The Mindset Of A Warrior

To be affective in warfare against the invisible foe, we must understand what it means to have a warfare mentality. There are some basic principles and personal disciplines that we, as believers in Christ, can develop and operate in that will secure the victory for our personal lives, families, ministries and others.

In Matthew 17:14-21, we find an interesting account of Jesus engaging in spiritual warfare against demonic powers in the life of a young man. "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him."Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. Is And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 'Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

In these verses, we have a desperate daddy who does not know what to do with his son (who has apparent demonic activity in his life). The Bible says the son was sore vexed by the Devil. My friend, the Devil is still vexing men and ladies of all ages today. Young people are dropping like flies to drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual immorality and rebellion.

Our nation has been plagued with a demonic, occultist spirit that is sweeping thousands into its grip. The breakdown of the family is destroying teenagers and children. Today is a day of unrest in the hearts of America's youth. I praise God for the thousands of teenage men and ladies that are in our fundamental Baptist churches who are making their mark in our day. But, there are thousands of teenagers, children and even adults, inside and outside of churches, who are being destroyed because

of the spiritual warfare ignorance in their churches. Hosea 4:6a speaks loud and clear on this subject when it says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...

Due to my calling as pastor of Harvest Baptist Church and founder of the Anchor Character

Training Center, I have been allowed to work with disturbed teenagers from across America, many from Christian homes. My heart was convicted when I read Matthew 17:14-21. It was an indictment on my life as a man of God who preaches that Jesus Christ is the answer to all problems. Year after year, I sent many young people away because 1, like the disciples, could not help them. The Lord said that it was simply because of my unbelief. There are some cases that the person absolutely cannot experience a breakthrough without spiritual warfare prayer and fasting.

A VICTOR’S MIND

VICTORY FOR THE CHURCH IS PROCLAIMED!

Jesus Christ proclaimed a powerful and dynamic truth to His church in Matthew 17:21

Matthew 17:20 (KJV 1900)

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Matthew 17:21 KJV 1900

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

when He said, “Nothing shall be impossible unto you. " If this is really true, then there is no one out there that cannot be touched by the power of God and that cannot be delivered. We must come back to the belief that God is able to salvage any life, anywhere, under any circumstance. He desires to perform deliverance through His local church. So, to be that man of God and be that church I realized how important it was to develop a warfare mentality. When Jesus engaged in warfare against the powers of darkness, He had a warfare mentality.

Many young men and ladies that HAVE destructive and demonic influences in their lives. I find that the Enemy was not going to give up territory in their lives without some type of conflict. When Satan has control of a person's life, and the chains of sin and demonic powers have been influencing that person for some time, it takes the right kind of mind-set to help deliver that person.

A SOLDIER’S MIND

WARFARE MENTALITY

We must develop a warfare mentality! I Timothy 1:18 says, "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war good warfare;"

No man can enter into warfare, and war well, if he does not have the mind-set for it.

We Must Understand and Accept the Commitment of a Soldier. In John 15:13, Jesus* powerful message is this, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. " Paul said in Acts 20:24, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself.” Jesus said in Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony: and they loved not their lIves unto the death."

To be a good soldier, we must understand that there will be no effective warfare if we are not willing to dedicate our lives to the cause of seeing people set freE. We must be willing to lay our lives down. Note in Revelation, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and their testimony. They did not love their own lives. What mattered to them was not that they did what they wanted to do, what was convenient to do or what was comfortable to do: but that they loved not their own lives. They died to self. Their cause was more important than their own lives. In the book of Acts, it speaks of men who

"hazarded their lives for the gospel cause." The greatest need of this hour is men and ladies who are willing to hazard their lives for the cause of setting captives free.

When a soldier enters into battle, he must be able to face that battle understanding that he could lose his life. I am not so sure that we must lose our physical lives in this warfare, but I do believe in order to be effective, we must be willing to deny our own life and our own selfish passions, to die to self so that the resurrected life of Jesus Christ can manifest itself. The life of Christ is the life that will overcome the Wicked One.

