Spiritual Warfare

What is spiritual warfare. This may be a familiar topic for some and for others it may be a totally foreign thought or concept. So, my goal is for you to understand what spiritual warfare is, what the bible says about it and what that means for us as believers.

If you will do a word search you will find that this term is actually not a term that is used in the bible. However, it definitely is implied and is visible as you read scripture.

The scripture reference that is most used to describe spiritual warfare is:

Ephesians 6:12 NIV For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Spiritual warfare is simply a term to describe the real battle that we are in, which is a battle that is caused by an enemy who is attempting to keep us from knowing God, experiencing His power and presence in our lives and to distract us from living out the life of Faith God has destined us to live.

There is 3 points that I want to make in this teaching in the hopes that you walk away with a deeper understanding of what kind of battle your in and what you can do to become victorious in that battle. And I hope to accomplish this all by giving you the biblical weapons to win.

You are in a battle and you have a very real enemy.

I want you to know your enemy and what power he actually has.

How you defeat him or better yet how you keep him defeated and how you remain convinced he is defeated.

Most of us make one of two errors in regard to the enemy we face. Some of us pay way to much attention to him and give him way more credit than he deserves and then others of us don’t know much about him therefore we walk around like he doesn't exist. Therefore totally ignoring where he is at and where he is working against us.

CS Lewis said that christians fall into one of two camps in regard to demonic influence, we either deny their existence or we get fascinated with them and give them to much attention.

Therefore we should not ignore him or his demons however we don’t go demon chasing either. Bill Johnson says it this way, “we don’t go hunting for the demonic but we will pull the trigger if they get in the crosshairs.

We must remain aware and on guard.

So i don’t know where you fall here but the bible is a book about God and His redemptive purpose for the world, not a book about the devil. He is in there but we need only to give him the attention necessary to see the victory.

Point number 1: You are in a battle and you have a very real enemy.

How many of you found it to be a struggle to be here this weekend? If your honest some of you will admit it was not only not easy but it was like fighting hell its self. And here is why, partly because you was and also because your enemy the devil does not want you to gain revelation of the truths that this weekend offers. Because if you will receive what God has for you this weekend then satan doesn't have a chance.

So prior to attending mens encounter I am not sure I even realized what spiritual warfare even was. I mostly lived my life knowing the devil existed but never giving any regard to what kind of influence he could have. I certainly didn’t think in terms of being in a battle. I more looked at the people that stood in my way as my enemy and who I was to battle more that satan and his demons who were trying to destroy me. Partly, this was because I wasn't raised in what I would call a christian home. My parents are great people, they even would say they believe in God, but we never went to church nor talked about God very much at all. With that being said my mom always sent us to vacation bible school every year and that is where I first heard about God,Jesus and the plan of salvation. That is where I gave my life to Jesus, however, because I wasn't attending a church or actively being discipled that is pretty much where I stayed spiritually. I wasn't taught about spiritual warfare, yes i had a knowlage of satan but to be honest most of my ideas of him were probably from movies about him trying to talk me into doing bad things. (red devil on your shoulder).

I met my bride Amanda in high school, started to attend church with her and eventually after graduating we were married. At that point life was pretty un eventful. We began to really search and seek the Lord shortly after we were married, we got involved in church and we thought life was great. Over the next couple years we began serving in church, leading small groups and really digging in the word of God. We were growing more than we ever had before. But to tell you the truth our mindset of our enemy was that he is defeated and we need not pay any attention to him.

When you don’t realize your in a spiritual battle in an unseen realm then your battle and your enemy becomes the things you can see. Then everything and everyone in your life can potentially become your enemy when things don’t go your way.

Your in a battle, a war, and its not with your bride, your family, co-wrokers, or employer. You’r in a battle with satan and his demons. And this is what the word says about where, who and how he is going to battle you.

Ephesians 6:12 NIV For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Our battle is in the heavenly realm, long before the battle is revealed in the natural it has been raging in the spirit realm.

John 10:10 NIV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

1 Peter 5:8 NIV Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Ok so you know your in a fight, you know you have an enemy and you know what his intentions are.. KILL STEAL AND DESTROY. Basically he sets himself up against the plan of God for your life.

Point number 2: Know your enemy and what power he actually has.

