Spiritual Warfare in Daily Life: The Battle of Thoughts

Table of contents

The Vicious Cycle of Sinful Thoughts

You wake up tired but duty calls and you must rise. Instinctively, you reach for your phone and look at messages or social media. You feel envious at people’s seemingly perfect lives. You glance at the news and see corruption, and scandals. And you feel irritated, but quickly mask it with a sense of pride, at least you are better than those people, you think.

You are stuck in traffic on your way to work, worrying about what you will say when you are late. Gradually, impatience and anger build, and you find yourself silently cursing the other drivers. But you manage to arrive on time. At lunch, you sit with colleagues who complain about low pay, greedy and corrupt rich people, and their desires for bigger houses, vacation plans, or the latest gadgets. They gossip about others. You join the conversation, not entirely because you agree, but partly to avoid feeling left out.

Back at your desk, you see a co-worker who triggers jealousy and resentment. He is better-looking, more popular, and earns more than you, even though you work harder than him. Whenever you approach him, he either avoids you or pretends not to notice. You offer to help a colleague with a task, only to feel annoyed when he doesn’t seem grateful.

After work, you head to the gym. You notice an attractive woman and your thoughts turn to lust, reducing her in your mind to an object of desire rather than a person. When she looks at you, you quickly glance away, a rush of embarrassment washing over you, as if she could see your thoughts.

On your way home, you see a homeless man and give him some money, but when he does not thank you, regret sinks in. Later, you greet a neighbour you barely know, but he doesn’t respond. You feel irritated and cannot understand why. By the time you reach your apartment, you are completely drained. A casual remark from someone you live with suddenly fills you with overwhelming wrath, and you lash out before shutting yourself in your room. You feel envious of how easily others seem to have it, but also cling to the thought that, in some ways, you are still better than them.

Hunger and stress take over, and you eat too much junk food, even though you have been trying to lose weight. You glance at that book that you bought long ago on self-improvement, but a desire to watch your favourite series or play a game takes over, sacrificing long-term fulfilment for short-term pleasure.

As night falls, the lustful thoughts from earlier in the day resurface, and you act on them through self-gratification, turning to erotic material. Immediately, shame and guilt follow. You feel angry at yourself for wasting the day, then sad as you realise how often you undermine your own efforts. You wonder why you cannot be kind, patient, and diligent, and instead fall prey to envy, wrath, and sloth. St. Paul’s words come to mind, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” At last, you resolve to do better tomorrow, and sleep takes over.

You wake up tired but duty calls and you must rise. Instinctively, you reach for your phone and look at messages or social media… and the cycle continues.

Waking Up to the Reality of Spiritual Warfare

In his book Spiritual Counsels, Volume III: Spiritual Struggle, St. Paisios the Athonite states:

All spiritual life is based on thoughts. Progress in spiritual life depends on our thoughts… The best enterprise is for someone to establish a factory of good thoughts. Then, even bad thoughts will be transformed into good ones by his mind. For example, when you look upon a person as a soul, as an angel, you can ascend angelically to heaven and your life becomes a festival. But if you look upon a person in a carnal way, you descend into hell.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

We live in two worlds: a physical one and a spiritual one. Yet it is a sad reality that far too many people today seem to be spiritually asleep. Many of us go about our daily lives unaware that from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep, we are engaged in spiritual warfare. There is a battle being fought for our very souls. This may sound extreme, but if we examine our thoughts, words, and actions, we can see how our values are constantly being undermined.

Consider setting aside a day, such as Sunday, without using your phone, or at least without internet access. The difficulty of doing so reveals much about ourselves: we become anxious and restless. We often cling to that which harms us, and diverts our attention from what truly matters. It is tragicomic: we sometimes seem to choose harmful actions deliberately, only to be surprised when they leave us feeling miserable. This shows a self-sabotaging and self-deceptive aspect of ourselves, one that is diabolic in origin. The term comes from the Greek verb diaballein, literally, “to throw across”, describing that which accuses, slanders, attacks, and seeks to divide (both within us and in the world around us). It is a pervasive force, touching every part of life. By contrast, the symbolic is that which unites.

John Milton writes in Paradise Lost, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” In other words, our thoughts shape our experience of life: even in the worst circumstances, a disciplined and virtuous mind can find peace, while a restless or sinful mind can turn the best circumstances into misery.

Throughout our day, we gather all sorts of useless and harmful thoughts which we later struggle to get rid of, for they become deeply rooted in us. Thus, we constantly struggle with sinister thoughts, and cannot think clearly.

