Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Warfare

1 Kings 8:44,45 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.”

Battles...they are God’s battles...not mine.

God hears my prayers and God maintains my cause.

God wins my battles against my enemy. 

How does this enemy work against me?

Rev 12:10 
“...for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

1 Peter 5:8
"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Luke 22:31
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.

John 8:44 
“... He ( the devil) was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

John 10:10 
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...”

Matt 4:1 
“ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil”

Satan tries to devour me, sift me, he wants to see me destroyed and he steals from me. He uses accusations, lies and deceptions and temptations. This is a spiritual warfare. It is a battle fought in my mind.

Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

There are two kinds of spiritual warfare, offensive and defensive. 
In defensive warfare satan launches his fiery darts that God asks us to quench through the shield of faith. Eph 6:16 "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

These fiery darts come in one of three forms; temptations, deceptions/lies and accusations. Satan builds a platform of desires and lusts within me from which he can tempt me.

James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

As satan hurls his darts of temptations towards me God calls me to surrender to Him. 

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
To submit is to surrender. Give it to God and only then will God be able to strengthen me to resist and for satan to flee from me.

Ephesians 4 is telling us to put off our old sinful nature and in verse 27, it tells us that we can give the devil a foothold in our lives through sin:
"Neither give place to the devil."

Satan shoots his fiery darts of lies and deceptions at me. 

2 Corinthians 11:3 
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled (deceived) Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

2 Cor 10:3-5 
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ"

“Countless believers are living in defeat because they have been deceived. The enemy has deceived them and caused them to believe and live a lie. If we allow deception to take hold, strongholds can then be formed in our minds. Strongholds are incorrect thinking patterns based on falsehood. Demonic spirits love to use these strongholds to their advantage against a child of God. Strongholds have tremendous power to affect our feelings and emotions. Many blood-bought children of God Almighty feel guilt-ridden and worthless because they don't see themselves they way they ought to. Many Christians feel unloved and not good enough to be accepted by God because they see Him wrongly. Their perception of Him has been damaged and causes them to see Him as a distant and cruel taskmaster instead of a close loving Father who longs (deeply desires) to have an intimate loving relationship with them!” Robert .L.

Satan throws dangerous darts of accusations at me. He tries to bring up my past sins and failures. He wants me to feel guilt ridden, full of shame and to carry around a sense of failure. He wants my past to cripple me. He desires for me to feel worthless and inadequate. He wants me to think my life is meaningless and I have no purpose and that it is pointless to be alive.

Zech 3:1-5 I was given another vision. This time Joshua the high priest was standing in front of the Lord’s angel. And there was Satan, standing at Joshua’s right side, ready to accuse him. But the Lord said, “Satan, you are wrong. Jerusalem is my chosen city, and this man was rescued like a stick from a flaming fire.” Joshua’s clothes were filthy. So the angel told some of the people to remove Joshua’s filthy clothes. Then he said to Joshua, “This means you are forgiven. Now I will dress you in priestly clothes.” I spoke up and said, “Also put a clean priestly turban on his head.” Then they dressed him in priestly clothes and put the turban on him, while the Lord’s angel stood there watching.

Jesus says to satan, “Satan you are wrong” To me Jesus says “..you are forgiven.”

Satan’s fiery darts in warfare that he hurls at me are temptations, deception/lies and accusations. 

In spiritual warfare the of God is defensive. It protects me from the darts.One of the pieces of the armour is the belt of truth. It is defensive. It protects me. 

Eph 6:14 
"Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth

God has equipped me with one piece of offensive weaponry to tear down the strong holds in my mind based on the lies, deceptions and accusations of satan and the platforms of desires he works his temptations from. 

Eph 6:17 ” And take .....the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”

John 17:17 Your word is truth

God wants me to be protected by truth and to defend with truth.

God wants truth in my heart. He wants truth deep within.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."