I found myself wide awake in my hotel room at midnight on Friday night after a long day at a legal conference. The day had started with me getting up early for breakfast. I went downstairs before 9 am to sit through the first lecture of many. Then lunch, socializing with people I had never met. Then more talks until end of the day. As if that was not a full day, it was followed by a reception and dinner with a colleague. It was a long day!
After returning from dinner, however, I was not sleepy. I stayed up for awhile switching back and forth on the television between a football game and a movie. I rarely watch television anymore because of the spiritual pollution that comes out of it, but old habits die hard for a road warrior. The movie was Top Gun: Maverick. (I admit to liking movies where the protagonist hero wins in the end.) When commercials came on, I would switch over to the football game. Unfortunately, the football game was not very exciting and I did not care about either team. I eventually turned the lights out, but sleep was still not coming.
As I was laying there in the dark, I was thinking about various things swirling around in my mind and trying to pray. From past experience, I am pretty confident that if I had just pulled out my rosary and started praying seriously I would have been asleep in short order! I did not think to do that. Instead, my mind was churning with all the things going on in my life and the world. There were some very difficult events in our nation last week that were on my mind.
Then, a late night email about work came in. Of course, I picked up the phone and looked at it. That prompted me to get out of bed and respond to the email on the laptop. Fortunately, it did not require much work or thought.
Returning to bed, I tried to push work out of my mind. The Top Gun movie air battles were fresh on my mind. I found myself thinking about how a society prepares for a large-scale war. It struck me that when a country mobilizes for war, everyone has to play a part in the war effort.
A recent conversation with a friend also came to mind. We had been talking about my trip to California with my friend from Nigeria and his healing and deliverance ministry back home. The ministry is very high powered, operating in the Holy Spirit. It is rather unique and unusual. The amount of prayer time and energy that the members of the prayer team devote to the ministry is significant and intense. Most of the members of the ministry also work a full time day job in addition to ministry.
Continuing the train of thought about preparing for war, it struck me that this ministry is part of God’s “special forces” in the spiritual war that is taking place. “Special forces,” also known as special operations forces, are elite military units trained to conduct specialized operations, often involving unconventional tactics. It is interesting that the motto for the United States Army Special Forces is “de oppresso liber.” The motto is traditionally believed to mean "to free from oppression" or "to liberate the oppressed" in Latin. This is exactly what the ministry in Nigeria does in the spiritual war!
In a conventional war between nations, however, special forces are only a small but important part of the war effort. The overall military preparation may include a draft to enlist people to work in the various branches of the military. Others may volunteer to serve. Some are soldiers, sailors or pilots. Others become medics, cooks, mechanics, or drivers. Operating a military is a large-scale operation with many roles.
In addition to those directly serving in the military, there are important roles on the home front. Industry requires workers to support the war effort. Individuals and families may make other sacrifices to support the military effort. Rationing of raw materials may be necessary. Not everyone goes into battle, but everyone has a part to play in the war effort.
All of this came to me in a flood of thought, which struck me as inspiration for a Substack post. I thought, well, I can just write this all up in the morning. I quickly rejected that thought as it would be just as likely that I would not remember it! So again, I turned on the light and went to the desk. I found a pen and paper and wrote down my thoughts. The final piece that came to me was the spiritual analogy.
In case you have not been paying attention, Christians are in a spiritual war.
This spiritual war is not something new. The war in the heavens started when St. Michael cast out Satan and his rebel angels (demons) from heaven:
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.1
In the fullness of time, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, became man and came to earth. Jesus “disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in [the cross].”2 The spiritual war continues here on earth even after the victory of Christ on the Cross. Indeed, the battle has been raging since the resurrection of Jesus and the birth of Christianity. St. Stephen was stoned to death for preaching the Gospel shortly after Pentecost!3
We learn more about the origin of this warfare in Revelation Chapter 12. We read there about how St. Michael cast the dragon (i.e. the devil) out of heaven down to earth. After being cast down, “the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.”4 Revelation Chapter 13 also reveals that the beast is “allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.”5
The Bible teaches that the spiritual life involves warfare. The Second Letter to the Corinthians tells us, “For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”6 In Ephesians Chapter 6, St. Paul has a teaching about putting on the armor of God.7 The Psalms also contain numerous references to warfare and battle. Psalm 18, for example, can be read as a spiritual warfare prayer: “He trains my hands for war.”
The Catechism teaches that prayer is a battle. When you were baptized, you became a member of the Church Militant.
THE BATTLE OF PRAYER
2725 Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. The great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints, and he himself, all teach us this: prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God. We pray as we live, because we live as we pray. If we do not want to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ, neither can we pray habitually in his name. The "spiritual battle" of the Christian's new life is inseparable from the battle of prayer.8
What does this mean for us today? Each of us needs to be doing our part for God’s side in this spiritual war. We need to choose sides. Jesus told us, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”9
You may be wondering what you are supposed to be doing on behalf of the kingdom of God or whether you are doing enough. Everyone is called to play a part in God’s army. The key is to ask the Lord in prayer what He wants you to do for the kingdom.
St. Paul teaches us that the body of Christ is one body with many members. Each part of the body has a specific role to play for the operation of the body. Likewise, each member of the body of Christ has a specific role to play for the operation of the body. Everyone is not called to be a “special forces” soldier on the front lines, directly engaging the enemy in battle. The spiritual “special forces” in the world, however, cannot do the work alone. They need people to pray, fast and intercede for them. We should all remember our Christian prayer warrior brothers and sisters in our prayers.
I pray that you would make an irrevocable choice to surrender your life to Jesus and follow Him, no matter the cost. If you have done so, renew that commitment to Him and ask for grace and strength to live up to it. Pray for wisdom and discernment about what the Lord wants you to be doing during your time here. No matter what He asks you to do, it will have eternal significance!
One Body with Many Members
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so adjusted the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.10
Eric A. Welter is an employment lawyer and trial attorney with a long-time devotion to intercessory prayer. He is a Catholic Christian who has been involved with intercessory and healing prayer ministry for over twenty years.
Revelation 12:7-9; see also Isaiah 14:14; Ezekiel 28:17; Luke 10:18.
1 Corinthians 12:12-31. Bible quotations will be from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, unless otherwise indicated.
As a retired military officer, I can certainly relate to, and confirm your imagery. One thing of note is that he has also armed us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor: 12-14, et al.) to perform our various functions and tasks. Thanks for sharing! Dick Schaad