Spiritual Warfare

Wars and Rumors of War

I wrote this sermon a few years ago when things were getting scary with N Korea They were firing off test nukes, Remember?

I had an issue with a property my father gave me in Mexico Recently, we had an issue erupt over this house when it became Known.

It seems out of the crevices came the attackers. Well disguised enemies bent on our destruction as it were. All over this house issue.

As soon it arose, I had to duke it out with my humanity.

The internal war within you

I had to war within myself about the best course of action.

Immediately, my rooster feathers raised up, and I began to orchestrate my battle plan.

Then the Lord sent me a message through my younger brother, who was just as affected. The enemy was desperately trying to provoke me into stepping out of the bounds of my anointed calling.

Ezra had to face Spiritual war

Reading through the Book of Ezra, I am reminded of what this enemy looks like, and what it sounds like, etc.

In the book of Ezra, we read that although permission was granted by Kings, Cyrus of Persia, Artexurses to Ezra, and Darius, there were some who didn’t want to see peace in the land.

They wrote letters, and asked the King to stop them in their intentions. This reminded me of threat these enemies pose to our Christian walk.

Not only today but throughout history.

Any time a Christian comes up, there’s someone hell bent on taking him down

In the last century, and some in this new century, we have had two World wars, and a smatter of lesser wars.

However, there is another war that has been going on, for a lot longer than these wars;

Most wars are fought for power, land, or for gold, but this battle is for our relationship with God.

Our true enemy is demonic

Today we are going to learn about our true adversaries.

They are the demonic forces that are at work in the world so let us prepare for battle.

In order to fight any battle, we need to know about who our enemies really are.

Unlike our Human enemies of flesh & blood, our enemies in this war have no physical target.

They do not bleed, and they do not die. They relentlessly keep coming back for us over and over again.

They know are weaknesses better than we do. They know our strengths. They even know our desires.

In this war our enemies are not concerned with what will be theirs in the end. They are not concerned with what political status they will have in the end.

Their strategies are not sophisticated like ours, but cause much greater damage.

As humans, one of our greatest weapon inventions was the bomb. When we hit our target Bang! The bomb goes off.

Shrapnel fly’s all over destroying anything in its blast radius. When these enemies hit their target. The damage they inflict on us is the same.

You see, when ever you sin, a bomb goes off. And like our bomb, It’s shrapnel hits and affects every area of your life.

But, it not only affects your life, but those around you too.

Many Soldiers who are maimed, weren’t directly hit. Had they been, it would surely have killed them.

No, they were unfortunate enough to be close to the blast radius

But let's switch gears for a moment okay?

Have you ever wondered what motivates some people to commit some of the most heinous crimes?

What would drive a mother to drown all of her little babies.

What about children killing their parents for the inheritance.

What about the serial killers, or mass murderers?

What motivated the likes of say “Jack-the-Ripper,

or a Jeffery Dahmer ?

They were human just like us.

So what is it that separates us from that modern psychologist will try very hard to make you believe they have the answer.

Are people just Crazy?

Most claim its a mental health issue & it all boils down to just plain crazy, Mad, or Insane.

Crazy: is defined as “Unsound. Which in turn is defined itself as not mentally normal”

Mad: is defined as “disordered in mind, or completely unrestrained by reason and judgment.” isn’t that ironic

Insane: is defined by “mentally disordered”

The best answer to the relentless ability to kill, torture, and maim even one human individual the “World” today offers us CRAZY, MAD, or INSANE.

The motivation that drives a man to rape and torture a little innocent baby, is something other than Crazy, Mad, or Insane.

Even by the world’s standards, people like Adolf Hitler could not have been under the influence of Crazy, Mad or Insane. He was in control of a very powerful Nation.

Insane, is described as mentally incapable of The ability to “Reason”

However, he was capable of planning and executing the extinction of an entire nation.

Mentally incapable means one doesn’t the difference between light and dark, good or bad, male or female.

On the other hand, people like Hitler have the ability to choose their weapons of choice against their foe’s.

Those who come out against the sacredness of life at conception.

Those who would argue that a child has the ability to choose His/her own identity other than what was given to them by God.

Those who find it fair to punish the poor by keeping them poor.

Those who would raise prices on life giving drugs.

No my friends, they are under an influence alright, but it isn’t crazy It’s demonic!

What’s the matter? You don’t believe in Demons?

I do. And let me tell you why.

The God I believe in has asked me to believe everything he wrote in this book.

Don’t you I believe Adam and Eve were the first human beings?