In our times, one of the greatest illnesses is the vain thoughts of worldly people. People can have all the good things in life except good thoughts. They are tormented simply through not facing up to things in a spiritual manner… When we accept whatever happens to us with a good and positive thought, we are helped; while on the contrary, we are tormented and come apart at the seams emotionally and physically when negative and evil thoughts prevail.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

Guarding the Mind: The Inner Fortress

French destroying Genoa. Royal 20 C.VII fol.19 – Grandes Chroniques de France

Sin is like a lurking presence, always waiting for a chance to catch us. Imagine your mind as an inner fortress, with the king at its central keep. The guards (your good thoughts) stand vigilant, defending you against the enemy (your evil thoughts), who is always present at the gates. Every sinful thought is like an enemy trying to break in.

We may feel protected within our impenetrable fortress, but the enemy’s assault is often subtle, not a frontal attack. If we do not keep careful watch, the walls may be breached at an unguarded corner, or a guard is bribed, and the drawbridge lowered in the night. Chaos erupts, and the king tries to escape, but the fortress that once protected him now traps him. With nowhere to go, he is captured.

But if you are conscious of every sinful thought and respond with humble prayer, such as “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”, you keep the fortress safe from the enemy. By saying protective prayers every time you are tempted, you make it far more difficult for destructive influences to gain entry into the inner fortress of your mind. Christ repeatedly calls us to be vigilant, so that we may fortify our “spiritual armour”, leaving no cracks through which evil may enter.

By contrast, when you allow sinful thoughts to accumulate, indulging in them and then forgetting about them, by the end of the day they form a heavy, dark mass that weighs down your soul. You find yourself crushed under the weight of the myriad dark thoughts that have filled your day: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. You feel overwhelmed, as if you were possessed by a dark entity that takes control of your personality and will, stripping you of both self-control and freedom—and these negative thoughts ultimately manifest as words and actions. As Carl Jung writes in Man and His Symbols, “We talk about being able “to control ourselves”, but self-control is a rare and remarkable virtue.”

Religion is a way of life, and one shows one’s attitude towards it through one’s actions. Habit builds character; we become what we repeatedly do. This is what Aristotle calls “habituation” in the Nicomachaen Ethics. Therefore, we should dedicate time each day to fortifying our spiritual armour through prayer.

Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key that opens the heart of God.

Padre Pio, In My Own Words: Advice and Exhortations

The Rosary, for example, is regarded by many saints as one of the most powerful means of resisting demonic influence.

Discipline is elementary to spiritual warfare, it is the daily practice of self-denial, the ability to maintain control and purposeful direction over one’s lower faculties. The key is to balance body, soul, and spirit—by, for example, rising early, keeping a strict schedule, working out, fasting, meditating, and praying. Such a person is not one the demons would want to approach.

In the Gospel of Luke we read, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through the waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

This passage warns us that simply getting rid of an unclean spirit is not enough. If we are not spiritually vigilant, it can return, stronger than before, with reinforcements, and intent on taking revenge. That is why it is essential not only to cast out evil but also to invite God in. Doing so requires inner purification and constant watchfulness. We must guard our souls with good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, while remaining aware of our weaknesses and vices that may creep back in.

Do not think you are perfect, for that leads to delusion. As St. Paul states, “If we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Each of us carries a “thorn in the flesh.” We are fallen creatures, called to be perfect, which seems utterly unattainable and yet forms part of our lifelong task. We aim at a certain goal, but often “miss the mark”, like an archer missing a target. This is inherent in the human condition. Courage is not the lack of failure,but the willingness to keep striving for a better aim despite failure.

A soul who earnestly takes on the struggle against bad thoughts can attain to a more advanced state than another soul who may have had hardly any bad thoughts. That is to say, at first, she may have had ninety bad thoughts and only ten good ones, but because of her earnest struggle, she can achieve a better state than the other person who had ninety good thoughts and only ten bad ones.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

How Our Thoughts Shape Our Suffering

Portrait of the poet Frank – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Imagine that you have just finished paying for your groceries. You thank the cashier and tell him to have a nice day, but he doesn’t respond. You feel upset, and negative thoughts arise, “What a bad person. Why would he do that?” You begin to ruminate on them. The next time someone greets you, you ignore him. Now he feels upset too.

Or you send a message to someone, and she doesn’t reply for a week. Each day, you ruminate on why she hasn’t answered, conjuring up all sorts of negative thoughts, until you finally send insulting messages and block her, only to discover later that she had been in a terrible accident. Or someone passes by you with a look of disgust, and you feel surprised and offended, not realising that the expression had nothing to do with you; he was simply caught in an unpleasant thought.

As Seneca put it, “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” The vast majority of life’s problems do not come from others, but from what we think about others. We often fail to see that what we despise in others is a reflection of ourselves, projected unconsciously. Thus, we see the enemy outside, when in truth, the enemy is within us.

