4 Ways to Heal Your Spiritual Warfare Wounds

Did you know there’s a war going on that affects every person on the planet? Oh, it isn’t the kind of war that is fought with guns and knives, bombs or bullets. It’s a war between two worlds. The world we live in and the spiritual world where the battle relentlessly rages beyond our view.

It’s a battle for the souls of those who don’t know Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) and the testimonies of those who do (Luke 22:31, 1 Peter 5:8-9, 1 Corinthians 11:3).

The war is as real as the wounds it leaves and the victims are often found on the front lines, trying to be brave, trying to stand strong, and trying to make a profound difference for the cause of Christ. 

I want to be like that. Brave… a front-line kind of Christian. But I’m a sissy to the core and I’m not too fond of getting wounded in the fight either.

Maybe like me, your wounds look a lot like fear, frustration, rejection, shame, insecurity or isolation. Or perhaps the scars on your heart show up in the form of bitterness, anxiety, addiction, oppression, or depression.

I don’t know what wounds you wear, but God does. He knows what you’re going through and He doesn’t disregard your cry for help. He hears. He cares. And He is ready and willing to bring healing to your heart today.

We don’t have to live our lives licking our wounds when God’s Word is chock-full of power-packed passages that offer the cure for whatever is ailing us. In fact, the same armor and ammunition that make us battle-ready is the same biblical balm that heals our wounds.

Here are 4 ways to heal your spiritual warfare wounds:

1. Find healing in His presence.

Wounds leave us feeling beat up, broken, ready to give in and ready to give up. They hold us captive and keep us from becoming all God created us to be. If we are going to be men and women who fulfill our God-given destinies, then we need to press into God and bask in the beauty of His presence more than ever.

From Him alone, we find wisdom, faith, direction, strength, courage and healing.

If we want to hear His voice, we need to quiet our lives long enough to listen. If we want to find comfort from His love, we need to be still long enough to experience His presence. If we want to know His will, we need to tilt our hearts toward heaven and lean in as He whispers, “This is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) 

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)

“And He said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” Exodus 33:14 (NKJV)

2. Find healing in your position. 

One of my favorite movies is Princess Diaries. Anne Hathaway played Mia, the main character. Mia was a teenager who discovered she was a princess… but finding out she was a princess didn’t immediately change her view of herself. 

She still saw herself as a frumpy, invisible, unpopular girl. She didn’t understand the privileges and the responsibilities that came with being who she already was. 

Mia had to learn to walk in her new identity. And so do we.

When we become a Christian, our position is instant. But learning how to become who we already are is a process.

The Bible says we are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)… that God has made us His children. That He has made us more than conquerors and joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8)

We have all we need and we are all we need to be. But for too long, God’s people have limited themselves by their own limitations.

The only thing we sometimes lack may be the faith to believe we are who God says we are. Once we do, we will experience the kind of healing that lasts a lifetime.

3. Find healing in your prayers.

After struggling with some of my own wounds which started showing up in the form of depression, the Lord took me to Job 42:10, “And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

I had been praying like crazy for the Lord to set me free and heal my heart, but what I discovered was that my prayers and my thoughts were beginning and ending with myself. Ever been there? 

One of the best ways to find healing is to intentionally and specifically pray for anyone and everyone other than yourself. Create a Target Prayer List full of family, friends, pastors, missionaries, nations, and needs, and you’ll discover that taking your thoughts captive (1 Corinthians 10:5) is only a prayer away. 

4. Find healing in His promises. 

Trusting God’s Word isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Sometimes, we can’t see past our circumstances. Other times, it’s hard to release our wounds and we wind up wearing them like a badge of honor. Maybe like Asaph, you have refused to be comforted. (Psalm 77:2) But Asaph didn’t stay stuck. He finally found healing when he chose to focus on how God had been faithful in the past and that fueled his faith to trust God for the future.

Whether you have refused to be comforted or are just having a hard time believing God in your circumstances, the God who has been forever faithful to keep His promises in the past is the same God who will be forever faithful to keep His promises today and always.

His promises to His people are yes and amen. (2 Corinthians 1:20) And He longs to heal your wounds, “He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 (NKJV)

You don’t have to live your life wounded. God is waiting with His arms wide open to offer healing for today and strength for tomorrow.

Stephanie Shott is a pastor’s wife and ministry leader who thinks way outside the box and refuses to settle for status quo. In 2012, she founded The MOM Initiative, a Titus 2 movement dedicated to mobilizing the body of Christ to make mentoring missional. Their goal is to reach a million moms for Christ and they already have MOM Groups in 30 states and 10 countries. She is author of The Making of a Mom and Understanding What Matters Most and has appeared on a host of media outlets including The 700 Club, WJXT, and Atlanta Live. For more on Stephanie’s ministries, visit StephanieShott.com and TheMOMInitiative.com, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Publication date: September 12, 2016