Simisola worked as a data analyst for a logistics company on the Lekki axis, and she was good at noticing patterns. It was a skill that served her well at work. At home, during the year after her second child was born, it began to turn against her.
It started with a prayer channel on her phone. A friend added her to a group that broadcast “midnight battle prayers” every night at twelve, followed by a second session at three. The prayers were loud and urgent. They named enemies in the family, in the village and in the office. They spoke of arrows fired in the dream, of evil monitors, of strange gifts carrying curses, of household wickedness assigned to stop a woman’s destiny. Simisola joined two more groups like it. Within a few months she was sleeping in broken pieces of two or three hours.
Then she started noticing patterns everywhere. When her baby had a fever, she wondered who had touched him at church. When she dreamt about her late grandmother, she spent the next day cancelling the dream. When her mother-in-law sent a beautiful dress for the naming ceremony of a cousin, Simisola prayed over it for an hour and then quietly burned it in the backyard. Her husband was bewildered. Her colleagues noticed she was exhausted. And through all of it, she felt less peace than she had ever felt in her life.
The turning point came on an ordinary Tuesday night. She had recorded one of her own prayers as a voice note to send to her group, and before sending it she played it back. Something about it bothered her, so she played it again with a pen and paper and counted. In eleven minutes of prayer, she had mentioned enemies, witches, arrows and the devil more than forty times. She had mentioned the name of Jesus three times, all of them at the end.
She sat on the edge of her bed with the phone in her hand and said aloud to nobody, “Who am I actually praying to?”
Where the New Testament puts our attention
That is one of the most important questions a believer can ask about spiritual warfare. Where does your attention live?
The New Testament takes the devil seriously. It names him, warns about him and tells us to resist him. But if you read the letters of the apostles from beginning to end, you will notice something about proportion. The devil appears. Christ dominates. Paul’s letters contain far more about the person and work of Jesus, the grace of God, the life of the Spirit and the love of believers for one another than they do about evil powers. When the powers are mentioned, it is usually to show that Christ is above them.
The same is true of Jesus Himself. No one in the Gospels confronted demons more often or more decisively. When they cried out in the synagogue, He silenced them. When the oppressed were brought to Him, He set them free. Yet His attention was never fixed on the enemy. He rose “a great while before day” to pray (Mark 1:35), and the prayers we hear from Him are addressed to His Father, full of trust and submission. He described His life in terms of the Father: “for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). He announced His mission as good news to the poor, healing for the brokenhearted and “deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18). Deliverance was part of His work. The Father was the centre of His life. He dealt with the devil when the devil stood in His way, and then He went on with what the Father had given Him to do.
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is another example, because it was written to believers who were in danger of becoming preoccupied with spiritual powers. Some teachers in Colossae were urging the church toward the “worshipping of angels” (Colossians 2:18), strict rules about food and festivals, and visionary experiences. Behind these practices seems to have been anxiety about unseen spiritual beings, and a belief that believers needed extra protection and extra knowledge to be safe.
Paul’s answer is to fill the letter with Christ. In the first chapter he writes that by Christ “were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers” (Colossians 1:16). Every power the Colossians feared was created by Christ and stands beneath Him. “And he is the head of the body, the church... that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18).
Then, in the second chapter, Paul gives them a simple instruction: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7). The way you began is the way you continue. You received Christ by faith. You live in Christ by faith. You do not need to graduate from Him to a more advanced programme of spiritual protection.
And he warns them: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). The word spoil there means to carry off as plunder. Teaching that moves your attention away from Christ is not adding to your safety. It is robbing you.
Complete in Him
Then comes the heart of Paul’s argument:
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Everything God is, He is in Christ. There is no part of God’s power or protection that exists outside Jesus. You do not need to look elsewhere.
“And ye are complete in him.” The word complete comes from the same root as fulness. The fulness of God dwells in Christ, and you have been filled up in Him. Nothing essential is missing from your spiritual life. You do not need an additional covering, a special anointing oil, or a new prayer technique to make you secure.
And notice how Paul describes Christ in the same sentence: “which is the head of all principality and power.” The very powers the Colossians were anxious about are under the headship of the Christ in whom they are complete. A believer filled with Christ is not living at the mercy of principalities. He is united to their Head.
Paul goes on to describe what has happened to the believer in Christ. He has received a circumcision “made without hands,” the putting off of the old sinful nature. He has been “Buried with him in baptism,” and he is “risen with him through the faith of the operation of God.” These are completed realities. The believer’s life has been placed inside the death and resurrection of Jesus.
This is the foundation of an unanxious faith. Simisola’s prayers were the prayers of a woman who felt dangerously exposed. She was trying to fill gaps in her protection by the force of her words. Colossians tells her, and us, that the gaps have already been filled. “Ye are complete in him.”
PunchlineYou do not need to graduate from Christ to a more advanced system of spiritual protection. In Him dwells all the fulness of God, and you are complete in Him.
The powers in their proper place
Paul continues with the passage we have studied elsewhere in this series. God has made us alive with Christ, “having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13), cancelling the record of debt that stood against us and nailing it to the cross. And then: “having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). The powers have been disarmed and put on display as defeated.