Even if such actions were directed at you, it changes very little. We cannot control what other people will think, say, or do. We cannot live other people’s lives. When we realise that some things are simply outside our control, and accept that not everyone shares our mindset, we find relief.

What we can control, however, is how we treat others, to do good despite their reactions. If we act with goodness even when we are treated badly, it is likely that the other person will feel a sense of guilt, and may even seek forgiveness, thus changing his or her behaviour. Moreover, this helps one cultivate humility, which may be considered as the foundation of all other virtues and the starting point of spiritual ascent. For it was pride that changed angels into demons, and it is humility that makes men as angels.

Do not let your thoughts about others change who you are, or your cherished values. Whenever something like this occurs, replace the bad thought with a good one, such as “The poor guy must be having a bad day.”

St. Paisios states:

He who is doing refined spiritual work justifies others, but not himself, and the more he advances spiritually, the more he is freed, and the more he loves God and other people.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

The attention we give to bad thoughts begins to shape our words and deeds; these, in turn, reinforce those same thoughts, forming a vicious cycle that tightens around us like a cobra constricting its prey. It becomes increasingly difficult to break free from its grip.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Lord Jesus taught us that what truly matters lies within our hearts: in our thoughts, desires, and intentions. Appearances can be deceptive. A person may perform many generous deeds while secretly being filled with pride, feeling superior to others. One may speak with kindness, yet feel hatred beneath the surface. Or one may show affection and care, while inwardly being driven by lust or selfish desire. True goodness comes from the heart, not just from surface actions.

We must first cultivate good thoughts that guide us to perform good deeds, or else we risk falling into self-deception. The first thing we do upon waking is, in a sense, what we worship. Notice the first thing you do. Also, observe the thoughts that arise, whether they are negative or positive. Take a moment to pause, pray or meditate, reflecting on virtues such as humility, patience, and love. In doing so, you set the tone of the day and guide your actions towards goodness.

A single good and pure thought has more power than any ascetic exercise.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

Similarly, before sleep, take time to be grateful for what you have rather than resentful for what you lack. Express your love to God and your loved ones, instead of blaming or judging. Turn your attention inward—examine yourself, not others—and seek forgiveness for the harmful thoughts, words, and deeds you have had throughout the day. Each day must be lived for its own sake. As Christ states, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Marcus Aurelius writes:

The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the colour of your thoughts.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.16

Imagine bad thoughts forming a black and dense fog within your soul. The longer you stay with them, the quicker they spread through your body, until you are completely trapped in a cocoon of darkness, becoming blind, trapped, and filled with despair. Just imagine how much harm you do to yourself by indulging in dark thoughts! By contrast, good thoughts bring light in the soul that dispels the darkness. With much dedication and practice, this inner light begins to be felt not only by ourselves but sometimes also by others. Inner work radiates outwards, like ripples from a pebble dropped in water.

If you are not used to cultivating good thoughts, you will at first encounter an enormous resistance. It will feel like an impossible task—the psychological and spiritual equivalent of the labours of Hercules. But what you resist persists.

Talking Back: Cutting Off Intrusive Thoughts

Temptations of St. Anthony – Anonymous (Upper Rhine). Postcard

In Talking Back (Antirrhêtikos): A Monastic Handbook for Combatting Demons, the 4^th century Christian monkEvagrius of Pontus describes the thoughts by which demons assail the monk. He wrote this handbook in response to a monk’s letter seeking guidance in his spiritual struggle. Though meant for monastics, its teachings can benefit anyone engaged in spiritual warfare.

The strategy for overcoming these assaults is antirrhêsis (“refutation” or “contradiction”): the monk speaks a relevant passage from Scripture that contradicts—or as Evagrius puts it, “cuts off”—the intrusive thought. Hence the term, “talking back.” In fact, he suggests that nearly every thought that we have does encounter its opposite.

For example, a thought about showing charity may be “cut off” by a thought suggesting one act for the sake of vainglory (the desire for praise or recognition from others). The question is whether we stick with the first good thought despite the challenge of the second bad thought or whether the first thought is cut off and the second persists and sets us on a course of action.

Evagrius’ firsthand experience in fighting demons is the main source of his authority. He has fought them so effectively that even the demons fear him. Although he does not say so explicitly, his writings make it clear that he is a veteran spiritual warrior with extensive experience in resisting demonic attacks.

The book contains 498 biblical passages to be used during demonic conflict, divided into eight books corresponding to the eight primary demons that Evagrius claimed attack the monk: gluttony, fornication, love of money, sadness, anger, listlessness, vainglory, and pride. This classification later influenced the development of the so-called seven deadly sins.

Evagrius’ mastery appears in his ability to select carefully from the Bible the words that are most suited to demonic attacks, even though they are scattered and difficult to find.