A LEADER’S MIND

We Must Lead Our Families in Understand the Cause and Motivate Them to Dedicate Themselves to the Cause. There are too many men who set out with a cause in their heart, but do not prepare their family for it. We must be sure that our family has accepted the challenge of being a part of the army of the Lord. This cannot be forced upon them. I do know that the level of a man's effectiveness in spiritual warfare will not exceed the level of understanding and commitment that his wife and children have to see him engage in and win in this war.

1 have spent my life preparing my family for this hour. It has taken NEARLY a lifetime and must be maintained continually. It is EASY for our family to lose vision and forget the cause. My friend, your family might not understand all the principles like I do, but they must have a clear mind and understand the basics of spiritual warfare. Understanding the basic of warfare is something we have to talk about and prepare ourselves for. It has been a journey for my family and me - one that we have taken together.

It is very important that our families can see where we are headed and that we do not get too far ahead of them. They must understand what we do, how we do it and why we do it. There is no greater area that the Enemy accuses a man of God over than over his family. We have a victorious Lord under whose banner we march. It is an adventure! It is exciting. so our wives must see something that is worth doing. Our children will then see this as something that is worth joining parents in. The sky is the limit when our family has entered the battlefield with us.

Someone once told me they did not want their family involved in spiritual warfare, due to the attack that the Enemy would have on them. Let me set your mind in the right framework. The Enemy will attack our family regardless of our position on the battlefield. In fact, I sense that my family safer now that they understand the principles of spiritual warfare, than if they did not understand.

Joshua made it clear where he and his family stood on the matter. They were going to serve the Lord. The greatest spiritual warfare adventure to win is the one in your own house. The Enemy know: and realizes if a house is divided, it will fall.

I have done whatever I needed to do to make sure that my family was not introduced negative preacher's wives and children that hated serving God and being in the ministry. My family has seen the power of God. They have been part of the supernatural life and have witnessed miracle

They are excited about what the Lord can do and will do if we are surrendered to Him.

A PREPARED MIND

We Must Continually Be Reminded Who Our Enemy Is and How to Fight Him. tendency is to battle against flesh and blood, meaning having human enemies. We must continually reminded what the great warrior, Paul, wrote in Ephesians 6:10-13

Ephesians 6:10–13 (KJV 1900)

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

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.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Wow, what a powerful proclamation of truth! Notice how He informs the believer to be careful to understand it is against the wiles and schemes of the Devil that we are standing. It is not the wiles our wife, husband, children or parents. The Enemy we stand against is the Devil.

Let us take a closer look of how to war against the schemes of the Devil. Paul laid it out for us we are in this battle against an invisible foe. He continues to tell us that we wrestle not with flesh blood. We are not fighting against human and carnal things; it is a spiritual battle that must be fought with spiritual weapons.

In 11 Corinthians 10:3.5, he writes again dealing with spiritual warfare and whom we are fighting against. It says,

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 'For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds)

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

It is very clear that we are dealing with things that are not flesh and blood. If we are dealing with flesh and blood, then we are not in the right realm. Our weapons are not carnal weapons. They are not made up of flesh and blood, but are made up of spiritual weapons that God has equipped His people with. They are available and mighty through God in destroying the Enemy's strongholds. We will deal later with the weapons of our warfare. We must keep in mind that men are not our enemies. If we believe this to be, we will find our efforts spent in fighting against flesh and blood and we will be deceived about who our Enemy is. The Enemy does not want us to realize that he is the one that we are battling. He does not want us to be aware of his involvement.

The Enemy is the only one who does not want any credit for what he does. The Devil does not want anyone to know he is the one at work; furthermore, he does not care if he gets any credit for the conflict in our marriage or in our church. He wants the finger to be pointed at someone else. He wants the finger to be pointed at someone physical, so we will engage in flesh and blood battles. We cannot fight him with flesh and blood. Our weapons are not carnal weapons. How many times have I, in my marriage, tried to fight flesh and blood battles? How many times in my church ministries have I tried to fight flesh and blood battles?