Now look at what Paul does with that truth. He does not go on to describe the powers in more detail. He turns straight to the practical consequences for the Colossians’ fears. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday” (Colossians 2:16). “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen” (Colossians 2:18). And then the most pointed question of all: “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not” (Colossians 2:20-21).
Touch not. Taste not. Handle not. Paul is describing a religion of anxious avoidance, a life governed by rules designed to keep evil away. And he says that such things “have indeed a shew of wisdom” (Colossians 2:23). They look serious. They look spiritual. But they have no real power to make a person holy or safe.
Many believers live under a modern version of those rules. Do not wear that colour. Do not accept gifts from that relative. Do not eat food from that neighbour. Do not sleep without anointing the doorposts. Burn the clothes you dreamt about. Some of these practices are rooted in sincere desire to honour God, and wisdom about relationships and gifts has its place. But when a believer’s daily life is shaped mainly by fear of spiritual contamination, he has stepped back under the rudiments of the world. Christ has already triumphed. You are complete in Him. You can receive your mother-in-law’s dress with thanksgiving.
Sober, and steadied by the God of all grace
Peter’s letter supplies the other side of the balance. He does tell believers to be watchful: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
This is real, and we should not soften it. The devil is an adversary. He seeks to devour. In Peter’s setting, he did so mainly through persecution and intimidation, trying to frighten believers into abandoning their faith. Believers must resist him.
But notice two things. First, the word sober describes a mind that is clear and steady, not intoxicated. A person can be intoxicated with fear as surely as with wine. A believer who is constantly on edge, seeing attacks everywhere and unable to sleep, is not being sober. He has lost the clear-headedness Peter is asking for. Sobriety includes the ability to look at a child’s fever and see a fever.
Second, Peter does not end his letter with the lion. He goes straight on:
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you . To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The lion is mentioned in one verse. The God of all grace fills the next two. It is He who called you to His eternal glory in Christ. It is He who will “make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” Four verbs, all describing what God will do. And then Peter breaks into praise: “To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” Dominion belongs to God, not to the roaring lion.
That is the proportion Peter models. He gives the enemy his due attention, which is sober vigilance and steadfast resistance. Then he turns his whole gaze toward God. A healthy faith learns to do the same. It notices the roar, refuses to run, and then lifts its eyes to the One who holds dominion for ever.
Wise about good, simple about evil
Paul gives the Roman church a piece of advice at the end of his letter that every believer anxious about spiritual warfare needs to hear:
For your obedience is come abroad unto all men . I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
“I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” Paul does not want believers to become experts in evil. He does not ask them to study the hierarchy of demons, the methods of witchcraft or the names of territorial spirits. He wants them to be skilled in what is good and innocent about what is evil. The word simple here means unmixed, pure, unaffected.
Some spiritual warfare teaching moves in the opposite direction. It makes believers experts on the enemy. They know the names of spirits, the meaning of every dream symbol, the different kinds of witchcraft and the signs of every attack. But they are often less skilled at the ordinary good things: patience, kindness, honest work, forgiveness, the faithful study of Scripture. Paul’s priority is the reverse.
Then he adds a promise that sets everything in its place: “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” Notice the title. Paul does not say “the God of war,” though God is mighty in battle. He calls Him the God of peace. It is the God of peace who crushes Satan. Victory over the enemy flows from the peace of God, and it leads to peace. A believer whose spiritual warfare leaves him permanently agitated has misunderstood the God he serves.
Paul shows us elsewhere why this matters so much. Writing to the Corinthians, he says, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). The enemy’s aim is to pull a believer’s mind away from simple, single-hearted devotion to Christ. He can do that by temptation to sin. He can also do it by fear. A believer who has become absorbed in the enemy’s activity, who thinks about him first thing in the morning and last thing at night, has in one sense already been drawn away from the simplicity that is in Christ, however many times he binds and casts out. The surest way to frustrate the devil’s purpose is to keep your heart full of the Lord.
NuggetBack in Romans, the words that follow the promise are these: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Even here, the last word is grace.
The Lord is faithful
Paul gave a similar reassurance to the Thessalonians, who were facing persecution and confusion:
But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” The keeping is the Lord’s work. You are not your own last line of defence. Your safety does not rest on the length of your vigils or the volume of your declarations. It rests on the faithfulness of God.
And Paul’s prayer shows where he wants their hearts to go: “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” Notice the direction. Into the love of God. Into patient waiting for Christ. Paul does not pray that the Lord would direct their hearts into a deeper awareness of the enemy. He prays that their hearts would be filled with God’s love and with hope for Christ’s return.
John adds his own confidence near the close of his first letter:
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
“He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” John is not promising that believers will never face hardship or temptation. His point is that the evil one cannot lay hold of the one who belongs to God. And notice how John moves on. The world lies in wickedness, yes. But “we know that the Son of God is come,” and “we are in him that is true.” His attention, like Paul’s and Peter’s, settles on Christ.
Then John ends his letter with a startling sentence: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). An idol is anything that takes the place in our hearts that belongs to God. It is worth asking whether fear itself can become an idol: something we give our nights to, something that shapes our decisions and sets the agenda for our prayers, something we serve more faithfully than we serve Christ.