Let us look at some examples.

Book 1.41. Against the thoughts that remind us of pleasures and of a table that has been filled with all good things and praise these things as better than the monastic life:

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20 (ESV)

Book 2.54. To the Lord concerning the demon of fornication that, through the passion of desire, imprints in my intellect the vision of an obscene form:

I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your eye to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’

Lamentations 3:55-57 (ESV)

Book 3.12. Against the soul’s thought that shows mercy to the poor, but immediately changes its mind and regrets the money that it spent on them:

Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.

1 Kings 8:61 (ESV)

Book 4.40. Against the soul that, in the time of sadness, wants to find in prayer spiritual words:

Do not forsake me, O Lord!
O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 38:21-22 (ESV)

Book 5.40. Against the thoughts of anger that are embittered against love:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:35 (ESV)

Book 6.20. Against the soul that succumbs to listlessness and becomes filled with thoughts of sadness:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Psalm 43:5 (ESV)

Book 7.20. Against the thoughts that compel us because of vainglory to make known our illustrious way of life:

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.

Proverbs 27:2 (ESV)

Book 8.2. Against the thought of pride that glorifies me and exalts me on the pretext that I am pure and no longer receive filthy thoughts:

Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.

Genesis 18:27 (ESV)

Not Every Thought is Yours

Evagrius emphasises that the thoughts function as the means through which demons attack the monk, rather than being mere dispositions of the monk’s own soul or intellect. In other words, the attacks come from agents external to oneself, as opposed to the idea that these thoughts originate within the individual. The power of scripture comes from the fact that, although we recite it, it does not originate from us, but from a higher divine source which exercises authority over our thoughts.

Recognise that not every thought in your mind comes from you. Notice the words you speak when you look at yourself. Every act of self-hatred, self-rejection, body-shaming, or self-cursing is a verbal agreement with the diabolic. Apart from reciting Scripture, you must renounce these words, replacing them with, “I do not hate myself”, “I forgive myself”, “I forgive my body.”

Whenever you hear an inner voice that is judgmental and hateful, whispering things like, “Nobody cares for you”, “She doesn’t love me anymore”, or “God can never forgive me for what I have done”, you are engaged in spiritual warfare. If you give in, you risk becoming a tormented soul, as if you had consented to sign a contract with dark forces. The power of these contracts cannot be overstated.

The evil forces of darkness are powerless on their own. It is people who give them strength when they distance themselves from God, thus surrendering their rights to the devil.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

The Power of the Psalms as Spiritual Weapons

St. Anthony the Great and the Demon Who Came to Him in Repentance – Justin Popović

King David’s reputation as a warrior against demons rests on his reputed authorship of the Book of Psalms. In The Life of Antony by St. Athanasius, it is recounted that the devil tempted Antony with every kind of sinful thought—and even appeared as a woman to seduce him—but Antony did not yield to sin. Finally, the demon took the form of a black boy, declaring, “Many I deceived, many I cast down; but now attacking you and your labours as I had many others, I proved weak.” When Antony asked who was speaking, the demon answered that he was the spirit of lust, boasting that he led many into sin. Antony responded boldly, calling him despicable, black-hearted, and weak as a child, and invoked a Psalm: “The Lord is my helper, and I will look down on my enemies.” At once, the black figure fled, cowering before these words and afraid even to approach Antony again.

St. Anthony the Great, also used other means to repel demons, such as the sign of the cross, and the name of Christ, but biblical verses, especially from the Psalms, are his most frequent spiritual weapons. Similarly, Evagrius frequently quotes the Psalms. St. Jerome states, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Indeed, Jesus Himself relied on Scripture to confront the devil’s three temptations during His forty-day fast in the wilderness.

The Art of Spiritual Discernment

In time of struggle, when the demons make war against us and hurl their arrows at us, let us answer them from the Holy Scriptures, lest the unclean thoughts persist in us, enslave the soul through the sin of actual deeds, and so defile it and plunge it into the death brought by sin.

Evagrius of Pontus, Talking Back (Antirrhêtikos): A Monastic Handbook for Combatting Demons. Prologue

Evagrius considers that one should refute an evil thought as soon as possible after it occurs to one, before it is firmly set in one’s thinking, if one does so, sin is easily and swiftly handled.

This idea, adapted to Christian ethics, comes from the Stoic concept of propatheia (“pre-passion”). Everyone experiences initial, involuntary emotional reactions (“first movements”), which we can either control and use for good or allow to develop into full-blown passions (pathos). For example, a sudden rush of anger at an injustice is a first movement. I can manage it and respond calmly, rebuking the offender appropriately. But if I assent to the impulse unreasonably and allow the full-blown passion of anger to develop, then I become guilty of the passion.

