Why Understanding Your Identity Is Key in Spiritual Battles
Understanding your identity is key in spiritual battles. It is the first thing you must do. It is only because of your identity in Yeshua that you can come boldly into the throne room of God and know that you are a victor and that your gifts and armor are already paid and prepared for you.
When you seek God first, He honors you. Part of seeking Him is to understand who He says you are and believe His Word about you. Go into the Courts of Heaven and know you are washed white as snow.
Join Rabbi Curt Landry in this timely podcast about spiritual battles as he walks you through reflective questions you can ask when you are in the battle…
- What is my understanding of spiritual warfare?
- What are the pieces of God’s armor in Ephesians 6?
- What is the hardest thing for me to remember when I’m feeling attacked?
The key to spiritual warfare is claiming, believing, and decreeing your inheritance and then walking and living in a lifestyle that expects it to manifest. Discover more that will help you live as more than a conqueror in this powerful podcast.
Transcription from Podcast (Revised for Readability)
Shalom. Curt Landry here with Ancient Principles, Kingdom Authority. I want to talk to you about spiritual warfare. There’s so much fear, doubt, and anxiety over spiritual warfare. Maybe you have questions about your own circumstances, such as…
- How much of what I’m going through is spiritual?
- How much of what I’m going through is natural?
- Is it the devil attacking me?
- What can I do about it?
This is what we will discuss.
Spiritual Warfare Is Real
First, I want to tell you that spiritual warfare is real. It’s an ongoing battle in the spiritual realm and we battle against demonic forces. And that’s what it says in Ephesians. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities, and heavenly hosts in dark places.”
People often ask, “How do I know if I’m under spiritual attack, and how do I know how to wield the weapons of my spiritual authority?”
First, they must understand what a spiritual attack is. And if they don’t understand how to battle it in the spirit, then they end up battling it in the flesh.
My experience has been that if I choose to battle a spiritual battle in the flesh, it just gets worse.
- When I was a kid, we had Chinese handcuffs. They were made of bamboo, and you would slide your fingers into it, and then if you pulled, they tightened down. And the way to get them off of your finger would be to relax, and rather than pulling, you would push your fingers together, grab the Chinese handcuff, hold it in that position, and your fingers come right out.
That’s kind of how spiritual warfare is.
Battling a spiritual battle in the flesh is basically saying, “I’m not going to try to go in the flesh and pull my fingers that are locked in this situation or my life that’s locked in this situation. I’m going to fight, but I won’t get an outcome that is favorable.”
Battling a spiritual battle God’s way is basically saying, “I’m going to put my soul, my mind, will, and emotions and my spirit together with God’s Word, and I’m going to be able to back out of this conflict or this situation.”
Do Warfare Armored Up
So anytime you start spiritual warfare, here are a few basics. I’m sure some of you have heard about putting on the full armor of God. And when you put on the full armor of God (specifically the belt of truth), think about the truth of your identity.
The Belt of Truth Speaks of Identity and Gives Authority
Well, a belt is symbolic, of course. It goes across your middle. But if you think about martial arts, a belt is symbolic of what level of experience or authority you’re operating in. But in Hebrew, a belt has to do with your identity because it’s near your groin. When you’re born, the first thing that happens is the doctor lifts you up and looks at that area, and they say it’s a boy, or it’s a girl. There’s a declaration that happens.
And so, when you put on the belt, you’re putting on your identity. Before you go into spiritual warfare, understand that your identity is in Yeshua. You have to shed that identity of your own personal DNA, your past failures, and even your past accomplishments. And just say, “I’m going to identify with who I am in Christ, Yeshua.” You are part of Yeshua’s family. You are a son or a daughter of the Most High King.
Here’s the key: You have covenant rights as a child of God. Think about it this way: You get into a conflict with a business, with an automobile or home contract, at a doctor’s office, or with a business partner.
- What do you do? You go back to the contract and say, “Okay, what did I agree to? What are my rights?”
This is one reason I love teaching about the biblical covenant and the Jewish roots of the faith. The more you understand your rights, the more you understand your identity, and vice versa.
Know the Heavenly Protocol
There’s a heavenly protocol. There’s a protocol to go into the courts of heaven in spiritual warfare. You need to know 2 main things…
- Your identity—Who you are in Yeshua.
- Your rights—putting God (and yourself) into remembrance of His Word.
When you go into the courts and do spiritual warfare, you put God into remembrance of His Word and believe Him at His Word.
It’s not that God’s forgotten, but you are reminding the enemy and yourself that you understand, “Hey, my identity is this: I belong to God’s family. I have covenant rights. I have a legacy. I have an inheritance.”
Habitual sin tries to stop your identity and inheritance from breaking through because the wage of sin is death. Generational curses flow from one generation to the next and must be confronted when going through inner healing and deliverance, or they create fear and confusion, also hindering your breakthrough. All these things are part of understanding spiritual warfare.
Not Understanding Spiritual Warfare
If we don’t understand spiritual warfare, then when good things start to come, we have a hard time believing it. We must believe to receive (Matthew 21:22).
Think of it this way:
- If you’ve ever gone on a mission trip to a third-world country and given children a gift, whether it’s soccer balls, stuffed animals, or food, if they’re in an abused, neglected, poverty situation, you would think they would come and grab anything that is offered. But they don’t.
Why?
They hesitate because 1) they aren’t used to receiving gifts, and 2) they struggle to believe it is legitimate. They want to know, “What does this person want from me in return?”
This is how we can operate if we don’t understand who we are and our covenant rights in spiritual warfare.
We must be able to come boldly into the throne room of God when we’re doing spiritual warfare, knowing that our gifts are paid for, that we are welcome, and that the Lord is honoring us because we’re asking Him first.
