Win Your War: FIGHT in the Realm You Don't See for FREEDOM in the One You Do

by Mark Driscoll

You’re already in a war. It’s time to fight.
This book will equip you with tools to protect the five fronts of spiritual battle: your relationship with God, your identity, your family and friends, your church, and the world.

Win Your War is a practical marriage, parenting, and relationship book that is grounded in the Word of God and focused on recognizing Satan’s role in your life. Mark and Grace Driscoll help you understand the power Jesus gives you to overcome the enemy’s attacks.

Mark and Grace Driscoll look at the nature of spiritual warfare in response to Adam and Eve. God has a kingdom where His people are governed by the Spirit. Satan has the world, where his people are governed by the flesh. Spiritual warfare is the battle between these two realities in everything, including our identity, temptation, gender, marriage, and emotional well-being. Some years ago Mark Driscoll preached on the Book of Genesis and discovered an unexpected theme about spiritual warfare that works itself out in all of human history: the storyline of the Bible is that there is first a wedding and then a war. Satan did not show up until a man and woman were married and had a ministry call on their lives. The first thing he did was attack marriage and separate men and women. After reading this book, you will uncover the five fronts of spiritual battle: your relationship with God, your identity, your family and friends, your church, and the world.

Also Available in Spanish
ISBN-13: 978-1-62999-259-4
E-Book ISBN: 978-1-62999-260-0

OTHER TITLE BY MARK DRISCOLL
Spirit-Filled Jesus (2018)
ISBN: 978-1629995229

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Self Help, Christian Living, Theology, Spirituality

261 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mark A. Driscoll is the founder and teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, as well as the co-founder of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network where he also served as President for a short period. Driscoll continues to serve on the board of Acts 29. He has contributed to the "Faith and Values" section of the Seattle Times and the "On Faith" section of the Washington Post.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many Christians ignore the reality of unseen spiritual beings. The Driscolls remind Christians angels and demons are real and spiritual warfare is a reality. They explore angles, what they are like and what they do. They also look at the existence of evil, the reality of spiritual warfare and the Christian's authority. They give biblical insight on a number of topics like pride, sickness and healing, forgiveness and specific spiritual battles, such as lies and coveting.

While I respect most of the Driscolls' teaching, there is one area where I feel they are entirely wrong: the critique of the trend to Reformed theology. Driscoll writes the trend toward Reformed theology is “in large part the world I would call the 'immature, hurt, and father wounded.' The trend toward Reformed theology is driven in large part by a generational father wound ...” (151) I feel this kind of rhetoric is uncalled for. Being a Reformed charismatic, I treasure the biblical nature of Reformed theology, as do many serious charismatic scholars, such as Sam Storms. Driscoll says this “father wound” leads to bitterness and the idea that the son can lead better than the father. (153) He says it may take the form of “a team member overtaking a leader in an organization.” (154) This makes me wonder if Driscoll's comments are from the wounds he suffered during his final time at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, when he was asked to resign.

Driscoll also says this father wound leads to a “prevalence of Son theology over Father theology... These sons with father wounds don't talk as much about God the Father as they do Jesus the Son.” (151) Imagine my surprise when I went to Driscolls' Scottsdale church web site and saw the bold slogan: “IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS!” Later in his book, Driscoll writes, “Good doctrine stars with Jesus as your compass and cornerstone. ...once you get Jesus right, the rest falls into place.” (189)

I also found it interesting Driscoll says the “father wound” causes people to want to plant their own churches, rather than having older mentors in their midst. (159) It's interesting because that is what Driscoll has done, twice.

There is a great deal of good teaching in this book, especially for new Christians or Christians who have ignored the reality of spiritual warfare. The Driscolls generally teach from the Bible, adding their own experiences to illustrate the biblical principles. I advise to just skip the chapter on the father wound.

[Michelle Barker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly the worst book I've read all year. Devoid of anything new or creative, and comes across as an overly pious lecture. The husband/wife writing dynamic is cumbersome. The writer changes and you don't necessarily know until they add (Mark) or (Grace) in the text. Their personal stories, where they "pull back the curtain" as the back cover says, are so vague they make the couple even less relatable. Its already obvious they are out of touch with regular human beings. They speak down to the reader, and they don't seem to fully grasp what it actually feels like to experience some of the topics they are preaching to their readers about. Like forgiveness for example, they seem to think it a simple decision to forgive and once you make that choice you're all better. They chastise the reader for the whole chapter about how sinful they are for choosing not to forgive. If only they realised forgiveness is not that easy, and quite a process to work through. In fact most of their chapters serve to shame the reader. By Chapter 16, The Father Wound...I got to the "Types of Fathers" and it was clear they were completely out of touch. Their classifications of fathers are like they got them all from movies or perhaps their own distorted fantasy world. One of the traits of the "Terrific Dad" is that he "makes good money."....Excuse me? What part of the bible is that from exactly? They go on in subsequent chapters to bash other faiths and religions, spewing their intolerance all over the reader. They have an especially dehumanising tone of speaking about Native Americans, saying that they worship demons and are trapped in "demonic spiritualism" and need forgiveness. I'm not sure how this is not considered hate speak, and as a Christian I am appalled to see this kind of racism and intolerance. The Jesus I know loves everyone. I'm ashamed that I bought and own this book, but I feel as though I can't donate it or sell it because I don't want anyone else to pick up this book and read this garbage thinking this is what Jesus taught. I suppose I'll have to throw it in the trash. Shame they wasted a tree to print this.

[Lauren Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was rather disappointing. I absolutely love listening to this Pastor’s sermons and speeches, but I really could not get into this book. Flipping back and forth between Mark and Grace got frustrating at times as well. The thing I really did not enjoy was that there was not a “feature, use, benefit” to any of the topics. They would talk about scripture and then very vaguely apply it to a vague topic in life. I don’t feel like they really dove into what could have been real person testimonies and examples from the pieces of scripture quoted.

[Eric Yaple · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright, points I enjoyed and agreed with and also some I didn’t agree. They start sharing a story at points, vague and sometimes feels goes nowhere.
Overall, the book had potential to be much better than it is and lacked execution.
I looked forward to reading this with my wife, I ended up reading it alone first and finished and felt meh. Telling her to save her time and read one of her other books she has on her shelf. I’ll fill her in on the stuff I liked from the book.

[Otis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Let me first say that what drew me to the book was a devotional I went through derived from this book. And I thoroughly enjoyed the five day devotional. It really captured my attention and just assumed the book would be just a good if not better. Unfortunately I must say, did not do the same. Great information and insights. How it was delivered was underwhelming.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of my favorite Driscoll nuggets included in this book.

They don't back down from the tough stuff, and I love the triumphant ending and encouragement looking forward to eternity!

P.S. Michael W. Smith's album Freedom was a great soundtrack for the last chapter. ✝️

[Amber Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any exceptional book by Mark and Grace Driscoll. You can grab this free book from one of his sermons in the book of Jude with qr code!