Spiritual Warfare
A Word on Real Spiritual Warfare.
This is an overview of spiritual warfare. It is not all inclusive. It's just a bit of truth so you can fight the enemy.
Spiritual warfare is what we do as believers. There's no way around it. If you
are saved, then the Holy Spirit is leading you to do things that will
engage the forces of darkness.
Light drives out darkness. Salt purifies and prevents decay. Love drives out fear.
If
you serve Christ, then you are engaging in spiritual warfare. Satan
seeks to kill, steal and destroy. If you feed the poor in Jesus name,
you are opposing this, and bringing light.
It starts with prayer. Learn what God's will is, then pray for people according to His will.
God is not willing that any should perish. So, you can confidently pray for people to be saved. (2 Peter 3:9)
The Lord came to set people free, to heal them, to restore them, to reconcile them. This is God's will. (Isa 61:1-3, 2 Cor. 5:18)
We can see in Genesis, that God provided everything we need. That is His will. That we have what we need.
Stand on the Word.
You must know the Word to stand on it. You must be saved and have the Holy Spirit to have authority in Jesus name. Know the promises. Ask God to teach you and help you.
Speak
God's promises into the world. Remind yourself, remind the demons, and
remind the entire creation of what God has promised. These are facts.
They will happen, and are so determined that they actually have already
happened. Who can stop it? Who can stop God?
This builds faith, as we see Him working and fulfilling His promises in our lives, the lives of others and the world. This drives out darkness. Trust God.
So, when you feel or think that you can't do something you say out loud. "No Satan! Begone in Jesus name. The Word says I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me." or whatever verses come to mind. There are tons of them. "The Word says, Whatsoever you ask in my name I will do. and I trust Him in Jesus name!" Stand on the Word. Build faith.
Cast out demons.
If
you are saved, then you have authority over the enemy. Do not play
games with this. Stand on God's promises, and tell the spiritual enemies
to be gone in Jesus name. Not by your power, but by His. You are like a
police officer. Your power and authority comes from the King.
Learn
what you are doing. All humans, are tempted, harassed, and attacked by
the enemy in various ways. Even saved humans. (I did not say possessed)
James
says, that if we are tempted it's because the enemy is playing on
something in our flesh. So, temptation is an attack of the enemy and something we can wage spiritual warfare against. Cast out the demon when temptation comes.
Listen to what I'm going to say because some preachers will have you spending your life trying to stop sinning. Demons will have you spending your time and mind trying to stop sinning, instead of serving the Lord.
You learn to overcome by serving. The devil loves for Christians to keep struggling with sin. Because it keeps them from waging real war. YOU ARE FORGIVEN AND WASHED. If you are saved. Confess your sins to the Lord, believe he has saved you and get busy doing what He called us to do.
In the world, we wait till we are trained and ready to go out and work. But, in spiritual terms we learn by stepping out. Because it's not us doing it, it;s Him doing it through us. Then we grow and learn and see God working as we step out and serve. When we see God working it grows our faith and our relationship with Him and this helps drive out the flesh. This is the battle between the flesh and spirit. We are over comers through Him. And that happens as we go and serve, in HIS name.
Satan doesn't really care if you sin. He tempts you to sin, in order to keep you from serving God. If he can get you to focus on not sinning, then you are not out there getting people saved. Understand? The battle is to grow in Christ, be in relationship with him, driving back darkness and getting people saved. It's not in quitting sinning. Jesus already overcame sin on the cross. Get it?
Satan doesn't really care if you sin. He tempts you to sin, in order to keep you from serving God. If he can get you to focus on not sinning, then you are not out there getting people saved. Understand? The battle is to grow in Christ, be in relationship with him, driving back darkness and getting people saved. It's not in quitting sinning. Jesus already overcame sin on the cross. Get it?
Take fear as an example. Paul says that God has not given us a spirit of
fear. So, fear is an attack of the enemy. It's a demon. Fear is
doubting God's power and love. Anxiety is a spiritual attack. Cast it
out. Fear keeps us from doing God's will and serving Him. We overcome fear through spiritual power of prayer and casting out demons, through loving God and others enough to push through and do the work we are called to do, and through our sound mind in what God's Word says, and what is right and good and wise. (2 Tim 1:7)
There are tons of demonic entities who tempt and torment us. When the Holy Spirit reveals it to you, Cast it out in Jesus name.
We
don't war against flesh and blood. Our true enemies are spiritual
demons who attack us and other humans. They use us to serve their goal
of building the Kingdom of the Anti-Christ, and keeping us in bandage.
The enemy seeks to hurt God, by hurting the humans God loves, and getting
us to reject God.
Overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
We often think that spiritual warfare is all spooky casting out demons, and weird stuff.
But
it's not. It's spreading the Gospel. It's using the fruit of the
Spirit in the world. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The fruit is the Spirit's. not ours. Understand this. He does this through us. Yes, we grow in these things. But, the actual fruit is of the Spirit. Not our works. We develop fruit by serving, and the Spirit grows these things in us and puts them out to the world. We are saved sinners, we cannot develop fruit. The Spirit does it. But, none of it happens if we won't even cross the road to help someone in Jesus name. (Gal 5:22-23, Mark 16:15-20)
It's visiting the sick and imprisoned, it's clothing the naked. It's feeding the hungry and helping the poor, in Jesus name. (Matthew 25:31-46)
It's
giving a cool drink of water, it's helping the broken and encouraging
the fallen. It's working to change lives and save souls, in Jesus name.
And
that's the foundation of spiritual warfare. Building the kingdom in
Jesus name. Not our own. Not someone else's. But His. His name. His
Kingdom.
Find your gifts, find your ministry, find your place and serve. Do battle, in Jesus name. You do this by going forth and doing. Then, he moves and reveals. Faith grows and more is revealed. Our battle between flesh and spirit, is helped by going forth and serving.
No more games. No more wasting time. The King is coming.
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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.
Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/
Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogger: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/
Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public
Photo by the author.
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