So, we must repent from the habitual sin that is currently in our lives, and we all have it. And then we need to cut off and come out of agreement with generational curses that we know. When we go into the courts, we need to understand we’re going in washed white as snow.
Questions to Ask…
As you learn more about spiritual warfare, here are some questions to ask yourself.
- Question 1: What is my understanding of spiritual warfare?
So, for me, 33 years of being around spiritual warfare, I’ll answer it this way. I see a real lack of understanding, even in the body of Christ. There is a lack of understanding of the gift, the authority, and the power of spiritual warfare.
One place you see this is in a prayer meeting or some type of intercessory meeting. Very few people attend, versus big sensational events. This is because people lack the understanding that if you want to get a breakthrough in an area in your life, then it will come from prayer and doing spiritual warfare in prayer.
- Question 2: What are the pieces of the armor in Ephesians 6, and what do they mean?
Well, basically the armor is Jesus. You are putting on Jesus and all the things that He represents.
One thing about God’s full armor is that you must think about it consciously. When you’re praying, understand that you’re protected, you’re provided, and you’re taking on that identity of Yeshua. So as I read this out loud, I want you to focus on the fact that it’s a way to say, “Okay, I’m putting on Jesus,” but I want to go to a deeper level of it.
Start in Ephesians 6:10: “Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.”
And then there’s a command: “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers and darkness of this age, rulers of darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness and heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you’ll be able to stand in the evil day, stand therefore having gird your waist with truth.”
So how do you experience/pray for that?
The belt/identity…
So you say, “Father God, I gird my waist with the truth that I am a son or a daughter. My identity is in Christ Jesus.” And then put on the breastplate of righteousness. In Hebrew, it’s called an ephod. It’s a breastplate with 12 stones. That breastplate means that you are covering your heart’s intention. Your heart’s intention is to be on the side of God’s 12 tribes, to be on the Kingdom’s side. So you are a Kingdom identifier. You identify with His Kingdom.
The shoes/authority…
And then it goes on to say, “Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Your feet are symbolic of authority. So you can say, “Father God, every place my feet tread, thank You, Lord, that I am going to bring the gospel of peace.” So what does that really mean, “the gospel”? The gospel of peace means by the blood of Jesus, our sins are expunged so that the enemy can’t attack us for our sin. So we walk in righteousness.
The shield, helmet, and sword…
Ephesians 6:16, “…above all, take the shield of faith.” And, of course, the shield of faith is (faith in) the Word of God. The shield of faith quenches every fiery dart coming against us from the wicked one.
Then we put on the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation is the mind of Christ. The scripture says, “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” So, we put on the mind of Christ.
Then we take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and we decree it.
The armor of God is walking in the wholeness of Jesus.
So that’s really what the pieces of the armor are. It’s the wholeness of walking in Jesus in Messiah before you go into an intercessory prayer or spiritual warfare.
- Question 3: What is the hardest thing for you to remember when you are feeling attacked?
I would say the hardest thing for us to remember is to seek first the Kingdom of God. Let’s say let’s wake up after having a bad dream that made you feel uncomfortable. The first thing you should do before you even start your coffee or whatever you do in the morning is say, “Father God, I’ve had a bad dream. I plead the blood of Jesus over me, and my house, and my family, my spouse,” if you have a spouse. “And Lord, I thank You that any residue from that bad dream, any spirits that tried to attack my family last night, I cancel them and cast them out of my house in Jesus’ name.”
Do this immediately when you’re feeling the spirit of oppression. Ask God what’s happening, and cast it out, and come out of agreement with it immediately.
- Question 4: What do you hope to better understand when studying spiritual warfare?
What I want you to do by partnering with me on this spiritual warfare journey is to understand the grace of God to answer your prayer. I want you to understand who you are in Him. Because here’s the thing, you’re either going to be spiritually minded or fleshly minded.
What does that mean?
If your identity is in your accomplishments, your success at your job, your physical looks, your materialism, your money or man’s opinion, or the worker service that you provide, this false identity opens the door for you to start worshiping them or serving them, and then you get into toxic relationships.
So, before we understand anything about spiritual warfare, we must have confidence in Him, understand His identity, and then we can understand ours. So, I’m going to close with this, praying some scriptures together.
Closing with Prayer
“Father God, we’ve put on the full armor of God now. We come into the mercy court in boldness. Your Word says, ‘Put Me into remembrance of My word.’ And so that’s what we’re going to do right now, Father God, according to 1 Corinthians 2:16, Your Word says, ‘You have the mind of Christ.’
“Thank You, Lord, I receive it. Isaiah 55:11 says, ‘You believe and expect God’s promises to manifest in your life.’ Romans 8:13 and 14, ‘You live according to the Holy Spirit and not according to the flesh.’ Thank You, Lord. Philippians 1:6, ‘You are confident in God-given identity and purpose.’ Thank You, Lord. Hebrews 12:7-8, ‘You welcome God’s direction and discipline into your life.’”
Now Decree…
Say, “Lord, I’m teachable.” In Ephesians 1:4-6, “You serve the Lord because you know you are fully adopted and accepted in Him.” Thank You, Lord. I cast off all rejection. In Ephesians 1 and 3, as I close, “You have received favor to know you have every spiritual blessing that has come from God because you are a co-heir in Christ.”
The key to spiritual warfare is claiming, believing, and decreeing your inheritance and then walking and living in a lifestyle that expects it to manifest. I hope you like these ancient principles because they are modern principles for a successful, happy, healthy life, and I hope they’ve blessed you. God bless you and shalom.
Bio
Curt Landry, founder of Curt Landry Ministries, and his wife, Christie, travel extensively, preaching and teaching about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. Together, their passion is to empower families to live and leave Kingdom legacies and understand their own personal heritage.