|
Tuesday, March 12 2024
SPIRITUAL WARFARE ------//////------ STAND AND WITHSTAND 1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast [1], immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Eph 6:11-18 Put on the whole [2] armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor [2] of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore [1], having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; [3] 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. [4] To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. [5] These passages are packed with powerful truth. A few observations: [1] Many of the devil's schemes are designed to get us to stop standing, withstanding and persevering. We have to learn to hold on to the ground we have already taken as we are trying to take new ground. [2] We must take up the "whole" armor. Everything listed is important--Truth, Righteousness, the (true) Gospel, Faith, Salvation, the Spirit, the Word, Prayer, Intercession. These are all important areas where we must be strong and well prepared to do battle. [3] The enemy's darts are always meant to destroy our faith or to encourage unbelief. That's why faith is a shield. [4] Praying in tongues is a perfect way to pray in the Spirit. See next heading. [5] We must be good team players and support each other as we are each doing battle in our sphere of influence. Intercession is an important need in the Church, so much so that we are encouraged to pray "at all times in the Spirit." Tongues are a powerful way to do so especially when we don't know specifically how to pray for others. ------//////------ PRAY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT Jud 1:20-21 But you, beloved, building yourselves up by your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, [1] 21 keep yourselves in the love of God [2] , eagerly awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to everlasting life. [1] Praying in the Holy Spirit builds us up. I believe this means praying in tongues. [2] We must keep ourselves in God's love. God is always giving love but we aren't always receiving it. This is a key part of spiritual warfare because we are vulnerable if we cannot count on God's love for us. ------//////------ AVOID OFFENSE (see special section below) Offense is one of the primary strategies of the enemy against the Church. It is a key weapon of spiritual warfare which is meant to disrupt our unity. And without unity the Church is impotent. Mat 18:15-17 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. I've noticed that there are a lot of offended people in churches which tells me we are not obeying this passage of scripture. Offenses must either be overlooked or dealt with in the way prescribed by this passage. ------//////------ AVOID WORLDLINESS Luk 4:5-8 And leading Him up into a high mountain, the Devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the Devil said to Him, I will give all this authority and their glory to You, because it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Then if You worship before me, all will be Yours. 8 And answering, to him, Jesus said, Go behind Me, Satan! For it has been written: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." (Deut. 6:13) 1Jn 2:15-17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that which is in the world: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and its lust. But the one doing the will of God abides forever. Jas 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. It is worthy of much reflection to meditate on the worldliness we see around us each day and the subtle and not-so-subtle ways it tries to influence us. ------//////------ REMAIN JOYFUL Psa 33:21 For our heart rejoices in Him because we trust in His holy name. Psa 35:9 And my soul shall be joyful in Jehovah; it will rejoice in His salvation. If we are depressed and sad we are particularly vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. ------//////------ OBSERVATIONS on SPIRITUAL WARFARE: We can learn much about spiritual warfare from natural warfare. In natural warfare it is a great source of advantage when we understand our enemy well. We want to know his strengths, weaknesses, intentions, strategies, weapons and other capabilities so that we can neutralize them. It is equally important that we understand that we know and understand our own capabilities and weapons and that our enemy would gladly rob us of this knowledge if he could. Satan and his demons want and need expression so that they can advance their cause in this world. He does this through people. See 1Jn 4 ('Every spirit that confesses…') From what I have observed in my life and others’, the enemy regularly uses the following methods in spiritual warfare against the people of God (these are in no particular order; they are all equally important):
Here the goal is to deceive us, as he did Adam and Eve, into believing God is not good, generous and benevolent. We tend to blame God when things don’t go our way but, in truth, God’s Word is full of blessing, guidance and direction for everyone.
It's much harder to walk in the Spirit and serve God with passion and zeal when you are sick and tired. In this fallen creation sickness is a continual threat but we have God's word which gives health to our flesh and strength to our bones. We must develop an attitude of resistance and quote the Word over our bodies regularly.