Very wealthy man being interviewed and the

We must not be as the heathen. They only deal with the physical. We as Christians can deal with the Devil with the mighty weapons God has promised us.

Who is our enemy? The Devil is. If we are to have a true warfare mentality, we must daily

remind ourselves the Devil is our enemy.

A SUBMITTED MIND

We Must Learn How to Truly Submit.

Submission is a must if we are to experience victory over the Enemy. I cannot express the depth of this truth. It is something many hear, but something many cannot seem to comprehend. If we are to really deal with the Enemy, we must learn the true meaning of submission. James 4:6-7

James 4:6–7 (KJV 1900)

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Too often we misquote verse seven. It is quoted "..resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Notice that the first priority in this principle is not resisting the Enemy, but submitting yourself to the God-given authorities in your life. The Enemy will not and does not have to back off when there is obvious rebellion against those who are our spiritual authorities.

We find in I Samuel 15:233, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." The Enemy understands the power of authority in our lives. He understands that when we operate under God-given authority he docs not have a right to influence us.

There are many levels of authority. One level of authority is the parental authority. When child or teenager operates in rebellion or disobeys their parents, they give territory over to the Devil When a wife is in rebellion against her husband, a man against his employer, a member of the congregation against their pastor or an individual is not submissive to the promptings of the Spirit of God, the Enemy does not have to leave.

We must understand submission is of the utmost importance. The degree of our submission 1 the God-given authorities in our life will determine the degree of success we will experience while engaging in warfare. We will not be effective in binding the strong man, if we are not broken and submissive to God's leadership.

When we are dealing with the Enemy, and he knows there are unresolved areas of rebellion in our lives, he will tum the table on us. When we resist him, he will point his finger back at us and remind us of our rebellion. He will say, "I will not go, you are not submissive to your authorities; therefore, I do not have to heed to your authority."

When dealing with the Enemy, we must submit ourselves to authority. The power to resist will then be there and the Enemy will flee. Once again, the degree of submission to our God-given authorities will determine the degree of victory over Satan.

SLIDE

A FREED MIND

We Must Simplify Our God-Given Priorities and Make Our Daily Schedule Meet Those Priorities. God's people have cluttered their lives with things that are of no eternal value. examine our priorities. If anything is robbing us of our walk with Christ then it must be forsaken. find some very powerful instruction in II Timothy 2:4, which says, "No man that warreth entangle himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Please note what it is really saying here, "No man (meaning absolutely no one) that war (that enters into the spiritual warfare arena) entangleth himself with the affairs of this life (he cannot be affective if he is tangled up with or caught up in things of this life). Why do we have trouble doing what this verse says?

We have trouble doing this because we are too involved in this world. We are supposed to be pilgrims passing through. We are strangers in this world and need to remember this world is not our home. We must decide to de-clutter our lives from things that distract us from the things of God.

Jesus gave a parable concerning the sower and the seed to help us understand this principle. He said the seed, which is the Word of God, will go forth. If the cares of the world are in our lives, they will soon choke the things of God out of our lives. Our passions should not be sports, hunting or fishing. Now, there is no sin in these hobbies, but when we as God's people know the score of the football game, but we are not familiar with our Sunday School lesson before entering our classes on Sunday, we are not right with God. If we seem to glory in what we caught or what we shot instead of the people who we win and what we have seen the Lord do, then we are not right with God.

When the dominating topic of our conversation is not the Cross, the things of God or the passion for a move of God, once again, we are not right with God.

We do not have a warfare mentality.

SLIDE

“The Mindset of a Spiritual Warrior Makes the Cross the Preeminent theme of conversation and the things of God the focal point of life”

You may not agree with me on these issues, but it is the truth and I stand behind it.

