Your worldview is simply the lens through which you perceive reality.
There are really only two categories of worldviews.
One is a natural or materialist worldview, what people today call the scientific worldview. This view says that man by his reason can figure out how the world works and that man can basically save himself by understanding the world.
People who hold this view seek life’s answers in the natural realm. If you can put it in a test tube, examine it under a microscope, or explain it through natural processes, that’s all you need.
The naturalistic view is not sufficient because it is limited to the physical realm. Therefore , it doesn’t answer the ultimate question: who you are, where you came from, why are you here.
This view does not address the invisible part of human beings, the soul, and spirit.
The second category of worldviews is the spiritual worldview, which says there is a realm outside of the physical.
A spiritual worldview is very popular right now, but unfortunately it is often not a biblically based. Instead, it is a man-centered view that believers in any form of spirituality that seem to pay off. This is the world of horoscopes, and palm readers, and all sorts of New Age teaching.
Obviously, this is not the worldview of the Bible. It is possible to have a spiritual worldview that is plugged into the wrong spirit.
Your worldview affects your approach to spiritual warfare because it colors the way you see the nonmaterial world—and it determines whether you even believe in a spiritual realm.
In order to understand spiritual warfare, we have to address it through the lens of the spirit, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
1. This Battle Effects your Personal Life
Many believers are seeing the wounds of spiritual warfare in their personal lives. This doesn’t mean these people are doing something really bad. It could be that they have a problem such as uncontrolled anger.
Our emotions can give the devil an entry into our lives. To see the relationship between your emotions and spiritual warfare, look at several familiar verses in Ephesians:
“So put away all falsehood and "tell your neighbor the truth"because we belong to each other. And "don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you."Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil.” Ephesians 4:25-27 (NLT)
Please notice that failing to control anger grants the devil an opportunity to get a foothold in your life. Then he can use it as a base of operations to launch more spiritual attacks against you.
2. This Battle Effects Your Family
Many believers are also feeling the effects of spiritual warfare In their families. The devil messed up the first family in the Garden of Eden, and we have been dealing with the effects of Adam’s and Eve’s sin ever since.
Let me give you an example of family relationships and spiritual warfare.
Paul wrote to husbands and wives;
“So do not deprive each other of sexual relations. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time, so they can give themselves more completely to prayer. Afterward they should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt them because of their lack of self-control.” 1 Corinthians 7:5 (NLT)
Paul is saying that when a husband and wife don’t have a fulfilling sexual relationship, the devil sees that lack as an opportunity to come in and bring about moral destruction in the family. So this thing of spiritual warfare gets right down to the nitty-gritty aspects of everyday life.
3. This Battle Effects Life
Spiritual warfare also has an impact on church life. Paul told Timothy to watch out for “doctrines of demons” that will infiltrate the church (1 Timothy 4:1). The church is being undermined in many places today by teachers who claim to teach the Bible, but are teaching doctrines from hell.
Anyone can quote the Bible. But we need to be like the Bereans, who checked out what Paul and Silas were teaching them to see whether their teachings agreed with Scriptures (Acts 17:11)
4. This Battle Effects Culture
Finally, spiritual warfare affects the life of a nation, the culture in which we live.
According to passages like Daniel 10, entire nations are influenced by the invisible battle in the angelic realm. Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air” with good reason (Eph. 2:2)
There is no place we can go to escape the effect of spiritual warfare. We need to learn how to fight. Our ability to deal with the spiritual realm will determine whether we win or lose in the physical realm.
Satan’s job is to get us to ignore the spiritual realm or give it low value. If he can divert us from the spiritual realm, he can divert us from finding spiritual solutions.