So we agree that the battle against wickedness is two fold. Internal and external.
No, I think we need to parse the semantics at play here. First of all 'wickedness' is a term in scripture that I personally view as meaning "
wanting to believe bad about others". Wicked people therefore project their own wickedness onto others through negative prejudice.
This is a spiritual battle. We're battling against a spirit of darkness. If a soul is in darkness, the enemy already is internal corrupting the soul to wickedness through an unperceived lie being seen and believed upon as being true. However, if we're filled with Light, the enemy is external because he is seeking a way in. But the battle to not let the enemy in is still internal because it happens in the mind.
Example: In the book of Genesis, we are told that Cain's countenance had fallen, and God noticed this. God therefore knew that Cain was being attacked because God said
sin lieth at the door:
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
In the above situation, the attack is external in that it comes from the enemy crouched outside the door who wants to be let in to turn Cain to wrath. But the battle is occurring in the mind which is internal, and the door that lets the enemy in, is the door that allows in what we believe to be true.
We strengthen our inner man to be able to fend off the attacks of the enemy both internal and external.
A good example is you are walking along the street, minding your own business and are approached by a prostitute. That is an external attack. It becomes an internal battle of your inner man who has been strengthened and can say no to the external attack.
The enemy knows your weakness at will attack it with external stimuli. That why we have to be on the look out. Do not be deceived for he comes like an angel of light.
I've actually had this experience. I don't see being approached by a prostitute as an attack on my soul. I have three daughters, and when this prostitute approached and made a proposition to me, I felt sorry for this young lady who I perceived as trying to survive. I gave her the money she was requesting but told her politely that I couldn't do it. That to me was loving others as I would want to be loved.
A great example of this is the trans movement on kids. Schools teaching kids that boys can be girls. That's an external attack on children. Your kids. My kids. My response should not be, oh well, I will do nothing. The righteous response is to expose it as a work of darkness.
I think a lot of this is misunderstood. I don't believe God would be telling some boy that they should be a girl, but I also suspect that it's a mischaracterization that schools are teaching kids that boys can be girls.