SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Every Christians believer must understand the war of two kingdoms; the kingdom of Light which the believers of Jesus belong to and the kingdom of darkness, the domain of Satan and his foul spirits.
These two kingdoms will never be at peace at any point in time, as the light and the darkness cannot be mixed, so with the Christians and the world. The two kingdoms are always at war. The war began when one of the highest angels of God rebelled, when his heart lifted up due to his beauty, Ezekiel 28:2, 12-17(NIV) says,

“In the pride of your heart you say, “I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the sea.” But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god. (12) “…You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (13) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your setting and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. (14) You were anointed as a guardian guardian, for so I ordained you. You were on the mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. (15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. (16) Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub from among the fiery stones. (17) Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor,”

In relation to this event of Lucifer’s pride and ambition, he formed a company from the vast angels who believed him to challenge the government of God, see in Revelation 12:4, “His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them down to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.” We never know the exact number of angels who believed in Satan and were also willing to rebel against God, but possibly millions of angels according to Revelation 5:11.

And after the fall of Satan, he went to the Garden of Eden where he used to walk with God as guardian cherub when the Lord met and had communion with Adam and Eve. He went to destroy the creation of God; he successfully destroyed the good position of man in the sight of God as he destroyed himself due to his ambition to be god. His ambition to be god he also used to tempt Adam and Eve which indeed happened to man; the most beautiful creation of God for it was created to God’s image and likeness.

Belief.
My point of this message is for all Christ’s believers to know that spiritual warfare was begun in heaven and continues in the material world. We are spiritual people, redeemed by the blood of Jesus due to the abundance of His grace, and this spiritual warfare is ours. Apostle Paul said in 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 struggle is not political but spiritual.

• ●  Every Christian must understand that we have war; it’s spiritual warfare.

• ●  Every Christian must acknowledge the fact and the reality of evil in this world. They

  have been here and existed since the beginning of human existence to destroy

humans. Satan and demons know that their end is coming soon, it will come in God’s appointed time, and he wants as his innermost desire that every human being be destroyed in Hell along with him and his demons.

● Every Christian must not ignore the reality of spiritual warfare, because ignoring the fact is the seed of destruction. The fact of the matter, Satan doesn’t want humans to know the Truth, for it will set them free from his evil intention.

My final point of this message is making every beloved of God equipped, fully equipped, so that we may stand strong and victorious in spiritual war against the forces of darkness, as the Lord Jesus leads us always in triumphal procession, “But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume” – (2 Cor. 2:14).

A. “Walk with the Holy Spirit”

I want you to know what Luke 4:13 (NIV) says, “When the devil had finished all his tempting, he left him (it’s the Lord Jesus) until an opportune time.” that it is a warning for all of us, because the devil may have exhausted all his devices to tempt us that we may destroy yet failed and left, not because he surrendered, but because he is just waiting patiently for the wonderful opportunity that he may effectively tempt us that he may successfully destroy us. Satan and his demons never get tired of tempting and destroying the people of God. We never see in the Word of God that there was a point of time Satan got tired of his evil works. In Job 1:7&2:2, Satan is “roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it”, furthermore, the Lord Jesus told us that Satan comes to steal, to kill and to destroy – (John 10:10a). Beware and watchful of Satan’s opportune time as Apostle Paul said, “don’t give Satan a foothold” – (Ephesians 4:2).

Many men and women of God have been trapped to Satan’s devices because they were unaware of the condition of time, the time in which he patiently waited that they may fall in his traps. The devil never got tired of Samson that he fell on Delilah’s aroma, so became weak, blind and captive. King David was not exempted from Satan’s spiritual attack even though God was so pleased with him. He walked alone in the balcony of his palace, that supposed to be as a king he should be in the field to war because it was a spring time and the Ark of the Covenant which represents the Presence of the Holy Spirit was in the open field, then David saw a woman bathing and naked. His adultery became a gangrene first to himself, crawled to his children then to the entire kingdom of Israel.

Several important aspects that we may not fall to Satan’s attack:
1. Do not cut our spiritual devotion which is our spiritual walk with the Spirit of Jesus.

