as true as cause and effect. Yet, no matter how much we try to change the world around us, we remain dissatisfied and unhappy. Seeking change from without can never produce lasting positive results within. This is because most of the time we have no control over the world that surrounds us. Therefore, the change that has to occur is change that takes place within.
Referring to the spiritual life in terms of war may be a little intense for some. The modern spiritual enthusiast might prefer softer terms such as “self-improvement” or “self-help” or “self-realization”. It is more accurate to refer to this as unseen warfare because this explains with precision the active work that change requires. It is “unseen” in that is takes place in the mind, heart and will of a person. It is “warfare” because there is an intense conflict in one’s thoughts, feelings, desires and urges during the process of change. It is a war, and it requires warfare—daily confrontation with the bad habits and patterns that we have established over time.
Unseen warfare is no easy task but the fruits it produces are amazing. In fact, it is probably the hardest thing you will ever undertake in your life if you choose this path. It is hard because it requires us to intentionally turn inward and honestly face ourselves and all our demons. It requires us to be open to changing ourselves, and this requires us to relinquish our own self-will, our desires and our thoughts for the sake of this change. It requires us to start a war with self. As the contemporary mystic, St. Nikolaj Velimirovic
(† AD 1956), put it:
My whole life is a battle between me and me. Between me as I am and me as God wants me to be.
It is the work that we are to be occupied with at all times. Unseen warfare requires us to look inward, honestly face ourselves, and confess all the demons that we’ve invited in. It requires us to change according to God’s Will for us and relinquish our own self-will, disordered desires, and our crafty thoughts. The theatre of war is our whole being. This includes the body and the three faculties of the soul. At times the battlefield is the body by way of physical urges, and at other times it’s in the mind and heart, but it is always in the will. Often the conflict is a tug of war between the mind or heart and a stubborn will.
The great English writer and thinker, C.S. Lewis († AD 1963) said of this war:
People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, ‘If you keep a lot of rules, I’ll reward you, and if you don’t, I’ll do the other thing.’ I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
The aim of this endeavor (unseen warfare), is not to find worldly happiness or consolation in this life, nor is it to be viewed as a self-help system. Later, C.S. Lewis said:
I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.
As we said before, this is a difficult process that includes suffering, as we are challenged and pushed to our limits. After all, Jesus said that this requires each of us to bear our own cross. This includes dying to ourselves and also rising again as a new person in Him. This process also provides great spiritual consolation and peace, if the battle is waged well and persistently.
Implementing any level of ascetical life is counter-intuitive for the modern person. Therefore, wanting to do this is a bit crazy. You have to be nuts to be excited about wanting to destroy yourself and all your desires. The American way is, “You deserve it,” or “just do it!” or “You can do anything you want as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else”. These are lies. The early Church fathers knew that serving our own desires and pleasures does not produce happiness, but additional suffering. So, the ascetic embraces suffering and even unites it to Christ. This makes no sense to the world. As stated eloquently by St. John Climacus († AD 649), a monk who lived in the Egyptian desert at Mount Sinai, in his book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent:
All who enter upon the good fight, which is hard and close, but also easy, must realize that they must leap into the fire, if they really expect the celestial fire to dwell in them.
When engaging in any level of ascetic practice, we will be challenged, tested, and we will fail often; even multiple times a day. Failure is a major component of growth in life, including the spirtual life. The saints taught that perseverance and prayer bring triumph, as Jesus Christ said, “He that endures to the end shall be saved.” (Matt 24:13).
It should be noted that this spiritual warfare that we must wage is not a form of punishment. Padre Pio († AD 1968), the Catholic monk-priest and mystic of our modern times said:
Jesus permits the spiritual combat as a purification, not as a punishment. The trial is not unto death but unto salvation.
Just like the fighter who survives the battle and returns to the king victorious, so also those who fight this unseen war to the end will return to the king and receive also their due reward. Padre Pio said encouragingly:
Let us always keep before our eyes the fact that here on earth we are on a battlefield and that in paradise we shall receive the crown of victory; that this is a testing-ground and the prize will be awarded up above; that we are now in a land of exile while our true homeland is Heaven to which we must continually aspire.
The words of the scriptures, saints and mystics are like swords that cut through the modern worldview of materialism, relativism and individualism. By God’s mercy and grace, we can destroy our broken self and build up a new person in Christ. This is the way of true purpose, peace and contentment that is only fully realized when a soul is purified and united to God. In conclusion, St. Paul of Tarsus († AD 65) writes in Ephesians:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication…
Keeping the words of St. Paul in mind, let us proceed to learn about the theater of war—the arena(s) where all this fighting takes place.