So now that we know we are in a battle and we have an enemy it will do us no good to simply go running into the fight without knowing what his capabilities are and where his authority comes from.

I think I thought in my ignorance that if I keep my focus on the Lord and doing right things I didn't need to pay any mind to satan. And that worked really good for a while. How many of you know that satan will leave you alone long enough to set you up? Well that is what he did with me and I honestly played right along without even realizing it.

Within a couple years of getting married we start our own business and took off chasing life as we envisioned it. I was 21 years old, owned my own business and was serving in church. I thought I had life figured out. What I didn't  realize was that over a few years the business that I intended to glorify God with was becoming and Idol. And somewhere along the way I placed God on a shelf, still doing my service at church probably to make me feel good, and I began to be consumed with growing and keeping the business I had. And this is where the enemy began to subtly and seductivly infiltrate my life.

Gen 3:1 calls the serpent or satan subtle and crafty.

Now none of you are probably like this but I tend to like to be in control or at least feel like I am in control. And my enemy knew that, he studied me and waited for the right moment to reveal his attack. He waited until the business got large enough to where if something went wrong I couldn't control it. But he also waited until I allowed this business to consume my life, it had become an idol to me and I was now moreΩ focused on keeping, growing and protecting it above most everything else in my life. You know at the surface level it was all right things, but I had gotten the right things in the wrong order. The world called me successful, the church called me blessed but I had become empty, miserable and void of any real presence of God in my life. The stress of keeping work to be able to pay employees and the responsibility of their families began to take a toal on me. And what that did was cause me to become succeptabe to the enemies schemes and influence. I knew he was out there but I did not take the time to study what he was capable of nor did I study how to fight.

Before we look at what authority satan has we need to see where he got it. And that will take us back to the beginning.

Gen 1:26 ESV Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

In the beginning God gave Adam dominion or authority over all the earth. But if you know your bible at all you know that Adam disobeyed God and ate of the tree he was told not to. And the problem was that not only did Adam disobey God but in return he obeyed the devil. And when he obeyed the devil he surrendered his God given authority over to him. And therefor by abdication, or surrender satan came to power. And if it stoped here we would be in trouble, we would have no hope. But thousands of years later Jesus comes on the scene and satan comes to tempt him with his authority. And this is what he says:

Luke 4:6-7 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

(I would add who he (Satan) & he (Jesus) is

I assume satan studied Jesus as he was growing up, He must have know he couldn’t trip him up with little things. So he pulled out his ace in the hole, he showed him all his cards and reveled all his authority and all he had been given. And he said just worship me and you can have it.

Satan will stop at nothing to keep his control, he will throw everything he can at you to intice you to obey him rather than God. And he uses the same tactic he used on Jesus and everyone before Him. “Just worship me and I will give you what you desire”.

If you will read on in Luke you will notice Jesus responded to satan with “IT IS WRITTEN”. He responded with the word of God. Jesus was on a mission and He stuck to the mission. We have a God given mission and we have to stick to the mission.

Luke 19:10 NKJV for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Jesus went to the cross, He paid the penalty for all our sins and made a way for our redemption. But it didn’t stop there He also purchased back ALL that was lost and that includes the dominion and authority Adam relinquished. Jesus disarmed satan, his demons and all principalities and powers of darkness by triumphing over them on the cross.

Col 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities , he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

As I began to feel as though I was loosing control, fear, anxiety and worry began to creep into my life. Irrational fears, irrational worries and debilitating anxiety plagued me. The straw that broke the camels back per say, was when we landed the largest job to-date that we had done, that caused me to go into a full blown panic attack. A deep depression came over me and I couldn't eat, sleep or even think rationally. I was physically ill and didn't want to leave the house or talk to anyone. I began to hate my life as fear of loosing what I had built, loosing the ability to take care of my family, and loosing everything I knew consumed me.

The enemy of my soul waited patiently, he waited until I placed my focus more on the blessings I had been given rather then the blesser Himself. He waited util union with my Father was slim or even non existant. Basically he waited until I was at my weakest and he mounted his attack. He used every little problem, every little issue and circumstance that I faced to build a wall between me and my Father until I no longer could see a path back to God.