This is almost always targeted against God’s Word, power, miracles and all that is of God. When we succumb to unbelief we offend God at the deepest level. We refuse to give Him credit for how He works and intervenes on our behalf. We then seek provision in the flesh: our own methods, skills and devices. Unbelief can be very subtle and difficult to detect in oneself; it is easier to see in others when we observe what they say and the decisions they make.
Resistance from others to the promotion of the gospel or the proper working of the Church.
Believers who are easily offended are easy prey for the enemy. Once offended the result can be slander, accusation, criticism, condemnation and more. The strife can be unspoken, resulting in distance, unforgiveness, passive aggressiveness and vengeance. I call this silent strife. Discord of all kinds damages relationships between people and prevents us from working together to build the kingdom of God. We must repent of giving or taking offense and always seek reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. SEE PRACTICAL TIPS TO RESOLVE CONFLICT BELOW.
These are the end results of offense, strife and discord. They are what cause denominations to form, churches to split, marriages to end and all other types of separation. The easy thing to do when you are in disagreement with someone is to separate from them. But that is almost never the best thing. Instead we must go to that person and seek resolution. Splitting is sometime necessary but should be the last resort.
These behaviors emphasize and strengthen the negative in our circumstances, counteract our faith and sap the energy of others. They are usually a symptom of sagging faith or outright unbelief. Negative people also tend to sap the energy of others discouraging them from serving God with zeal and passion. The enemy tries to use such people to hinder our walk with Christ. They can even be family members.
The enemy works very hard to deceive us because in so doing he can neutralize us. We must know the truth about who we are in Christ for this truth is paramount to our success in building God's kingdom. If we cannot count on the truth of God’s Word life would be nothing but uncertainty and misery. We counter this like Jesus did--by knowing, quoting and believing the Word of God above all else.
TV and internet are today’s most prolific conduits of worldliness. Worldliness includes the lust of the flesh and eyes and the pride of life. We must be very watchful about the voices we listen to and the images we see. But worldliness includes the normal cares of the world -- busyness; over commitment; packing our calendars; not taking time for recharging, reflection; Martha vs. Mary (focusing on things less important).
Stimulating the flesh. Lust of the flesh/lust of the eyes/pride of life. Some of these things are not sinful in themselves but they are distracting. They take our focus away from heavenly things onto temporal things.
These are spirits that observe us then attack and exploit our areas of weakness where we habitually give them ground. The enemy will present many opportunities for us to display our weaknesses. As we continue to yield these weaknesses can become strongholds that seem to be part of our personality. In reality they are entrenched evil spirits, not demonic possession necessarily, but entrenched demonic influence--areas where we habitually allow spirits to deceive us and which in turn can lead to possession.
The Word gives special attention to the power of the tongue for good or evil and how we use our tongue is an indicator of our maturity. This kind of combat is fought with our lips. The Sword of the Spirit is to be on our lips. When Jesus fought the devil He did so by simply speaking the Word of God. “It is written…” I will do the same by studying, memorizing and speaking the Word of God. The daily declaration is a way to speak over ourselves the victorious life. Speaking in tongues regularly is an important tool, perhaps the most important one, since it puts our tongues under God's control.
The term 'flesh' has many connotations and the word 'sarx', translated 'flesh', can mean mere physical flesh. But in the NT it more often means the characteristics of the old man or unredeemed nature. These include the sinful nature and the independent nature that seeks control over one's life to the exclusion of God.
