Spiritual Warfare Part 7

Introduction

Defense is great but at some point it is necessary to go on the offensive if one is to take the field of battle. Paul now turns our attention to the offensive weapons of our warfare…He begins with the sword of the Spirit…the Word of the Living God.

The Word — God’s word found in the scriptures of the Bible…Old and New Testament.

The word of God can be given extra-biblical but it will never contra-biblical. No true word of God will ever contradict the Scriptures. So when we feel God telling us something concerning our life’s choices it will always find agreement in the scriptures.

The Word of God is true and without any mixture of error in any of its parts. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Among the interesting relics of Thomas Jefferson is his copy of the New Testament. He has gone through the Gospels, scoring out with his pen all passages which present Jesus as a supernatural person. The records of his miraculous birth and all the miracles are deleted, together with all statements which declare Jesus to be the Son of God. In this deleted New Testament the Gospel of Matthew ends with these words: "And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed" (Matt. 27:60).

2 Timothy 3:16–17 CSB

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

If God can create the world, you, me and everything in the universe with such incredible design and wonder He can and did absolutely put together a perfect Holy Word with which we might find His truth and will for our life and and the practice of our faith.

The Spirit — This is reference to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is the source of God’s word and the one who gives it effectiveness.

God breathed His Word into the hearts of men who recorded it in His word we know as the scriptures of the Bible. When we read, believe, speak and trust God’s Word the Spirit brings power to bear upon our circumstances.

To put it another way...Living faith in the Word of God brings the victory.

Jesus gives us an example of how this works practically in our lives when He met Satan on the battlefield of the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-11

Again and again, three times, Satan brought temptation to Jesus and in each case Jesus quoted the Words of scripture. His faith in the Word and its application to His circumstance defeated the devil’s temptation each time.

The power of God’s Word is fantastic, wonderful and amazing. It can and should bring awe to our life. When conflict with evil comes to our life we can defeat it by belief and trust in God’s Word to us.

Remember, the primary way in which demons attack believers is through persistent lies whispered into our mind. They want us to believe God is a liar and cannot be trusted. That we are weak, helpless, sick, broken and unloveable. Genesis 3:1

Genesis 3:1 CSB

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

God’s Word refutes all of the lies of the enemy and if we will speak the truth of God’s Word while believing what we speak…the victory is ours.

Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews 4:12 CSB

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word of God is living and powerful. It is not a platitude but power. Speak, believe and trust the Word of God and it will make short work of your enemy!

At this point it is important to note we are not speaking the word of God as though it were some kind of mantra or spell book by which we get the things we want by simply reciting the right combination of words found therein.

The God of the Bible is the power in the Word. His Word is His bond and covenant with us. When God will always honor His Word…He will do what He says He will do. What He says is true can be trusted as just that…true!

When we speak the Word of God back to our enemy we are telling them what God has said and placing faith that the immutable God is always right and true.

What God has said is true is true! What God has said about my situation is the truth of what it is…I trust in His Word not the word of any demon or wayward human being!

If God has said it is so it is so…end of statement…the end.

Prayer

Praying — Speak to God

At all times — This is not really a reference to continuous prayer without ceasing but rather an encouragement to pray each and every time the battle comes our way.

If we are attempting to battle the enemy’s attack on our own without prayer we are going to fail to take the field from the enemy. There are no victories apart from prayer.

“So must we also at every phase of the conflict enlist the aid of our all-powerful God. In response to our urgent prayer, He comes as a mighty ally to stand by our side.” Vaughan, C. (2002). Ephesians (pp. 130–131). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

“What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, nor new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use — men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods but through men. He does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans but men — men of prayer.” “Power Through Prayer” EmB. Bounds

The reason for our weakness is simple, prayerlessness. The reason we fail to take the field is simple…We believe not the Word of God and fail to take Him at His word concerning His intention to answer the prayers of His people.