We Must Willingly Reclaim Any "Ground" that We Have Given to Satan in Our Personal Lives. Ephesians 4:27

Ephesians 4:27 KJV 1900

27 Neither give place to the devil.

tells us that we are not to give place to the Devil. Many of God's people really do not understand this truth. They think they can approach doing what God wants them to do and what God wants them to be with an attitude. They think that He will understand if they do some of what God wants them to do and be some of what God wants them to be. God is looking for men, women, teenagers and children that are yielded to Him. They have examined every area of their lives and have given all to Jesus, to use for His glory. We must clear our conscience of any guilt so we will not hinder the desire and power of God's grace. If we do not, it will shipwreck our faith

1 Timothy 1:18. 19 says, "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy; according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; "Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away; concerning faith have made shipwreck:"

There are so many of God's people operating daily with bitterness, unforgiveness, and having odds against one another. They do not understand that these things hinder the work of God in their personal lives, marriages, home and churches. We must not give an inch to the Enemy; instead, we must reclaim territory controlled by the Enemy.

Our best from God may be the area of our entertainment life, music life, thought life or som type of relationship. It may be found in the fact that we are harboring unforgiveness, bitterness, anger lust and greed in our hearts. That territory or ground is either in the control of the Enemy or under God's control.

Many people, whether in full-time Christian service or a layperson, who have had severe struggles in their thought life.

If we will help others, we must live the victory ourselves. When we go up against the Enemy on behalf of another person, the Enemy will attack us through our own personal failures. He will not move from the controlled ground it our own sins have not been confessed and forsaken: furthermore, He will not move if our own conscience has not been thoroughly cleared of all guilt and condemnation. We lose our authority with him whet we have ground that is not under God's control.

First, we must pray to God and be transparent with Him. We must let Him know we want to be pure and that we want to make sure that there is nothing between Him and us. Second!! we must claim the blood of Jesus Christ, won on the Cross, for cleansing.

SLIDE

A PRAYERFUL MIND

We Must Take Seriously the Development of a Real Personal and Corporate Pray Ministry to Be Successful in Dealing with the Enemy.

Paul again gives us powerful instruct regarding our prayer life. He writes to young Timothy, "I exhort that, first of all. supplications, prayer, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; "For kings, and for that are in authority..." ( Timothy 2:1-2a)

SLIDE

Isaiah 56:7 KJV 1900

7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, And make them joyful in my house of prayer: Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

When we pray we should expect God to work supernaturally in answering our prayer, especially for of our requests that are following His Word. This even works in the lives of non-Christians: for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 'Who will have all men to be save and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

Psalm 2:8a KJV 1900

8 Ask of me, And I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

1 Timothy 2:3–4 KJV 1900

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The powers of darkness are working day and night to blind the eyes of the lost from glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our hearts should be broken over their "lostness" and over hardness of their hearts, that we find ourselves before the Lord begging for the Gospel light to penetrate the darkness, that their eyes would be enlightened to the Gospel.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:5. "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Glory to God that there is a power that is of God. it cannot be explained by human wisdom or resources. That power is found in true believing prayer. Notice he says, "That your faith should nor stand in the wisdom of men..." This verse lets us know that if we are making our stand or if our foundation, on which we are standing. is in the wisdom of men, it will not support us. Our stand needs to be founded upon the power of God. The proof or evidence of what we are standing on is proven to God, in and through our prayer life.

1 Timothy 2:8 says, "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. " There is no question what this is saying. A five-year-old child could understand this verse. What would happen if men in our churches would take this as a personal call of God to begin every day with their hands lifted in surrender to God, praying everywhere in faith, believing and trusting God and having all of their confidence in the Lord?

Do you recall the challenge Jesus gave in Matthew 26:40b-41a? It says, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.

" Every time I read this verse, my heart breaks and is smitten. Why can we do so many things that entertain and amuse us, but we cannot spend one hour a day before the Lord? The answer is that we do not believe our time spent with the Lord would be productive. We believe that we can get up and do it ourselves as good and as fast as the Lord. We are "humanistic Christians. We say we trust in the Lord, but we do not pray. There will be no effective warfare taking place if there is no warfare prayer.