Standing in the armour without staring at the enemy
Paul’s great passage on spiritual warfare confirms all this. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). He does mention the enemy. He names “the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11) and describes the principalities and powers. But then he spends the rest of the passage describing what the believer puts on: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer in the Spirit for all the saints.
Every piece of that armour directs attention to Christ and His gospel. The believer stands against the devil by being clothed in what God has given, not by studying the enemy’s tactics. A soldier who spends all his time staring at the enemy lines, trying to guess where the next arrow will come from, is not more prepared for battle. He is simply more frightened. A soldier who is clothed in good armour and attentive to his commander can stand steady even when the arrows come.
The writer of Hebrews gives the same instruction for the long race of faith: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Not looking at the opposition. Not looking at your own performance. Looking unto Jesus. Isaiah had already promised, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).
What a healthy, unanxious faith looks like
PunchlineHow do you live this out? Here are some practical steps.
Give your attention to Christ first. Read the Gospels and the letters regularly, and let the person of Jesus fill your thoughts. Paul’s counsel to the Philippians applies directly: “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely... think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Pay attention to what you listen to. Teaching and prayer channels that constantly stir up fear may sound spiritual, but if they leave you anxious, suspicious and sleepless, they are not feeding your faith. You are free to leave a group. You are free to turn off a broadcast.
Let your prayers be shaped by Scripture. The prayers of the New Testament are full of thanksgiving, intercession for others, requests for wisdom and boldness, and praise. They do pray for deliverance from evil, as Jesus taught us to, but they never make the enemy their main subject.
Sleep. This may sound unspiritual, but it is deeply biblical. “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalms 4:8). The psalmist says it is vain “to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep” (Psalms 127:2). Night prayer has its place, and there are seasons when God calls us to watch and pray. But a believer who is permanently sleep-deprived through fear is not living in the rest Christ gives.
Use ordinary wisdom. A fever needs a thermometer and perhaps a doctor. Exhaustion may need rest and a medical check. Persistent anxiety or low mood after childbirth deserves professional care, and seeking it is wise and right. A difficult relationship may need a frank conversation. Most of life’s troubles are dealt with by ordinary faithfulness, done prayerfully.
And when there is genuine spiritual oppression, as there sometimes is, deal with it the way the New Testament does. Pray in the name of Jesus with confidence. Ask mature, accountable believers to stand with you. Do not accept ministry that involves fear, payments, physical harm or isolation. Then go back to the ordinary Christian life of worship, the word, fellowship and service. Deliverance is meant to free you for Christ, not to make you a lifelong student of the enemy.
Simisola did not leave her prayer groups that Tuesday night. But she did not send the voice note either. She deleted it and opened her Bible to Colossians, because a sermon she had half-heard months before had mentioned being “complete in him.” She read the whole letter in one sitting, sitting on the edge of the bed while her husband slept.
Over the following weeks she made some changes. She left two of the three channels and muted the third. She asked her husband to pray with her before bed instead of setting an alarm for midnight. She took her baby to the clinic when he had a fever, and the doctor found an ear infection. She saw a doctor herself, who told her she was showing signs of postnatal depression made worse by exhaustion, and arranged care for her. Some weeks later she called her mother-in-law and, after a long hesitation, apologised for the dress.
She still prays at night sometimes. She still believes the devil is real and must be resisted. But a few months later, she recorded another prayer as a voice note and, from habit, played it back and counted. This time the name of Jesus came again and again. She thanked God for her children. She prayed for her colleagues and her pastor. She asked for wisdom at work. Near the end she said, simply, “And Lord, keep us from evil. You are faithful.” And then she went to sleep.
Where does your attention live? As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. You are complete in Him. Resist the enemy when he comes, steadfast in the faith. Then lift your eyes back to the God of all grace, and rest.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- If you recorded your prayers and counted, what would you find yourself talking about most?
- How does Colossians 2:9-10, “ye are complete in him,” answer the fear that you need extra spiritual protection?
- Are there any “touch not, taste not, handle not” rules in your life that are driven more by fear of evil than by love for Christ?
- What does it mean for you to be “wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil” (Romans 16:19)?
- How might fear itself become an idol in a believer’s life? Is there any sign of that in yours?
This Week
This week, read Colossians 1 and 2 slowly, one chapter each on two separate days, and write down every statement Paul makes about who Christ is. Then, for the rest of the week, begin each time of prayer by reading one of those statements aloud and thanking God for it before you bring any request. Pay attention to the content you listen to: if any broadcast, group or teaching leaves you consistently fearful, take a week away from it and notice the difference. Each night, before you sleep, pray Psalm 4:8 aloud.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, in You dwells all the fulness of God, and I am complete in You. I confess that my attention has often been taken up with fear of the enemy, and that my prayers have sometimes said more about the devil than about You. Turn my eyes back to You. Thank You that You are the head of all principality and power, that You have triumphed over them, and that the Father is faithful to stablish me and keep me from evil. Make me sober and steadfast, wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. Direct my heart into the love of God and the patient waiting for Your return. Give me Your peace, and give me sleep. Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.