First movements can come from the body, such as sexual urges, or from external events, like hearing about an injustice. The Stoics called these external triggers phantasiai (“impressions”). We constantly receive many impressions, which we must sort out as true or false, guiding us towards virtue or vice.

Like the Stoic sage, the monk must exercise discernment in sorting through the thoughts and images that arise in the mind. Just as practical wisdom guides the judgment of everyday actions, discernment helps distinguish between holy and profane, clean and unclean thoughts. This practice is central to spiritual warfare.

Thus, antirrhêsis consists of identifying an impression as a demonic thought, a task that requires the gift of discernment, and to use Scripture in order to prevent a demonically inspired first movement from developing into a full-blown passion and thus into sin.

In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola, a master in the discernment of spirits, presents discernment as the art of aligning oneself with thoughts and desires that draw one closer to God (consolation) rather than away from Him (desolation). The more we learn to recognise these two movements within the soul, the better equipped we become to make decisions in accordance with God’s will.

Sinful Thoughts Harm the Intellect

The goal of the Evagrian monastic, however, is not merely to avoid evil deeds; he seeks, remarkably, to prevent even the first movements that incline him to sin. Evagrius urges his reader to become not simply a “monastic man”, one who withdraws from sinful actions through ascetic practices that restrain the passions, but a “monastic intellect,” one who is free even from thoughts that lead to sin, and thus experiences “the light of the Holy Trinity.” This freedom is cultivated through the reading of Scripture, which elevates the intellect towards a formless, divine, and simple knowledge.

Engaging in persistent sinful thoughts harms the intellect, so that even after the initial passion fades, a lasting mental image remains, stored in memory, which clouds the intellect. This prevents one from achieving knowledge of God, and becoming a “monastic intellect.” Since demons are purely intellectual beings filled with hatred, they can recognise these patterns in our intellect and take advantage of our weaknesses. By targeting our mental faculties, demons seek to establish a psychological compatibility with us. They desire that their permanent patterns of thought become our patterns of thought. If you struggle with pride, it is because they aim for you to mirror their own prideful nature. In fact, most people have some type of psychological compatibility with the demons that afflict them.

Sources of Good and Evil Thoughts

The first part of Goethe’s Faust. Illustrator J.P. Laurens

Apart from Scripture, Evagrius identifies three sources of good thoughts capable of cutting off demonic ones. First, there is the angelic thought, which comes spontaneously from outside the person as a form of divine assistance (unlike biblical passages which are recalled intentionally). Second, there is the thought that arises from free will when it inclines towards the good. Third, there is the thought that proceeds naturally from human nature itself, which moves even pagans to love their neighbour.

By contrast, only two sources oppose the good thought: the demonic thought, which comes as an external temptation and is intrusive and obsessive, and the thought that arises from free will when it inclines towards the evil. Significantly, Evagrius states that no evil thought comes from our nature, for we have not been evil from our origin, since it is good seed that the Lord sowed in his field.

The Ego-Drama, The Devil, and True Freedom

Illustration for Milton’s Paradise Lost 2 – Gustave Doré

In the ego-drama, life revolves around me: I am the author, the lead actor, the producer, and the director. This is exemplified by Satan in Paradise Lost, who states: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” By contrast, in the theo-drama, God is at the centre of our lives. By surrendering ourselves to God, we paradoxically gain true freedom, and become ourselves. Self-realisation comes when you give yourself to a higher self that overwhelms yourself so that you become yourself. This is why we must struggle to align our will with the will of God. By restricting ourselves to what is good, our freedom is protected rather than limited. But if we cling only to our own will, we imprison ourselves in a cage of our making, perhaps golden, but useless.

When the devil whispers, “Do whatever you want”, it seems like freedom, but it is actually a trap. Ironically, we become less free, losing self-control and end up pursuing what harms us.

Freedom does not mean that we can do whatever we want to do. Freedom and obedience to God go hand in hand. When we live in the manner that God has created us to live, being obedient to his commands, that is freedom in the true sense of the word. A distorted view of freedom happens when we act independently of God, believing that we are in control and can create our own version of what is morally good. As a result, we end up becoming slaves to our passions and desires.

Fr. Vincent Lampert, Exorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons

The Extraordinary Activity of The Devil

Saint Peter Martyr Exorcising a Woman Possessed by a Devil – Antonio Vivarini

In his book Exorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons, Fr. Vincent Lampert, a practising exorcist, distinguishing between the extraordinary and ordinary activities of the devil. The extraordinary activities include infestation (the presence of evil in a location, object or animal), vexation (physical attacks), obsession (mental attacks causing nightmares, hallucinations, obscene or blasphemous thoughts, and feelings of insanity, depression, and exhaustion), and finally, possession (where an evil spirit takes control of a person’s body). Genuine cases of possession, he notes, are extremely rare—though they do occur. Most of Fr. Lampert’s cases involve the other three forms of activity.

