40 Bible Verses about Spiritual Warfare, Causes Of

For if God did not spare sinning angels, but cast them in chains, into deep, dark dungeons to await judgment;

[He must] not be a new convert or else he could become conceited [i.e., over being in a leadership position] and fall into the [same] condemnation incurred by the devil.

For our struggle is not [actually] against human beings, but against rulers and authorities and leaders of this world's darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. [Note: "Heavenly realms" here refers to the struggle against Satanic powers which permeates life around us].

He rescued us from the domain of [spiritual] darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son whom He loves,

[In doing this] Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities [i.e., evil forces] and made a public display of them, triumphing over them through the cross. [Note: This could possibly be rendered "God triumphed over them through Christ"].

Then there was a war in heaven. Michael [See Dan. 10:13; 12:1; Jude 9] and his angels waged war against the dragon [See verse 9]; and the dragon and his angels fought back. But they did not win and so lost their place in heaven. Then the great dragon was thrown out [of heaven]; he is the snake from ancient times who is [also] called "the Devil," and "Satan," the deceiver of the entire world. He was thrown down to earth along with his angels.

But no one can enter a strong man's house and steal his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man. Only then will he be able to steal from his house.

Or, how can someone enter a strong man's house and steal his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man? Only then will he be able to steal [his belongings] from his house.

And Jesus said to them, "I saw Satan falling from heaven as lightning.

Judgment is now coming to this world; the prince of this world [i.e., Satan] will now be driven out.

Therefore, since the children share in [bodies of] flesh and blood, Christ also, in the same way, took on a human body so that, through His death, He could destroy [the dominion of] him who had the power to cause death, that is, the devil.

[But] the person who continues to live a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has continued to sin since the beginning [See Gen. 3]. For this is the reason that the Son of God came [into the world]; it was to destroy the works [i.e., the influence of] the devil [in people's lives].

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to a son.

Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. [For] look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. [But], you should be faithful [to God] even to the point of dying [for Him], and I will give you the crown of [never ending] life.

And he was given [the power] to wage war against the saints [i.e., God's holy people] and to conquer them; and he was given authority over every tribe, race, language group and nation.

For the god of this world [i.e., Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they would not see the light of the Gospel of the splendor of Christ, who is the image of God.

When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one [i.e., the devil] comes to him and grabs away what had been sown in his heart. This is the person who was scattered to the side of the road.

Some of the seed that fell along the roadside represents where 'the word' was sown [i.e., preached]. When these people have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes away 'the word' which had been sown in them.

And those people [represented by the seed falling] along side of the road are those who have heard the word [of God], but the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they do not believe it and receive salvation.

and the field [represents] the world. The good seed [represents] the children who belong to the kingdom, and the weeds [represent] the children who belong to the evil one [i.e., the devil]. The enemy who scattered the weed seeds is the devil; the harvest time is the end of the world; and the harvesters are angels.

But [even though] we had already suffered and been mistreated at Philippi [See Acts 16:19-24], as you people know, we had the boldness, [with help] from God, to tell you His message in spite of much struggle [i.e., opposition].

And Stephen [i.e., one of the seven men chosen to minister to widows, verse 5], who was full of [God's] favor and power, performed great wonders and [miraculous] signs in front of the [Jewish] people. But several men from the synagogue, made up of freed slaves from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia, began arguing with Stephen. But they could not stand up to the wisdom and [power of] the Holy Spirit by which Stephen spoke.read more.
Then they enlisted men to say [i.e., to testify falsely against Stephen, verse 13], "We heard him criticizing Moses and [even] God." And they stirred up the people, the elders and the teachers of the law of Moses and searched for him, seized him and brought him before the Council. They had arranged for the false witnesses to say, "This man will not stop speaking against the Temple and the law of Moses, for we [ourselves] heard him saying that this Jesus from Nazareth would destroy the Temple and change the customs handed down to us by Moses."

Now when the Council members heard these things they were enraged and ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw God's splendor and Jesus standing at His right side. He said, "Look, I see heaven opened up and the Son of man standing at the right side of God."read more.
But they shouted loudly and refused to listen, and then all of them rushed at him. They threw him out of the city and stoned him [to death]. Those who witnessed [the incident] placed their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And Saul was in full agreement with Stephen being put to death. And a great persecution broke out against the Jerusalem church, and all the disciples, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the districts of Judea and Samaria. The godly men who buried Stephen's body mourned over his loss very deeply. But Saul brought devastation to the church by entering everyone's house and dragging men and women off to jail.

When they had traveled across the whole island they came to Paphos [a town on the island of Cyprus]; [there] they met a certain magician named Bar-Jesus, who was a Jewish false prophet. He was with a very intelligent magistrate, [a Roman official named] Sergius Paulus. This man called for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the message of God. But [another] magician, named Elymas (which means "the magician") opposed them, trying to discourage the magistrate from hearing about the faith.read more.
But Saul, [now] also called Paul, being filled with [the power of] the Holy Spirit, looked at him intently and said, "You child of the devil; you enemy of all that is right; you are full of deceit and every kind of evil [thing]. When will you stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now look, the power of the Lord is coming on you to cause [such] blindness that you will not [even] be able to see the sun for awhile." And immediately a misty darkness fell on him and he kept trying to find people to lead him [around] by the hand. When the magistrate saw this miracle performed, he became a believer [in Christ] and was [continually] amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that Paul was proclaiming the message of God at Berea also, they went there too, and incited and upset the crowds.

When the Jews resisted [Paul's efforts] and spoke against him and his message, he shook out his clothing [i.e., an expression of rejection and contempt] and said to them "Let your blood be on your own heads [i.e., you are responsible for whatever harm comes from your action]; I am not responsible. From now on I will go [and preach] to the Gentiles [only]."