Many of us are compromising our prayer, reading the Word of God and fellowshipping with other believers in worship by giving much time and importance to other things. I heard some Christians, “I cannot come to the church to worship because I am too busy”. Busy of what? Busy on the temporal? Not busy for what is eternal? No wonder some children of God are living in a defeated life because like Samson are willing to cut off their “long hair” of devotion.

Our spiritual devotion to Jesus in prayer, reading our Bible and fellowshipping with other believers gives us strength and sustains us with the divine power of Jesus that we may stand victorious against the wiles of the devil.

2. Christianity by the design of God in Matthew 16:18-19 is assembly. No Christian should be alone or independent from the assembly. If we think that it is OK not to be part of a church, we are already deceived and in Satan’s trap. Christian should not be like David alone in the palace. The armies of Israel and Ark of the Covenant were in the open field to war, so it is also, as the whole assembly of believers is in prayer as the Presence of Jesus is with them.

Since we know that we are Satan’s object of his destructive desire. We should be ready! In what way? We cannot meet the condition of the day unless we are filled with the Presence of God. We cannot walk with Jesus in holiness and righteousness unless we are filled with the Presence of the Holy Spirit and we cannot overcome the work of darkness unless we are filled with the power of God. Even though we are all aware of the moral and ethical truth of the Holy Scripture but without the authority of Christ’s Spirit, we are only knowledgeable but without the power of the resurrected life of Jesus, we are all dead.

If Jesus fulfills his earthly ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit, therefore, it is ultimately necessary for us to be fully dependent on the Presence of God, because apart from Him, we can do nothing.

B. “The Willingness of the Spirit and the Weakness of the Flesh.”

Mark 14:38 (ESV), “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” There is no surprise the fall of the flesh to temptation because flesh is weak, it has no power against the work of darkness. Our flesh is weak and easy to sin, that is why Philippians 3:3 says, “I have no confidence in the flesh” . It is stupidity to rely on ourselves or to somebody when it comes to spiritual warfare. Imagine Samson, thought that he had still had the strength to fight the Philistines yet found out he is already weak, because the Lord who is ultimately the source of his strength had left him.

Imagine the context of this “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” was to Apostle Peter. Peter has tried to please God by his own strength apart from the authority of the Spirit of Christ, but when the Lord had asked him to pray with him even an hour, he cannot stay with the Lord in prayer because he cannot overcome his drowsiness. Now, if we try to please God or do His things by our own strength, we will also fail.

Again, there is no surprise if you and I fall to temptation, but this is not the issue. Since we know that we are weak, should we give way to our weaknesses? No! However, accepting the fact of our weakness, never denying it, is our “door” to victory against the works of the flesh. Now we know that we are weak, since we don’t have confidence in our flesh, we should pray! Then, we can say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” – (Phil.4:13). We can shout to the devil, yes I can’t! But Jesus can!

My point is this; a prayerful Christian is a powerful Christian. Satan and his demons are never scared of our Biblical knowledge, but he is scared of the man and woman of prayer.

Make no mistake; I’m not saying the irrelevance of Biblical knowledge in spiritual warfare, Christian must be fully equipped, because Biblical knowledge and prayer shows our dependence on God.
Listen to this: the meditation on the Word of God fuels ourselves to pray, Psalms 119:97 says, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. In verse 107 says, “I have suffered much; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word.”

Prayer meeting is a meeting of two beings: the communion of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. The place where we can subdue the desires of our flesh. The Lord overcame the temptation of abandoning his mission to sacrifice himself on the cross due to the great fear of persecution, punishment and I believe, the sins of humanity that would be taken into himself. He overcame everything not because He is God, but because he prayed. Furthermore, before He entered his earthly ministry, He knew that the devil would throw every form of attacks and temptations to him, so the Lord Jesus prayed. Jesus’ prayer life is our pattern, let us do likewise; we cannot overcome our weaknesses if we do not pray.

C. “Denying the Self and Taking up the Cross.”

“Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made possible in our body” -(2 Cor. 4:10). This is amazing! The life of Jesus is visible in us, His holiness, purity, gentleness, and everything about the spiritual beauties of Jesus manifest in the believers’ life. But I tell you, the Lordship of Jesus will not abide in us if there is something alive in us which is not of God, but of the devil, if there is still sin that we cared in our heart, sin that we love to live, if Satan have something to touch with, the Holy Spirit will not abide together with the devil. However, when the Holy Spirit comes to a person, He would do his ministry; to sanctify the person, thereby that person who have the Spirit of Christ would have a great desire and power to destroy or kill the desire of his sinful nature as God’s Spirit working with him – (see Phil.2:12-13).

