Spiritual Warfare

There are a few different area’s that believers find themselves in when it comes to dealing with spiritual warfare. Today we will be talking about him and the next few weeks we will be talking about the battles that we face daily. The thing we don’t want to do is give the devil too much power where we end up focusing on him and believing that he has incredible strength. Remember that the gospel was and still is the good news of what Jesus has done for us.

Be Strong

We look at these two words and think, “time to man up.” or “Nobody else will, I have to.”

In spiritual warefare, Satan tries to get us to stand alone, to rely on ourselves rather than on the power of God and His might.

To be enabled or to be strengthened

The strength that we have comes from an outside source. It is from beyond us.

In the Lord

His strength and might

Strength and might, same words as in beginning of the book.

Ephesians 1:19–20 ESV

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

The strength that we rely on, is that of God.

The strength that will never fail us, never let us down.

This is the strength that took Jesus, and rose Him from the grave.

The same strength that lives in us, the same strength that we will need to rely on to faithfully walk through this minefield of life.

2 Chronicles 20:17 ESV

You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

God is able, when we put our faith in God, He can do amazing things. He can give us strength beyond what we can believe.

Put On the Whole Armor of God

Sandwich between v.11 and v.13

The bread reminds us, we need to armor up.

The in between reminds us why we need to armor up

For We Do Not

This word is a state of being.

This isn’t something that can be avoided, this is a battle that you are already in.

Against Spiritual Forces of Evil

Our battle is with the flesh and the devil.

The flesh, our own sin nature, and we have our adversary, the devil who will try to get us to fall.

Thing people believe about the spiritual realm:

1) We believe that all temptation is caused by the devil, we take no responsibility ourselves.

People do this to draw guilt away from themselves.

2) We don’t believe that their is a devil, that he is a term that we use to describe evil.

3) The spiritual realm is good. If it comes from the spiritual realm it must be the truth.

Galatians 1:8 ESV

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

The bible makes it clear that there is a realm around us that we cannot see.

2 Kings 6:15–17 ESV

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

There are beings around us right now that we cannot see.

Daniel 10:2 ESV

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks.

Daniel 10:12–14 ESV

Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”

This angel was trying to get to Daniel, but there was a war!! A battle between the angels and he couldn’t get away.

This battle, you are in the midst of. It is for your soul.

Ways we are attacked:

Being deceived

People will devote themselves to teachings that are not from God.

Make you feel worthless, tell you that you have no value.

Being Accused

He wants you to feel that you have fallen from the love of God and cannot get back.

He wants you to feel that you will never be good enough.

Tempting

When Satan tempts us, it isn’t with something that is obscure or doesn’t matter to us.

He has observed, he has seen people with the same struggles as you and he knows what temptations you are prone to, what will lead you astray.

Stand Firm

The picture of a soldier, valiantly holding the line, even advancing the line.

We are not called to armor up and stay on the defensive. We are called to put on the armor so we can march into the enemy’s kingdom to do the work of the Great Commission.