I came to a place where the fear, anxiety and worry was so strong that I wanted nothing more than to escape it. I recall walking out of the house and my bride asking me “your not thinking about doing anything stupid are you” and I said no and walked out. But in reality as I walked across my field to a pond I just had cleaned out, I thought of how easy it would be to end it all. How if I checked out of life that the pain and feelings I was having would go away. And although I never though of actually going through with it I realize how and why someone would do that. I didn't see an end to the misery I was facing, but I realized that my family needed me and that they were worth winning this fight for. Instead of going the direction satan wanted me to go I got on my knees, in the middle of this freshly cleaned out pond and I cried out for God to help me. I was at the end of my rope and to be honest that was the only thing I could think to do. I couldn't fix it on my own and I needed help.

I didn’t understand that this battle i was in was more than what i could see. I didn’t know that the influence of darkness that I was facing was spiritual in nature. All I knew was I needed help. As I got up from there I felt Gods peace come over me, all my problems, all my worries and all my fears definitely did not go away. But I did begin to get on a path to return to God and the life He planned for me. To be honest with you, for the next 3-4 years I battled fear, anxiety and worry in varying forms. I would yo yo from searching and seeking the Lord to being consumed with depression and fear. Not until I came to Mens Encounter in October of 2016 did I begin to get free from that. God showed me that I had Him just enough in the center of my life to look good and feel good. He wanted me to surrender fully. So my journey of surrender began there and honestly I am still on it. But as I began to consume the Word of God and revive a dormant prayer life, God revealed to me that the enemy I was facing really only had access to the areas of my life that I was giving him or that I had not fully given to God. He showed me Jesus paid for all that was lost.......

So I said all that to say this, satan no longer has any authority over you, your family, or anything else in your life. If you are in Christ and surrendered to His lordship then you have the authority now. The only way satan has authority is though abdication, its when we give it to him.

Now don’t get me wrong, he is still cunning, subtle, seductive and tricky. He is very good at distracting us, gettin us busy and if we will let him, he will lead us down a path that only leads to death and destruction. If he gets us to take our eyes off of the plan of God for our life and distracts us long enough eventually we stop chasing God and create a god with our own hands.

So we don’t ignore the fact that we are in a fight, that we have a real enemy, but we must remain convinced that he has no authority over us what so ever, he has been disarmed. It doesn’t mean we are not going to have to fight him, resist him or that we wont go through struggles. It simply means he is already defeated and we are going to keep him that way.

How do we do that?

Third point: How we defeat him, keep him defeated and remain convinced ourselves he is defeated.

Satan is like the worst loser ever. He will keep coming back and keep coming back. He is not going to quit up until the moment Jesus locks him up forever. He is constantly studying us and seeing if he can infiltrate our life in some way or another. Its not because he wants to just take you out. He knows that if you will get fully convinced that you are redeemed, saved and set free then your family will get convinced they are redeemed, saved and set free, then your community, your city, the nations and then the world. You’r a way bigger deal than you realize, thats why the enemy is fighting you so hard.

Thats why he fights me so hard, he wants to keep me distracted, busy and sucked down with the cares of life so that I cant share the truth of Gods word anyone. And he is going to try to do the same thing to you.

Another Bill Johnson quote: Busyness is counterfeit significance.

The enemy wants to keep you busy doing things that will never amount to anything, never change any ones life, or ever advance the kingdom but will make us feel like we really have done something. That is exactly where I was at. And I am going to go out on a limb and say that is exactly where many of you are.

If we are going to fight we have to fight with the right weapons.

2Cor 10:3-4  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

When I was facing fear, anxiety, worry and depression, I thought I was fighting with the right tools. I would face every oppstacal, challenge and issue and give it everything I had. I would work hard, try to make every right decision, basically do everything I could on my own strength to win. But the problem was I was fighting with the wrong weapons and I was most of the time fighting the wrong opponent. In addition to that I was fighting in my own strength and by my own power.

Ephesians 6:10–11 (NIV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Listen, I don’t know where you are at today. I don’t know what is going on in your life, whats plaguing your mind, or even how big a mess you have waiting for you to get home. I don’t know, but let me tell you something, God knows and He cares. You are in a battle, you want to know something, its a fight you were born to win!