Exorcists must reach moral certitude, ruling out all other explanations before concluding that a person is truly possessed. This caution is vital, as mislabelling someone could prevent them from receiving necessary medical or mental health care.

If you are going to give a talk on God, about twenty people will show up. If you are going to talk about the devil, two hundred people will show up. People always seem to be more interested in what the devil is trying to do.

Fr. Lampert writes:

Very few of us will ever have to be concerned about demonic infestation, vexation, obsession, and possession. Heads spinning, pea soup flying, bodies levitating, and someone crawling up a wall like a spider certainly gets lots of attention. The truth is that while much has been said about the extraordinary activity of the devil, very little has been said about the ordinary activity of the devil. The devil is far less to be feared in so-called manifestations than in the underground influence he exerts in souls that are not sufficiently instructed or well-tempered.

Fr. Vincent Lampert, Exorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons

The Ordinary Activity of The Devil

Satan Watching the Sleep of Christ – Joseph Noel Paton

The devil has no need for dramatic effects. He moves subtly and stealthily, drawing us into a deceived way of seeing, understanding, and acting, but he does so in a way that seems entirely unnoticeable.

Fr. Lampert reflects on the four-stage plan of attack that the devil uses, as outlined by Fr. Louis J. Cameli in his book The Devil You Don’t Know: Recognising and Resisting Evil in Everyday Life. It begins with deception, which leads to division, then to diversion, and ends in discouragement. These stages represent the ordinary activity of the devil.

Deception is woven in daily life to draw us away from God. The last thing the devil wants is to frighten us so that we turn to God. As the French poet Charles Baudelaire famously remarked, “the devil’s cleverest ruse is to convince us that he does not exist.” When we dismiss demons, angels, and even God as mere superstition, the devil is at his happiest. Whether we realise it or not, separating ourselves from God places us within the kingdom of darkness.

For those who still acknowledge spiritual reality, the devil seeks to convince us that he is the good guy, disguising himself as an angel of light, and deceiving many. He promises what appears good, but delivers evil.

St. Paisios recounts that one night, as he was saying the Jesus Prayer, a bright light filled his cell. The ceiling disappeared, revealing a beam of light reaching up to heaven. At the top of this beam of light appeared the face of a blond young man with long hair and a beard, who resembled Christ. Then he heard a voice within him say, “You have been made worthy to see Christ.” But he crossed himself and replied, “Who am I, the unworthy one, to be made worthy to see Christ?” Immediately the light and the vision vanished, and the ceiling was still in place. This shows that if a person is not vigilant, the evil one can enter the mind through prideful thoughts, deluding him with fantasies and false lights.

Once we have bought into the lies of the devil, and our ego is inflated, then comes the fall. We should not be surprised that he now wants to sow division. The devil desires to divide people from God, from each other, and from their very selves. This is the essence of the diabolic: an inversion of order. By remaining trapped in the seven deadly sins, in addiction, or in infidelity, we experience inner brokenness. This, in turn, leads to the devil’s third plan of attack: diversion.

The goal is to make us lose our sense of purpose and direction. We begin to replace God with our ego and operate under the three guiding principles: You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself. We come to believe we do not need God, and that we can create our own version of paradise here and now, according to our own truths. This way of thinking is dangerous. Without a stable truth or foundation, there is no clear direction. The result is moral relativism, where there is no objective standard of right and wrong.

Finally, we arrive at discouragement. Fr. Lampert compares this to the concept of acedia, a state of spiritual restlessness described in Christian tradition. In his book Praktikos, Evagrius of Pontus calls acedia the “noonday demon”. Acedia represents the final stage of the devil’s ordinary activity and is considered the most dangerous threat to the spiritual life and our journey towards God. It is the lack of joy and tiredness that shows itself on the faces of far too many people. Acedia speaks of depression, whose close neighbour is despair—the utter forsaking of all hope, where one loses the desire to continue living.

But do not lose hope, my friend.

Healing Inner Brokenness

Brokenness is a reality in all of our lives, and how we deal with it matters. Although broken relationships cannot always be repaired in this life, because of the unwillingness or inability of others, we can still seek our own healing. We can work to forgive others in our hearts, even if there is no possibility of face-to-face reconciliation.

