"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8
Part of my thinking of spiritual warfare is to summarize it at a high level where there is a battle for our consciousness, one based on love and the other on fear. I believe we need to acknowledge that this battle underlies our existence and that this battle has very real human consequences. Our behaviors are influenced by the spiritual as well as our environment, biology and chemistry. In my opinion, you can't heal a human being without acknowledging the spiritual warfare within and surrounding us. In a society where we dismiss the old notions of a demonic influence or loving spirit guiding us, as well as the physiological impact of the energy surrounding us, we are reduced to our biology, chemicals, and environment. We are relegated to nothing more than animals walking an earth in a universe with no meaning past our mortal existence.
Psychiatrists place behaviors in a category within a psychological framework ignoring the spiritual influences on our minds and our behaviors. In a society which looks to judge and punish behavior, how do we come through it with spirits whole and loved and not utterly destroyed? In this battle the enemy wants as many destroyed spirits as possible and we need to acknowledge this reality. I've seen people serving God through love, destroyed by the enemy who preyed on their weaknesses and their sense of helplessness in the face of evil. They don't feel deserving of the love of others and God and therefore cannot resist. And when this happens, we need to acknowledge this underlying dynamic while treating their very human conditions. We must love as Jesus loves.