Luke 11:la tells us that Jesus had a certain place in which He went to pray. It says, "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place....

" As individuals, we need to establish a definite time and place where we can meet the Lord in prayer. We need a prayer closet. It does not have to be a real closet, but it needs to be a SECRET place in which we can go to in prayer and cry out to God. Matthew 6:6 says,

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly: "

It is in that closet that we dress ourselves spiritually. It is in that closet that we put off the old man and put on the new. In that prayer closet, we put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against all the wiles of the Enemy.

Be prepared for the Enemy to bring hindrances to keep us from praying because he knows tha his kingdom is in danger when God's people pray. Nothing disturbs the kingdom’s darkness more than praying men and women. The Devil does not know what to do with a praying man. He does not know what to do with a man or woman that is bent down on their knees. They arr untouchable, invincible and too close to Heaven to touch.

We should begin to combine fasting and prayer when facing impossible circumstances an difficult challenges. Jesus promises that when we fast and pray in seeret, He will reward us openly Some spiritual strongholds are conquered only, "by prayer and fasting." according to Matthew

17:21. Fasting is, in fact, one of the keys to loosing that which we have been in bondage to. Isaiah 58: says, "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bards of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?"

In my personal life, I cannot think of anything the Enemy fights more than prayer. I must constantly push myself to the place of prayer. Sometimes it is not so difficult, but we all have tendencies to do and not pray about what we are doing.

In the Word of God, we hear the instruction of the Lord when John speaks and says, "And thi is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hearth us:

And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. " (1 John 5:14-15). According to this verse, if we want our prayers to be answered, we must be praying for God's will and not our will. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." (Luke 11:2) God is looking for men and women who are willing to position themselves in a place where they can hear from God and what His will i and then pray that His will that is fulfilled in Heaven be done on earth. When we do this, we are literally praying for what God has already desired to be done. In return, God can bring what He has already planned in Heaven to earth. Real prayer is letting God give our minds His will; then us praying, His will. The prayer of His saints then returns back to Heaven, so that He can complete what He wanted to in the first place.

We need personal prayer and corporate prayer. Our churches have organized soul-winning choir practices, Sunday schools, bus routes and music programs, but we do not have organized prayer ministries. We need ladies who do not want to gather together to gossip, sharing things that should not be shared. They should have prayer on their hearts and are motivated to meet in prayer at designated times and places. They should be praying for souls to be delivered, their spiritual authorities and their church families.

Furthermore, we need spiritual men, desire to see the power of God and the Enemy destroyed. They should be gathering on their knees to bathe their preacher and spiritual leaders in believing prayer, so every need might be met.

Where are the prayer warriors? God's Word is so plain in II Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him...

" God is looking for us to be that man, woman, teenager or child.

Ezekiel 22:30 says, "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. " He sought for a man that would stand in the gap and make up the hedge, but he found none. What a sad commentary for God to search for a man and find none.

Isaiah 59:16 says, " And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.... He wondered why there was no intercessor. Have you ever wondered why there are no intercessors? I am under so much conviction these days; we have Sunday school rooms, meeting rooms, conference rooms, rest rooms, cating rooms - but no prayer rooms. What would it say to God if we would build a place, a special place, designated just for the practice of prayer?

God's Word speaks loud and clear to us, we must not ignore it. We have not because we ask not. James tells us that " the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much". Think about it! "The effectual (meaning the effective, impacting, life changing) prayer (crying out to God, lifting our voices to Him) of a righteous man (a man that has confessed up sin, forsaken sin and has, therefore, made no more provision for his sin) availeth much (God will make much available to him)".

There is so much more of the Lord than what we are experiencing today. There are so many more victories to be won, if we would only take our position in warfare prayer and believe God, taking up the shield of faith and trusting in Him for deliverance.

SLIDE

A VIGILANT MIND

We Must See that Everything We Do as Believers Involves Warfare.