Jesus said all authority under heaven and earth is given to me, and then He said to us go, go out and make diciples of all nations! He gave us the authority to win, not in our own strength, but in the mighty power of the Lord, the one true God! The maker of heaven and earth!

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Where do we start? Submit to God, surrender and give Him every area of your life. Give Him total control and then accept and walk in the God given authority Jesus purchased on that cross! The key to our being able to resit and stand strong is through our union with The Father though the shed blood of Jesus! Thats great news but we have to keep going, we have to do something and that something is to put on Gods Armor.

Ephesians 6:10-13 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Let me stop right there. It says when the day of evil comes, let me be clear you can expect satan and his demons to come and most of the time it is when you least expect it. Its when your wore down, stressed out, frustrated and maybe even out of options. He will wait until you feel weak, but how many of you know that when you are weak He is strong?

Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Him until an opportune time.

He will wait for an opportune time to attack you. But if we will do as Paul instructs and be strong in the Lord, putting on the whole Armor of God, even though we may feel weak and even though our circumstances may seem as though our enemy has the upper hand, we will emerge from the battle victorious. We are not fighting for victory we are fighting from the seat of victory. The battle is won and we have to stand firm. We cant loose the battle is already over.

Are you ready to put on the armor and stand firm? Let’s look at what that armor is and break it down.

Ephesians 6:14-17 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, 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.

When you think of this armor there is imagery of a roman soldier decked out ready to go to war. And no doubt this is a picture Paul is painting, however, he is also going all the way back to the old testament and pulling up truths about who God is. See Isaiah 59:16-20. You will see a striking familiarity between Ephesians 6 and Isaiah 59. What you will find is this is Gods armor. Not just armor He created us to wear, its more than armor it is literally the POWER OF GOD. We are not born with it on, were not even born again with it on, we have to put it on. And this isnt just a one time occurrence, we continually put it on, keep it on and go through out life prepared for victory.

Belt of Truth

The belt is where a soldier would hold his weapons. God is truth, therefore to put on the belt of truth is to be fully encompassed in God. Not only that but all our weapons are produced from and housed in His truth.

What does that look like? Get immersed in Gods word as it is the ultimate truth. Read your bible so you may know the truth.

In addition to knowing the truth we must also live out the truth in our everyday lives.

Breastplate of Righteousness

The breastplate is a sleeveless piece of armor covering the torso front and back and its intent was to protect the vitals of the wearer. And I believe this is what Paul was meaning, that the righteousness of Christ that we are clothed in, it incompases us and protects us from demonic influence. But we also have to remember that this is the Armor of God, not the armor that God made for us weak humans. Therefor my question is what does the armor of God do when God himself puts it on? And when you read Isaiah 59 you will find that it reveals the heart of God. It brings salvation to the nations. So, the breastplate not only protects us but it gives us the Fiery Heart of God to see Nations redeemed, The cosmos restored, your families, marriages and lives healed and set free.

We have to move from this mindset that this armor is all defensive armor-it is not just to protect us, but to give us the power of God to on the mission He gave us when He said to GO, to get up, to fight, to win!..... We are not waiting around until Jesus comes back (although that i going to be glorious)

Feet fitted with readiness of the Gospel of Peace

This goes hand in hand with the breastplate of righteousness, when we are consumed with the fiery heart of God then the Gospel of Peace is on our feet. And everywhere we walk we are leaving foot prints that will change the lives of those we come in contact with on a daily basis.

Shield of Faith

The Roman shield was approximately 2 ft x 4 ft, double layers of wood glued together then covered with leather and held together with steel plates on the ends and it would protect them from the fiery arrows flung at them from their enemy. Now the shield we have been give, the shield that is a part of Gods armor is way more powerful than that. It say it will quench ALL the fiery darts of the evil one. To me that means its a supernatural forcefield, that no matter where those arrows are fired from they hit the shield and are destroyed. What evil intent the enemy had gets turned to our good. This shield of faith is a covering of protection produced by God, a supernatural confidence in the Truth that God is exactly who He says He is and He will do exactly what He says He will do.