According to the late church historian, J. Edwin Orr, in the post Revolutionary War years, drunkenness was of epidemic proportions — of a population of four million, three hundred thousand were considered drunkards. Bank robberies occurred daily. Street crime, rape and murder was rampant and citizens were afraid to go out of their homes at night. Profanity was the worst imaginable, shocking in its filthiness.

The spiritual climate of the nation was disparaging. The Presbyterians met in general assembly to deplore the ungodliness of the country. Both the Methodists and Baptists were losing more members than they were gaining. The Lutherans and Episcopalians were struggling, and even considered a merger for the sake of survival. Episcopal Bishop of New York, Samuel Provoost, had confirmed no one for so long that he quit the ministry. Samuel Shepherd, a pastor in Lenox, Massachusetts, said that he had not taken one young person into church membership in sixteen years.

A poll at Harvard revealed that there was not one believer in the entire student body. At Princeton, only two believers were discovered among the students. Christianity was generally ridiculed. A mock communion was conducted at Williams College; Anti-Christian plays were performed at Dartmouth; In New Jersey, a Bible was taken from a Presbyterian church and burned in a public bonfire. Christians were such a minority on campuses that they met in secret and kept minutes in code so they wouldn’t be caught or persecuted.

The Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, wrote that the Church was “too far gone ever to be revived.” Kenneth Scott Latourette, the Church historian, said, “It looked as though Christianity were a waning influence, about to be ushered out of the affairs of men.” Indeed, it appeared that the church in America was an endangered species. By all indications, the nation had rejected the Christianity of their forefathers — sin and moral decay flourished. But something incredible occurred which changed what seemed to be an impossible situation. A revival of prayer erupted that changed the destiny of our nation.

The awakening of prayer seemed to first begin in the British Isles. In 1792, just a year after the death of John Wesley, a renewed spiritual hunger and revival began to take hold in Great Britain. John Erskine, a minister in Edinburgh, Scotland, wrote a little book on prayer which stirred the hearts of people, and sent a copy to the famed New England theologian, Jonathan Edwards. He along with another New England preacher, Baptist Pastor Isacc Backus, were instrumental in arousing a national interest to pray. In 1794, the spiritual climate in America was at its worst when Backus called upon the ministers of every American church to unite in prayer for the nation. God was with these efforts, and churches of every denomination responded to the national appeal. Soon, a network of prayer meetings emerged across the country, coordinated to pray in unison, beginning on the first Tuesday of January, 1795, and once each quarter thereafter. Predictably, as people sought God, signs of revival began to be seen.

The Word and prayer go hand in hand to bring the victory in the spiritual battles of our life. Speak, believe and pray the Word of God!

The Sword is the Word but the prayers based upon and immersed in the truth of the Word bring the realization of God’s intentions found in His word for our life.

Spirit — Praying in the Spirit is prayers immersed in the Holy Spirit. Stop and ask God to help you pray. Ask His Spirit to consume you, immerse you and speak through you.

Ask God to move your heart and mind in your prayers to His heart and His mind so that you might pray according to His will. Romans 8:26

Romans 8:26 CSB

In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

Prayer does not so much move the heart of God as it moves the heart of men to God. Pray God’s Spirit will do this for you so that you might pray rightly and realize the promises of God’s Word such as found in 1 John 5:14-15

1 John 5:14–15 CSB

This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

Keep alert — With perseverance and vigilance we are to keep alert and pray. This literally means to “keep awake” and in this context it brings the thought of never being off guard. Paul is teaching us to never grow weary and give up in the midst of the battles we face. And we are to always be alert to keep guard over one another as well.

We stand guard on the behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray over them and for them. This is our duty. Our battle is not simply a personal one…our battle against the enemy is fought in the context of the church and our spiritual family.

We are one body in Christ and we defend one another by means of our watch, care and prayers for one another.

Conclusion

Speak, believe, trust God and pry the Word of God

When we speak the Word of God back to our enemy we are telling them what God has said and placing faith that the immutable God is always right and true.

Believe and trust the God of the Word

Never Quit