SPIRITUAL WARFARE

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

It seems that lately I have been confronted with the whole spiritual warfare issue. It was in the 1980s that there was a real push on the whole spiritual warfare issue. Every one was talking about different spirits that were afflicting people. There were deliverance ministries, and piles of deliverance books, and you felt like you were ignorant if you hadn't read the latest book. Some where along the line we all forgot about the Scriptures where Paul exhorted ;

“ but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.”(Romans 16:19b NAS)

“Brothers and sisters, don't think like children. When it comes to evil, be like babies, but think like mature people.” ( 1Corinthians 14:20 GWT )

I am not saying that we should not have teaching about spiritual warfare, but it can't be the main focus.
When we become experts about spiritual warfare then we are in trouble and we are vulnerable to Satanic attracts. Satan will get you to think that he is a great adversary, equal to God. The truth is that the only thing the Devil and his demons have are lies that he is seeking to get us to believe.

We need to be experts of the truth, because the Devil will entice us with lies that ungodly things are more exciting, that we are some how missing out, that our compromise won't hurt us, or his favorite attach is getting us to compare ourselves with others and say; “they do such and such so why can't I ?”
Spiritual warfare starts with the truth.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
( John 8:32 )

Bondage starts with a lie that we believe.
“You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn't know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he's doing what comes naturally to him. He's a liar and the father of lies.” ( John 8:44 GWT )

The full armor of God is based on the truth to deal with lies of the enemy. ( Ephesians 6:10-18 )

First we must understand the truth that our battle is won by being strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. We don't have the insight or the power to overcome the enemy with our own strength.
There is a great difference between "be strong" and "be strong in the Lord"

( 2Corinthians 12:9 ) "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Verse 10( GWT ) says, “Finally, receive your power from the Lord and from his mighty strength.”

It isn't about my strength, but about the power of the Holy Spirit in my life.

So to be strong in the Lord means to have a strength that does not depend on physical or emotional, prowess, but upon the power of God in us. Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.
( 1John 4:4 )
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; ( Acts 1:8 )
“If God is for us, who is against us?” ( Romans 8:31 )

The truth is that we are assured victory by being strong in the lord or should I say the Lord being strong in us.

So spiritual warfare is all about uprooting the lies we believe, because this is at the root of all spiritual bondage.

We must proclaim the truth like never before to counteract the lies that Satan is rooting in others.

It isn't about being possessed or oppressed, but about about the truth that will set the captives free.

We have the helmet of salvation, we have the belt of truth, our shoes are prepared to share the gospel, we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ as a breast plate, we have the shield of faith that destroys the fiery dart of the enemy, we have the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, therefore we go forth on the offense dismantling the kingdom of darkness in peoples lives through prayer and the proclamation of the truth.