Helmet of Salvation

The principal battleground in spiritual warfare is in the mind. There is no coincidence that we battle an enemy that we cannot see and that most of the battles originate in a thought or series of thoughts that no one else can see. To understand the Helmet of Salvation we first must understand what it means to be saved. For years growing up I was taught that to be saved ment that when I died I would get to go to heaven. And that is absolutely true yet so very incomplete. If that is our thinking then when we think of the helmet we will only view it as a protective device that will one day save us. However the word saved is the greek work SOZO and it means saved, healed, delivered. Basically to be made whole, at salvation God totally redeems us back to our predesigned intention and that was for mankind to rule and rein on the earth with the full purpose of advancing the Kingdom of God. When we put on Gods Helmet of Salvation it changes the way we think, It heals our mind and gives us the very mind of Christ.

The Helmet of Salvation is you putting on the full redemptive purpose of God.

There is a direct correlation between the thoughts we think and the battle we fight in the spirit realm. Our thoughts will either pull down strongholds or they will build them, they will either break strongholds and demolish arguments or they will cause arguments and create strongholds.

Ed Silvoso says: A stronghold is “a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable something we know is contrary to Gods word”.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The enemy will bombard your mind with thoughts that will cause you to question God, thats what he did to Adam and Eve. When we dwell on thoughts that are contrary to Gods word we give satan a foothold into our lives. We have to take these thoughts captive and hold then closely to the Truth of Gods Word. When you put on the helmet of salvation you are putting on the mind of Christ. You are putting on the thought process of God which is to bring salvation to the nations.

Sword of the Spirit

The Sword of the Spirit is the word of God. It is what will give Satan the decisive blow of defeat. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness He always responded with “IT IS WRITTEN”. The word of God will always shut the mouth of our enemy. Therefore we have to know what it says, we have to exhorb the truth of scripture and it must become a part of our lives.

Therefore the Sword of the Spirit is the written word of God seeded deep in your heart and the moment you need it, when the battle is the most intense, the Holy Spirit will explode it out of you, to shut the mouth of your adversary and bring about victory to your situation!

There is a story in the Bible about a boy named David. And when you read the story it apears as though he was to small for the armor. It would apear as you read the story that he walks out on to the battlefield without any armor what so ever. Well I propose that he had all the armor he need. I believe he had put the Full Armor of God on, because what he did was, he faced the giant with the power and presence of Yahweh Himself. By faith he believed God had already gave him the victory. David knew he wasn’t simply beating a giant but by defeating this giant his children, his family, his people would inherit peace and life.

So my question to you Husband, Dad, Brother, Leader, Elder, Friend, what giants have you yet to defeat? What thoughts are swirling in your mind, what lies are the enemy trying to convince you are true. Maybe they are about you, maybe they are what you think people think of you. Maybe your at a place where you feel there is no way out, no path forward, that everyone would be better if you were simply not here any longer? Thats exactly what Satan wants you to think, he wants yo to remain defeated, he wants you to die feeling defeated. That way your children, your bride and all those you are called to set free will remain defeated and in bondage.

Guys if we don’t slay the giants in our land then they will be left for our children to battle. I ask it again, what giant must you defeat so that those you love will never have to face?

The battle has been won, our enemy is powerless, he has no authority, he has been disarmed and defeated.

Stand, Stand firm in Gods Mighty Power, put on Gods armor and keep it on. It was suited for David and it is still suited for each of us.

Last Scripture

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Prayer is the power behind the armor. Prayer is not just another piece of the armor its the activating power that gives you the boldness, strength and courage to go to battle and win!

Many people pray enough to ease their conscience but not enough to change their circumstances. Prayer must become part of our lifestyle.

Guys if you would circle up, you all at Niangua if you would circle up as well. That scripture says to be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lords people. From the moment your name was registered for this event you have been covered in prayer. I want you to know God didnt call you to be a solo christian. You are ment to be on a team, in the army! There are many giants that need slayed and sometimes it takes the help of a brother to get it done. Look around, your not alone and the giant you are facing, what ever issue, addiction or struggle that may be, one of these guys have walked the same road your on.

Many times we feel as though we are loosing the battle but thats only because we are not even in the fight? Today you get to make the decision, are you going to stand your ground, are you going to do what it takes to get up and join the fight? In a few min you will get a chance to make a decision, when that time comes I want you to remember.....

your enemy is already defeated

your not alone

you can do it

God absolutly loves you......

And we love you.

Thank you guys.