If you are praying and hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that you too may be forgiven. Sometimes, we can forgive God and others, but struggle to forgive ourselves. It is essential to learn to forgive yourself as well. Forgiveness is the maximum expression of love.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal… Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in any wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

1 Corinthians 13:1, 4-8 (ESV)

A common reason people lose faith is the belief that God has abandoned them in their darkest moments. Even Christ, when He was being crucified, cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet He had also said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” When we act with hatred, we block the darkness in our hearts from being removed. Imagine a house so cluttered that no one can enter. How could you welcome anyone inside? Similarly, when your heart is full of darkness, God cannot enter. But when you face injustice and great suffering—when you are despised, ridiculed, or mocked—and still act with faith, hope, and love, you are being purified. You are living in imitatio Christi, allowing Christ to dwell within your heart.

St. Paisios states:

When you accept an injustice and are prepared to justify your neighbour, you accept Christ himself into your heart, Who was often wronged and maligned. It is then that Christ cannot be evicted from your heart and fills you with peace and gladness… I can honestly tell you that the sweetest spiritual joy I have experienced has been through accepting injustice.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

If you have spiritual strength (that is, humility) accept that you are at fault, and do not speak. Let God justify you. If you do not speak, God will speak.

Do not waste your pain. Let your suffering transform you into the image of Christ and draw you into a deeper intimacy with God. The true difficulty lies in remaining virtuous in the midst of suffering. As Job, the faithful servant of God, exemplified. His wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he replied, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

Salvation ultimately depends on grace, the free and undeserved gift that God gives us at various moments, to help us turn away from sin and grow closer to Him. However, God also permits us to experience suffering, so we can grow spiritually and acquire merit, a spiritual reward that comes from our virtue, attainable only during our earthly life, within time and space. After death, we can no longer obtain merit. Our soul then carries the grace and merits it has received in life, together with any sins that remain unrepented.

If our sins outweigh our grace and merits, we face eternal separation from God, which is called Hell. If our grace and merits surpass our sins, we enter Heaven. There is, however, a third possibility: a soul that is virtuous yet still imperfect cannot enter Heaven immediately. Instead, it exists in Purgatory, undergoing purification until it is fully prepared to enter Heaven, the realm of perfected souls.

It is important to understand that a person can suffer greatly and still gain no spiritual progress at all if he or she responds with hatred, bitterness, and pride. The two thieves who were crucified beside Christ show this. Both felt the same pain. One mocked and hurled insults at Him, the other said, “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The thief even robbed Paradise with his great repentance! Within a second, one can find oneself gone from Hell into Paradise, if one repents. Repentance is a baptism of tears; it washes one clean again.

Awareness of one’s sinfulness is the beginning of spiritual progress. The more a person examines himself, the more sins he sees in himself. When some people do not know what to say in confession it shows that they have not examined themselves carefully. Spiritual work has no end.

The more one progresses in the spiritual life, the clearer the eyes of his soul become, enabling him to see the magnitude of his sins with greater perception, which in turn humbles him and makes him more receptive to the Grace of God. The Saints who said, “I am a poor and miserable sinner”, knew it was true because the eyes of their soul had become like microscopes. The more they advanced in the spiritual life, the more their microscopic vision magnified to observe their sinfulness.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

A New Chapter Begins: The Past Is Wiped Clean

Sacramentum Poenitentia – Francesco Novelli

St. Paisios remarks that one of the most essential things in our modern times is for people to find a Spiritual Father, to confess to him, trust him and follow his guidance. Of course, one should choose his spiritual guide carefully and not entrust his soul to just anyone. Just as one seeks the best doctor for his physical health, he should also seek out a good Spiritual Director for his spiritual health, and go to him, the doctor of his soul, on a regular basis.

Confession and repentance go hand in hand. True repentance means that one is first aware of his or her sins, is pained by them, asks God for forgiveness, and then goes and confesses them. If one repents because one is afraid of going to hell, this is not true repentance. It must be out of love for God. This is how divine consolation arrives.

When we confess our sins, we place them in the hands of God, and the forces of darkness may no longer use them against us. By taking responsibility for our actions, we take away the devil’s power over us, which is why he works to keep us from confessing, filling us shame, fear of judgment, pride, with ideas that confession is outdated, and so on.

You may be tempted to fight the demons yourself, trying to outwit them. This is extremely dangerous, for you are setting up your ego against them, falling into pride, which is precisely what the enemy wants. You are stepping into their trap. This is not our battle to fight. It is God’s. We must rely on Him, for He is our ultimate weapon.

Sometimes we may think we able to conquer everything with sheer willpower. But when pride rises in our heart, we fall. The relapse can be so strong that the fall makes us sin even more, for “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Surrender to God’s will. As Jesus prayed to His Father, “Not my will, but your will be done.” We should be reminded of this daily.

Through proper confession and repentance, we receive forgiveness from God. The past is wiped clean, and a new chapter is opened. Anxiety disappears and serenity prevails. To find peace, one must discard the rubbish from within.

