Understanding our Weapons

Spirit Wars

Intro

Today we are continuing our series on Spiritual warfare.

Last week I spoke on the armour of God

Focusing on the defense God has provided in our spiritual war against the enemy

Today I want to focus on the offensive weapons God has provided.

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 The Message

The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

Pray

Since we are in a spiritual battle, we need spiritual weapons.

That is exactly what God has supplied us with—“weapons

… mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

Weapons mighty in God!

The word mighty can be translated “dynamically powerful.”

God has supplied us with more than we need for victory.

We just have to tap into that which is already available to us.

Our God-Given Weapons

What are the “weapons” God has given us?

The common weapons are:

A- prayer

B- Bible

C- Worship

We must be thoroughly immersed in these if we are going to successfully fight the “good fight of faith.”

But that’s not all our weapons are limited to. There is also

D- Decree & Declare

E- Fasting

Prayer

Ephesians 6:18 NASB95

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

But notice that we don’t just grab our prayer list and start working through it,

“God I need…..and I need….and would You please…..and bless……”

It says, “prayer and petition in the Spirit“.

Prayer as a Spiritual weapon means

We aren’t just praying with our mind, with our own intelligence.

Instead We are allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us the will of the Father.

Sometimes, we already know the will of the Father.

If we are earnestly battling for the soul of a lost loved one, we know what the will of the Father is already because the

Bible tells us that the will of the Father

2 Peter 3:9 NASB95

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

But there are times when we are not certain.

When there is no chapter and verse that clearly tells us what the will of the Father is.

Tongues

Romans 8:26 NASB95

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

It is in these times that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us the will of the Father.

He may choose to reveal it to us so we can pray in our human language,

or He may choose to pray through us with the gift of tongues.

don’t have the gift of tongues…ask for it!

Luke 11:13 NASB95

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

1 Corinthians 12:31 NASB95

But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.

Agreement

The Bible says in Ephesians 6:18 that we should pray in the Spirit at all times with all prayer.

Ephesians 6:18 NASB95

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Prayer of agreement is two or more persons coming together to pray concerning anything.

Matthew 18:19 NASB95

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

Romans 15:30–31 NASB95

Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints;

Bible

Ephesians 6:17 NASB95

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

I covered this last week but its worth looking at again.

When Jesus was tempted by satan in the desert. Jesus fought the devil using scripture

Satan, at times using Scripture to tempt Jesus, twisted the meaning

but Jesus came back at him each time using Scripture in its proper context to defeat him and eventually satan left.

We will not defeat satan by reasoning with him.

We will not defeat satan by negotiating with him.

We will not defeat satan by just telling him to get out.

We defeat satan by using the weapons of our warfare that are mighty through God,

and one of the most powerful weapons is the Word of God.

The Bible is the foundation of all our weapons.

Read it, memorize it, meditate on it, allow it to read you!

Worship

some of you may have never thought of worship as a weapon.

Many of us don’t think of worship as a weapon.

Instead, we think of it as the music that sets the mood for a church service.

But the fact is that we’re wielding a very dangerous weapon when we worship God

David’s Harp

1 Samuel 16:14 NASB95

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.

1 Samuel 16:23 NASB95

23 So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

The children of Israel crossed the Jordan and we’re instructected by the Lord to take Jericho

Yes the children of Israel has a substantial military army.

but the strategy God gave them was a little unorthordox

Shout of Praise

Joshua 6:1–7 NASB95

Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. “You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. “Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. “It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.” So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.” Then he said to the people, “Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the Lord.”

If Joshua had met with his military advisors, no one would have come up with this plan.

To knock down the walls lift up a shout of praise

Singing

Jehoshaphat Defeats Moab and Ammon

in 2 chronicles we are told

2 Chronicles 20:2–4 NASB95

2 Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).” 3 Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.

then a few verses later we are told what God told them to do

2 Chronicles 20:21 NASB95

21 When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

Decree & Declare

By definition, a decree is an official order issued by a legal authority.

The key part of this definition is the legal authority.

You cannot decree somthing you don’t have authority over

and you don’t have authority over anything you don’t love.

In order for a decree to have meaning it must be in agreement with the one who holds authority.

You can’t decree something God doesn’t what to happen

but by all means you can decree something God wants and has given you authority over.

To declare means to make something known formally, officially, or explicitly.

A declaration is simply an acknowledgment of something that is.

You can declare the goodness of God, because He is good

You can declare God Loves the whole world.....because He told us He does.

Declaring God is going to put a millions dollars in your bank account....well He better be the one telling you that.

Romans 4:17 NASB95

17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

Calls into being that which doen not exist

By hearing God you can be the voice that partners with Him in doing that!

Fasting

Matthew 17:14–21 NASB95

14 When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” 17 And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

When you understand that the unseen world around us is spiritual, prayer becomes absolutely vital.

When you come to the realization that there is a spiritual conflict going on constantly, fasting must become a regular habit.

The spiritual enemy is always seeking ways to “steal, kill or destroy” your God-given joy in life (John 10:10).

Fasting and prayer are vital weapons you must use to acquire victories.

What is fasting?

On the surface, fasting is abstinence from food and drink.

Generally we fast from food and only drink water, but you can fast anything that is good and occupies your time

TV, Internet

If the thing you temporarily cut out is not good, its not called fasting but rather righteouness

You reject something good in order to get something better

when we dig deeper, we see fasting is much more than that.

According to Isaiah 58:5-6

Isaiah 58:5–6 NASB95

5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord? 6 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?

a day of fasting is a day in which we humble ourselves before God and seek Him

to loose bonds of wickedness,

undo chains

give freedom to the oppressed

and to break every yoke.

No matter which snares we may be trapped in, a day of fasting can set us free.

Fasting Helps Us Hear from the Lord

Fasting Breaks Bondage to Sin

Fasting Is a Petition to God

Fasting Is a Spiritual Weapon

Fasting Is Humbling Ourselves before God

Fasting Seeks God's Favor and Protection

Fasting Protects Us from Temptation