THE REALITY OF
SPIRITUAL BATTLE

TIM MUEHLHOFF

Foreword by Clinton E. Arnold

Introduction
    When Your Marriage Is a Target

1 The First Step
    Making Sense of Our Adversary

2 Why Would Satan Care About My Marriage?

3 How Can I Tell If This Is Spiritual Warfare?

4 The Serpent Was Crafty
    Understanding the Tactics of Satan

5 Fighting Back as a Couple
    Utilizing Our Spiritual Protection

6 Our Greatest Defense: Prayer
    Energizing Our Spiritual Protection

7 Taking the Devil’s Perspective
    Insights from C. S. Lewis

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Praise for Defending Your Marriage

About the Author

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CLINTON E. ARNOLD

T he most extensive passage in Scripture about marriage (Eph 5) comes right before the most extensive passage about spiritual warfare (Eph 6). Is this coincidental? Not hardly.

In God’s design, a good marriage depicts the love and intimacy that characterizes the relationship between Christ and his people, the church. And although Jesus assures us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, Satan relentlessly tries to take it down. So too with marriage.

As Tim Muehlhoff says in his introduction, “your marriage is a target.” It’s targeted because it represents a taste of heaven—God in close connection with his people. Satan wants to disrupt and oppose anything that attracts people to the loving and caring community he is working to establish on earth. By undermining marriages and driving spouses apart, Satan effectively destroys hope in the transcendent relationship to which marriages point.

For many people, whether they will openly admit it or not, speaking of demonic spirits and spiritual warfare is tantamount to living on the lunatic fringe of Christianity. Yes, this stuff is in the Bible, they admit, but it’s better left in Bible times. If a couple is having difficulty in their marriage, they need the wisdom and help that comes from a seasoned marriage counselor, not some kind of demonic deliverance ritual. In fact, some worry that bringing demons into the picture could actually shift the focus away from what a couple may really need to work on to achieve a healthy marriage. But if the Bible is right on this issue, and the demonic realm really is interested in harming marriages, how can we afford to neglect it?

Imagine for a moment that I go to the doctor with a horrible sore throat that is a result of a bacterial infection. The doctor prescribes getting rest, gargling warm water with salt, and taking ibuprofen every six hours. By following this regimen, I will undoubtedly feel some measure of relief, but the doctor has not treated the root problem. I need antibiotics to fight the infection.

If your marriage is stuck in a loop of increasingly unhealthy interactions, have you stopped to consider that you may not be dealing with the root problem? ...