St. Paisios gives some advice to those struggling spiritually:

Do not fear. It’s a struggle, it’s real warfare, and we’re bound to suffer some wounds. But they’re healed through confession. You see, when soldiers are wounded in the course of a battle, they rush to the doctor, he binds their wounds, and they courageously return to the battlefield. In the meantime, they gain experience through their wounds, become more capable of protecting themselves, and avoid getting wounded again. The same holds true for us; when wounded in our spiritual struggle, we mustn’t be discouraged. Instead, we should rush to the doctor – our Spiritual Father – show him our wounds, be spiritually healed and continue the good fight.

St. Paisios the Athonite, Spiritual Counsels Vol. III: Spiritual Struggle

Some people refuse to go to confession because they fear they might sin again and thus deceive their spiritual guide. But that is not right. It is like a wounded soldier saying, “Since the war isn’t over yet and I could be wounded again, why should I have my wound taken care of now?” But he will bleed to death if he doesn’t bind his wound. When someone falls into serious sin, the sooner one goes to confession the better. If you have an open wound, will you let a month go by before tending to it?

Other people go to confession but are vague about their sins, or do not discuss the serious ones that are bothering their conscience, and they end up becoming tormented souls. When a person does not confess the truth to the Spiritual Father, who therefore in turn cannot point out his error to help him, he ends up being harmed all the more, in the same way as the patient who hides his symptoms and disease from the doctor.

One of the most important things in confession is to avoid justifying ourselves. For example, saying, “I gossiped about my colleague, but he deserved it.” A person who confesses while justifying himself never finds inner peace; the excuses only weigh on his conscience. By contrast, one who exaggerates his faults, and willingly follows a strict rule from the Spiritual Director, experiences ineffable delight through divine consolation.

If one confesses a sin without first seeking forgiveness from the injured person, he cannot find peace in his soul because he has not yet humbled himself. An exception can be made when the injured person has died or cannot be located. But if one sincerely desires to make amends, God forgives. There is also the possibility that God has hardened the injured person’s heart, because, should we be forgiven, we may just as carelessly fall into the same sin.

Once you have recognised your wrongdoing, grieved it, repented, and confessed, you should move on. Don’t get stuck there. Just keep it in mind so you’ll be careful next time you’re faced with a similar situation. The grief must be commensurate to your fault.

From Inner Brokenness to Union with God

By true contrition and selfless worship we can break through to meet the living, radiant Christ within our childish mental images – Elizabeth Wang

After we are forgiven by God through confession and repentance, atonement takes place, involving an effort to repair the damage caused by sin, often through penance, prayer, or acts of love. This restores the broken relationship and brings us back into union with God, leading to redemption: the deliverance from sin and the full restoration and healing of the fragmented soul. Throughout this process, God’s grace helps us to turn away from sin and grow spiritually, allowing for sanctification, the lifelong process of growing in holiness and becoming more like Christ. This spiritual journey is never fully complete in this life but is perfected in heaven, where we attain theosis, or perfect union with God, and experience the beatific vision—the ultimate state of bliss that believers will enter into when they see God face to face.

This is the Christian spiritual journey, where a person moves from inner brokenness towards wholeness and union with God.

We Live in Unprecedented Times for Spiritual Growth

The Damned Being Plunged into Hell (detail). Vestibule of Hell – Luca Signorelli

At present, it may seem that evil is winning and the forces of darkness are growing stronger and more numerous than ever. However, it is not that the demons have increased, for God’s creation of angels was a one-time act. Rather, we live in a time where people have become vastly more undisciplined compared to other times, and thus more susceptible to demonic influence.

In his talk Levels of Spiritual Warfare & Our Lady, Fr. Chad Ripperger states that God allows spiritual warfare for our growth, and that ultimately, demons serve as instruments of our purification and sanctification. Therefore, when are attacked we should not feel sorry for ourselves, but recognise that the area we are being attacked in is where we must become proficient in.

Scripture tells us, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” In other words, in an age where people are unfaithful and undisciplined, God pours out extraordinary generosity upon the few who seek to follow His will. God desires to give grace, and this means we live in an unprecedented time to grow in holiness, a time that, perhaps, the saints foresaw and wished they could live in, for the degree of sanctity and abundance of grace available to us now was scarcely accessible in their era. Therefore, do not miss this unique opportunity, and fight each day.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 6:12-13 (ESV)

Spiritual Warfare in Daily Life: The Battle of Thoughts

Many of us go about our daily lives unaware that from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep, we are engaged in spiritual warfare. There is a battle being fought for our very souls. This may sound extreme, but if we examine our thoughts, words, and actions, we can see how our values are constantly being undermined.