I believe that God sent the animals of his choice to Noah’s Ark.

I believe that Jonah was swallowed up by a great fish,

and I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and then rose from the dead Amen!

So if We can believe in all of these wild stories, why shouldn’t we be expected to believe in the existence of satanic demons roaming the earth like a roaring lion looking for someone it can devour?

1 Peter 5:8 (CSB)

8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

Well one of the things mentioned several time in the Bible is the issue of Demons.

And “I’m” convinced “they” are the motivation needed to commit such grotesque acts against God and humanity.

I believe they are in direct control of our culture today. Warping the minds not only of our adults, but now even our children, (Confusing them about their sexual identity)

And I am convinced these are our true enemies Ephesians, makes it very clear that they are our real enemies.

Ephesians 6:12 (CSB)

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

Tell them to Hold their finger there

Why?

You are in the middle of another kind of war right now

Because there really is another war going on right now, and we are smack in the middle of it.

Only this is not for religious freedom, nor for money, or property, but for your souls.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of war, is the weapons. My goodness, some of the weapons we have now-a-days would make Alexander the great look as weak and defenseless as a fly.

Modern weapons are useless

So with modern worldly weapons, we can destroy every living thing on this earth several times over. The earth would be uninhabitable from the fall out for who knows how many years.

You see, our weapons of mass destruction are just that Mass destruction. Our weapons are designed to kill many at the same time. They take the word overkill to its intended definition.

But obviously, our weapons are useless unless we use them. They just sit there gathering dust as long as we don’t use them.

The enemies however, don’t build bombs to kill many at the same time. They get greater pleasure watching a person ruin his/her own world And those close enough to their blast radius

They have the power to manipulate situations in order to tempt you into sin. And every time you fall for it, BANG! A bomb goes off.

With this strategy, the bomb not only accomplishes its purpose, but sends pieces of shrapnel flying all over hitting others with its affect.

You see, they don’t target a multitude at one time, they seek and destroy one individual at a time.

Sun Tzu’s book “The art of War” relies heavily on sending spies into the enemy’s station and reporting back the weaknesses or strengths observed.

They are using us as spies against ourselves.

First they tempt us to reveal our weakness, then they strike.

This way they can plan the attack specifically against you in your circumstances.

a guaranteed direct hit, and causing the precise measure of damage to their targets.

Our usual strategy (because we are only human) is to blow up everything within a certain radius and hope we achieved our goal.

Their goal is to cause you to sin against The Lord

Their goal is to cause you to sin against the Lord. That is their only goal. To make you sin.

And every time you sin, they win a battle against you, and cause the effect to hit those around you

For instance, the temptation hits you to cheat on your taxes, Bang! A bomb goes off. The shrapnel hits everyone in your family when the IRS comes to audit you, and takes away your house or your car.

Or, A married couple is struggling to connect. The weakness there isn’t hard to pinpoint. When one falls to the temptation of adultery with another. Bang A bomb goes off and destroys the sanctity of that home.

-But the betrayed partner and the Kids, get hit with the shrapnel of that sin.

Some never recover from the trauma. Those are what we call the unfortunate casualties of war.

No wars without casualties

Sadly, there is no such thing as war without casualties.

In spiritual warfare, the damage is so devastating it can tear families apart with little effort.

My brothers and I have children from previous relationships.

Because of a few bombs that were planted with inside knowledge, went BOOM!

Our children are casualties of war. We have tried our best to fill in the gaps for them but the shrapnel spreads very wide and covers a lot of ground.

However, the losses can be truly crippling to parents.

They cause them to even question the value of the very foundation the war is being fought for.

So you should be on your guard. ​Lastly and most importantly, we need to remember, in this war, the only “RAMBO” is Jesus Christ.

We cannot win without Jesus

Without him we can not win this war.

There is no one immune, not one.

Not you, not you or you. Matthew 24:22 says that if time wasn’t cut short even the elect would fall to the enemy.

When Peter tried to convince Jesus not to allow himself to be killed, Jesus screamed “behind me Satan”

Brothers and Sisters, do you know what happened there?

Jesus defused a bomb. It could not go BOOM! It didn’t even go puffffff!

Jesus is the bomb squad, he is the General, and whats more is, he has already won this war, because, he is GOD! AMEN!

Lets go back to Ephesians

Ephesians 6:13–17 (CSB)

13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God.

If anybody here wants the full armor of God, now is the time to come forward and take sides with Jesus. Amen! Glory be to God, the creator, the great I am, the alpha and omega. AMEN!.

Motion for prayer for dismal