And after a number of days had passed [these] Jews conspired together to kill Saul,

And when the Jews, along with their rulers and [unconverted] Gentiles, all mounted an attack, intending to stone them,

At a later time, when we were going to that [same] place of prayer, we met a certain young woman who was dominated by an [evil] spirit, [claiming to be] able to tell people's fortunes. This [claimed] power was the source of considerable income for the girl's slave-owner. She followed Paul and us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Supreme God and they are proclaiming to you the way to be saved." And she kept this up for a number of days. But Paul was very disturbed [over what she was doing] and [finally] turned [to her] and said to the spirit [in the girl], "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And the evil spirit did come out [of her] immediately.read more.
But when the girl's slave-owners saw that their prospects for income [from her activities] were [now] gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the open shopping market, in front of the authorities. And when they brought them before the city officials, they made this charge [against them]: "These Jewish men are causing too much trouble in our city, and they are teaching people to observe customs which we Romans are not permitted to accept or practice." Then the large crowd began attacking them, and the city officials had their clothes ripped off and ordered them to be beaten. After beating them severely, they threw them in jail and ordered the jailor to have them securely guarded. After receiving these orders, the jailor threw them into the maximum security cell and had their feet securely fastened in wooden restraints.

But [other] Jews became jealous and, recruiting certain ungodly riffraff, they gathered a mob and brought the city to near-riot conditions. They [even] attacked Jason's house and attempted to bring Paul and Silas before the [assembly of] people. When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, "These men have turned the world upside down [i.e., disrupted society by their preaching] and have [now] come here also [i.e., to do the same thing in our community].

About that time a large disturbance arose [in Ephesus] concerning "the Way." [Here is what happened]: A certain manufacturer of silver objects named Demetrius, who made silver replicas of the temple of Artemis [i.e., a Greek goddess], brought much business to his workmen. He called a meeting of his men and others involved in the same work and said to them, "Fellows, you know that we have made a good living from this work [of making temple replicas].read more.
And now you have seen and heard, not only here in Ephesus, but throughout almost all of [the province of] Asia, that this Paul has been convincing people, [even] to the point of turning many away [from idol worship]. [He is] saying that hand-made gods [like we make] are not real [gods at all]. And not only is there a [real] danger that our trade will be discredited but also that the temple of our great goddess Artemis will be considered worthless and that even she [herself] will be dethroned from her magnificent place of being adored by all [in the province of] Asia and the world." When they heard this they became extremely angry and shouted out, "Great is [the goddess] Artemis, of the Ephesians." The city became full of confusion; they grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's Macedonian traveling companions, and everyone together rushed into the amphitheater.

where he spent three months. Then, just as he was about to set sail for Syria, Paul discovered that a plot was being laid against him by the Jews, so he decided to return through Macedonia.

When the seven days [required by the vow] were almost completed, the Jews from Asia saw Paul in the Temple. They incited the whole crowd and took hold of him, shouting, "[You] Israelites, help [us]! This man is teaching people everywhere [to be] against our people [i.e., the Jews], the law of Moses and this place [i.e., the Temple]; and in addition to that he has also brought Greeks [i.e., Gentiles] into the Temple and has [thereby] contaminated this holy place." (For the Jews had previously seen him on a city street with Trophimus, the Ephesian, whom they assumed Paul had taken into the Temple [with him]).read more.
[So], the entire city was stirred up, and the mob rushed together and attacked Paul, dragging him out of the Temple. Immediately the [Temple] doors were closed [i.e., to secure it from further intrusion]. And as they were attempting to kill Paul, the commander of the military unit was informed that the entire city of Jerusalem was rioting. So, immediately he rushed down on the people with his soldiers and officers, and when the mob saw the commander and his soldiers [coming], they stopped beating Paul. Then the commanding officer approached Paul, took hold of him and ordered him to be secured with two chains. He then questioned him as to who he was and what he had done. From the crowd, some shouted one thing and some another. When the commander could not hear what was being said because of the noise, he ordered Paul to be taken into the battalion headquarters. When they got to the stairway [of the headquarters building] the soldiers had to carry Paul because of the [unrestrained] violence of the mob, for the crowds that followed were [pressing in on them] shouting, "Kill him."

When daylight came, [a group of] Jews conspired together, agreeing under oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty men who made this pact. They went to the leading priests and [Jewish] elders and told them, "We have bound ourselves under an oath [with serious consequences] to eat nothing until we have killed Paul.read more.
Therefore, [all of] you, together with the Jewish Council, should notify the commander so that he will bring Paul [back] down to you, as though you wanted to consider his case further. Then we will be ready to kill him, [even] before he comes near [you]."

to do them a favor by having Paul brought [from Caesarea] to Jerusalem, for they were plotting to kill him on the way.

Then the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to wage war against the rest of the woman's offspring, who obey God's commandments and who remain true to their testimony about Jesus. {\o Rev 12:18} Then the dragon stood on the seashore. [Note: Some manuscripts say, "I stood"].

"Simon, Simon [i.e., Peter], Satan has earnestly requested the right to sift you like wheat. [Note: Grain was sifted by using a sieve-like device in which grain and particles of dirt and straw were shaken together, allowing the grain to fall through while the dirt and straw remained. This was an allusion to the agitating trials Peter was soon to endure, and survive]. But I prayed earnestly for you, that your faith would not fail [to be strong]. And when you have turned back [i.e., from going astray briefly], provide [spiritual] support to your brothers."

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in [the service of] Christ will be persecuted.

Be sensible and alert; your enemy the devil is prowling around like a roaring [i.e., hungry] lion looking for someone to [kill and] eat.