------//////------ EXAMPLES OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN PRACTICE
------//////------ PRACTICAL TIPS FOR RESOLVING CONFLICT AND DISUNITY When discussing spiritual warfare conflict and disunity deserve special consideration because it is one of the most powerful areas where the enemy defeats believers. When fights threaten to erupt consider these scriptures instead of engaging in the battle. Even better, quote them out loud; this is how Jesus defeated the devil. Also, pray in tongues out loud to tame the tongue. ------ Gentleness: 2Ti 2:24-26 ESV And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2Ti 2:24-26 LITV But a slave of the Lord ought not to quarrel, but to be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing [showing patient and unruffled self-control and restraint under adversity; slow to retaliate or express resentment], 25 in meekness teaching those who have opposed, if perhaps God may give them repentance for a full knowledge of the truth, 26 and they having regained senses out of the snare of the devil, being captured by him to do the will of that one. The key to resolving many conflicts and disagreements is gentleness. I have never seen an argument truly won. One may think he has won but the goal should never be to gain capitulation or surrender but to elicit a willing change on the part of the other person. It is not easy to admit one is wrong for it requires humility which few people are good at. Gentleness gives the other party time to go away and reflect on what was said when they are in a receptive place to hear from the Holy Spirit. Our gentleness cooperates with the Holy Spirit as it is one of His fruits. ------ Control anger and avoid offense: Pro 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. Mat 13:57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." Offenses must be taken. It is the offended party's choice to accept or take the offense. In many cases the "offending" party is oblivious to the offense given. Mat 17:27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." Offenses can be given when we are not considerate of others in our speech or actions. In such cases one is at fault and should attempt to make it right. ------ Avoid marital arguments: 1Pet 3:7 ESV Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered (not cutting off your prayers - LITV). Disunity between husband and wife makes healthy spiritual life difficult or impossible. ------ Choose peacemaking and harmony: Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Col 3:12-14 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ------ Forgiveness: Mat 18:21-22 LITV Then coming up to Him, Peter said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? 22 Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Until seven times, but, until seventy times seven. Remain in a state of pre-forgiveness, i.e. Always be ready to forgive and ready to apologize with the least hesitation. ------ Repentance: Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Remain in a state of pre-repentance. i.e. always be quick to admit your mistakes or poor behavior and repent to others. ------ Ignore things said by others in the flesh: 2Cor 5:16-17 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Give grace and be forgiving of others when they make fleshy mistakes. Recognize the source as their flesh and not their renewed spirit. Try your best to ignore it and don't hold it against them. ------ Tame the tongue: Jas 1:19 …Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Prov 15:1 A soft [gentle] answer turns away wrath, but a harsh [hurtful] word stirs up anger. Words spoken in anger are almost always destructive. Softness and gentleness are necessary and effective in diffusing conflict. Jas 3:2-12 LITV For we all stumble in many ways. If any one does not stumble in word, this one is a mature [perfect] man, able also to bridle [control] the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the mouths of the horses, for them to obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold, the ships also, being so large, and being driven by violent winds, they are directed by a very small rudder, where the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a little member, yet it boasts great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the world of iniquity [unrighteousness]. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting [staining] the whole body, and inflaming the course of nature [life] **, and being inflamed [set on fire] by Hell. Our tongues--when directed by hell and the flesh (which does the bidding of hell) or by the Holy Spirit--can set the entire course of our lives. It will lead us into peace and joy or conflict and misery. Here is why we need to speak in tongues regularly -- in those brief moments the tongue is completely tamed and can speak only the things of God. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring out of the same hole send forth fresh and bitter water? 12 My brothers, a fig tree is not able to produce olives, or a vine figs. So neither can a fountain produce both salt and sweet water. ** [course of nature] Greek: trochos (G5164), wheel. Only here. The circle of human life is continually excited by the tongue unless it is kept sanctified. Evil surmisings, misrepresentations, falsehoods, jealousies, envyings, wrath, and malice, all form part of the destroying flames of fire from the tongue of the ungodly. ------//////------ DECLARATION-PRAYER Today I will focus on blocking all the above doorways in my own life and interceding against them in the lives of others. I will resist all the schemes of the devil and I will no longer allow him to use me as his agent. When I see these in myself I will immediately repent and seek God’s help in overcoming them by taking my authority. When I see them in others I will pray and intercede to assist them in gaining victory.
I will take "the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God." I will pray in the Spirit as much as possible today. I declare that “Greater is He that is in [me] than he that is in the world.” ------//////------ |
Ekklesia Fellowship House Church - 1
7292 Lakeside Dr.| Indianapolis, IN 46278 | PH: 317-508-9267