SLIDE

Psalm 18:34a KJV 1900

34 He teacheth my hands to war, So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

SLIDE

Luke 10:19 KJV 1900

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

says, "He teacheth my hand to war..."

Psalm 144:1 says, "Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."

Spiritual warfare is not just a prayer prayed or a demon rebuked, it is a lifestyle. A soldier is not just a soldier once in a while, he is a soldier at all times. It is a lifestyle. It is not just a once-in-a-while whim we have, but a life lived. Once we develop the mindset that everything involves warfare, we begin to see that everything we do is under attack. If there is any ground to be taken, it must be fought for and reclaimed for the Lord.

When a preacher preaches, it is warfare. Preachers are not just preaching to people's ears, we are preaching in the face of the forces of darkness. The demonic fowls of the air are doing everything possible to snatch the Word of God right from the hearers. The prince of the power of the air is working to keep the air filled with lies, not truth. Praise be to God! I thank God that the Lord is Master over the prince of the power of the air. When we preach, we should pray the air would be clear from all demonic powers.

When a person takes up the offering, it is warfare. Every usher should take upon himself a personal responsibility to pray Satan would not hinder the offerings, that the Devil would be bound off of those giving and the resources that God has for His church would be loosed.

If one plays the piano, sings a special, sings in the choir, teaches a Sunday school class or drives a bus, it is all against the kingdom of darkness. If it is not being done in a warfare mode, to do Satan harm, then we are performing, not battling. Everything we do is warfare.

I do not know how to express this powerful truth. I pray God would reveal this to hundreds of preachers, laymen, deacons and servants of the Lord. Once we accept this truth, we will see everything done in a position of spiritual warfare.

Even being a good father, mother, grandfather or grandmother is all spiritual warfare. Being the husband my wife needs, or the ladies being the wives they need to be in the Lord, is spiritual warfare.

The enemy does not want us to reach our potential in these areas. In these areas, we become a destructive force against the kingdom of sin, darkness and death. Everything we do is warfare!

SLIDE

A YIELDED MIND

We Must Willingly Yield Ourselves to be Weapons for God to Use Against the Powers of Darkness. Some time back at a youth camp where I was preaching. I was studying God's Word in th area of Romans 6. This chapter of the Bible has intrigued me more than any other chapter of the Bible There is so much there.

While at camp, I was looking at Romans 6:11-13, 16. It says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

Notice we are to yield ourselves to God as instruments. He is saying here that in the past we yielded our members as instruments or "weapons" of unrighteousness unto sin, now "with the same zeal, determination and passion,” we must yield ourselves to be a "weapon" for righteousness unto God.

As we yield our members - our minds, emotions, wills, hands, feet, eyes and legs (our entire being) each member becomes as weapons in the hands of a mighty God to use as He sees fit. God can then take and swing us as swords in any direction He needs to destroy the works of the devil.

Once we surrender and submit ourselves to Him with the same or even more zeal, dedication and devotion, then what we use to be as weapons of unrighteousness, we become an unstoppable force in the hands of God.

The Christian that does this will become the Devil's worst nightmare. May many of us cause him much unrest. We need to rise out of this self-centered position of being victims and develop a selfless, spiritual position of victorious warriors. We must move from a defensive position to an offensive position. Matthew 16:18 tells us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. We take this offensive position against the gates of hell, then put them on a defensive position.

Matthew 16:18 KJV 1900

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Acts 19:13-15 says, "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. "And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?"

We have spent so much of our time trying to get earthly fame, when we should spend our time getting our name known in the dark realms. I John 3:8b

1 John 3:8b KJV 1900

8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

says, "..For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." It is through His church that He wants to manifest the victory over the Devil in this world. Jesus destroyed and put the works of the devil to death, but victory is to be appropriated through "soldiers of Jesus Christ."

Welcome to the warfare mentality! So engage and do battle. For if God be for us, who can be against us? Never forget, greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, thanks be to God who gives us victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.