Fighting the right Battles

Spiritual warfare, like any warfare, requires fighting. Fighting people is undoubtedly not a good fight. If we find ourselves fighting against people, we are in the wrong battle and fighting for the wrong kingdom.

One of the enemy’s many strategies is to trick us into fighting against other people so that we neglect or simply miss the spiritual battle around us. Wasting our energy, resources, and time on fights we should not be engaged in brings confusion, division, weakness, and discouragement. The enemy is relentless in his efforts to keep us fighting against one another.

Spiritual warfare occurs in two arenas: Internal and external.

The first arena is the battlefield of self. We fight to tear down strongholds of carnal thinking and wrong beliefs in our hearts and minds. We fight this battle by renewing our minds through exposure to God’s word and fellowship with other believers. As we pursue a relationship with the Father, we find our calling and grow in the faith. We mature in Christ, becoming more prepared to fight in the other battle arena.

The second arena of spiritual warfare is against spiritual beings in our fallen world. In this arena, we fight primarily through prayer, intercession, and demonstration of the kingdom of God. As we mature in Christ, our authority increases, and we become more effective at fighting in this arena and skillful at destroying the works of the devil.

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

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Satan’s Agenda and Guarding Your Heart.

In spiritual warfare, the enemy’s point of attack is our hearts, or the hidden man of the heart referred to in 1 Peter 3:4. When the Bible speaks of our hearts, it is not just referring to our spirits, but all of the eternal parts of our being, the mind, spirit, and soul. These are parts of our being that live on after our physical bodies die. It is the heart of who we are, the core of our being. This heart is the soil where the seed of God’s word is planted, and the Holy Spirit resides.

Satan wants to keep that seed from growing by planting tares and weeds to choke it and keep it from receiving water and light. It is the heart he wants to corrupt because from our heart springs forth the life of God.

When life springs from our hearts, God’s seed gets planted in other people’s hearts. The energy of God that flows from our relationship with Him waters and shines a light on other men’s hearts, making them stronger, causing growth, multiplying God’s army, and growing His influence.

Satan is after our hearts to corrupt what God has planted there. We must be vigilant to guard ourselves against the many deceptions that the enemy throws at our minds and deny him entrance.

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV) Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life.

Satan will bombard our minds with negative thoughts and sensual ideas to stir our emotions to the point of reaction. Emotional warfare is spiritual warfare. Thoughts and words are spiritual, so he pressures us with ungodly thoughts in the hope of us reacting with words and actions. It is our own words that defile us and allow Satan an entrance into our hearts.

Our words tell him where we are weak, where to focus his attacks, and whom he may devour. The devil roars in our minds like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is looking for those that open their mouth to show him where he can plant his seed. Once he gets seed into our hearts, he waters that seed with more thoughts until it produces the fruit of more words and actions. It is a devious and highly effective plan.

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

How do we guard our hearts and minds against his relentless attacks on our minds and emotions? Philippians 4 holds a vital key.

Philippians 4:6-9 (ESV) do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Being prayerful and thankful defends us against many of these attacks, but that is not enough. We must choose what we think. Satan will take us captive in our minds if we do not take negative thoughts captive and bring them into obedience to our revelation of Jesus Christ. Once our minds are captive, he has access to our hearts.

When the enemy roars the loudest in our minds, we must force ourselves to think about pure, praise-worthy, positive, and life-giving things. We can’t just think good thoughts; We then must give voice to those thoughts. This is the practice of “taking every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC

Understanding Spiritual Warfare

          Hearing the term spiritual warfare, we tend to think only about prayer. While prayer is certainly important, it is only one of many essential aspects of our supernatural battle.  

Spiritual warfare is not a conflict between men but warfare against a spirit realm that influences the thoughts and values of humanity. There are unseen spiritual beings and spiritual forces at work on the Earth to persuade men to think and believe anything other than the truth.

The warfare we see in the physical realm is a product of supernatural influence from the spirit realm. A significant part of our Christian experience is embracing a lifestyle of spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness. How we wage war now will have a tremendous impact on our eternal rewards and how we live out the rest of eternity.

God has given us the privilege of battling supernatural enemies to perfect our faith, and He has provided spiritual tools, disciplines, and weapons to fight this warfare. Like any advanced military organization, we should be skilled with our weapons and trained in using all the tools God has provided us.

Spiritual warfare is a partnership with God that initiates redemptive solutions to fallen humanity’s challenges. As we co-labor with God in this warfare, He leads us to a place of complete dependence upon Him to exercise His kingdom authority on Earth. It is a beautiful mystery.

As the enemy tries his hardest to break us, he runs the risk of becoming the instrument needed to perfect our faith, unwittingly becoming a catalyst for our sanctification. God, in His infinite wisdom, has chosen to use men and women of faith to destroy the works of the enemy and expand the kingdom of God.

Satan has deceived the Church for far too long. I pray that by revealing his common deceptions, exposing his strategies, and bringing awareness of how to fight spiritual battles, many will become skilled spiritual warriors equipped to destroy the enemy’s works and expand God’s kingdom for His glory.

Partner with God and join me in the fight. It is a good one.