This is what I am emphasising about “born again” teaching. This is not an organization nor institution but a regeneration. No matter how we teach morality to man, yet morality we cannot pass on to him. “Regeneration” matters, the truth that would infill to every man who would receive God’s salvation, this is the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven that can only be understood by the redeemed. Regeneration or born again is the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the spiritual dead person back to life in spirit and back to God! We commonly call it, spiritual birth.

A Born-Again Christian is a new person that feeds by the Word of God, he has the hunger to the Word of God, his life exists only for God, and total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus is engraved in his soul. While this person lived in his mortal body, he therefore put to death every act of sinful desires, what was the Word of God really meant? “cloth the Lord Jesus, and do not think how to gratify the lust of the flesh” – (Rom.13:14). This is death to self which only the believers of the Lord Jesus are able to do and live.

This mortal body swallowed up by the life of Jesus Christ- (2 Cor.5:4), the Lord Jesus has total dominion over us while walking in this life. Our enemies would see the power of the

resurrected life of Jesus lives in us, they have nothing to see, only the life of Jesus displays in every believer. I am not talking about perfection of a person, but the grace that conquered the undeserved, the faith that conquered all – “for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” – (1 John 5:4). And every time I fail, I see the grace of God much more abound and gives me power to press on toward – (see Phil.3:12-14).

If the mortal body is swallowed up by the life of Christ it will be a great blessing to the body of Christ- the church, and a stumbling block to those who don’t believe the Holy Scripture. This life of Jesus is the manifestation of the holy breath of God to the “surrendered vessels”. Are you that surrendered vessel? Pray that our mortal body will swallow up by the life of Jesus, that only the Lord Jesus displayed in our lives. Ask then, the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus to bring us there.

D. “Spiritual Warfare in the Arena of Great Commission”

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – (Matthew 28:18-20).

The evangelistic movement of God for the world through the church is crystal clear that every Christian is called to proclaim the Good News of salvation to all nations of the world. However, we must understand first and foremost that evangelism is not Christianity playing ground, nor like a shopping mall. The world of evangelism is a place where we experience intense spiritual forces of darkness that oppose the works of Jesus. This is a place where we can say, if I live I live for Christ, or if I die I die for Christ. Tertullian one of the great church’s father had this famous quote, “The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church” (“The Apology,” Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, Roberts, A, Donaldson, J., and Coxe, A. C., ed., Thelwall, S., trans., vol.3 The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Christian Literature Company, 1885, p.55). We have to bear in mind what it means evangelism; it is who we are that enters the world of man in which Satan and his demons are in their position. Evangelism is an engagement of spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness, that is why I said, it is not a playground. The place furthermore I say; we have to cry, agonizing the suffering of reaching out to others, we have to bleed our hearts for the captives of death and curse, and undergo the sleepless night in prayer.

Never underestimate the power of darkness which some overlook and ignore. Satan knew what we have; we have the Spirit of Christ. The Lord calls the Holy Spirit the Power of God, but we know that the Holy Spirit is not just power for He is a person, equal with the Lord Jesus and with the Father in glory and power, fully God in all aspects of being God. What I am really saying, we have the God Holy Spirit who gave us authority over the works of the enemy and Satan himself.

There will be no enablement of witnessing about the Gospel without the power of the Holy Spirit. We have a position to possess; our family, our community and everyone that God commanded us to possess. But we cannot possess them for Christ unless we are yielded by the power of the Holy Spirit. Many believers today go from place to place preaching the Word of Jesus without the holy touch of God, so they become exhausted and discouraged. We cannot be effective in Christian ministry by our strength, we need to be empowered by God’s Spirit. Once we are saved, we are already gifted with spiritual gifts, however we are so unconscious with our spiritual gifts. That is why some Christians ask what their ministry is. But the moment we surrender our lives for the Lord’s greater purpose, His Spirit is so tangible during our meeting with Him in prayer, then we will know exactly what to do and we are never guessing.

The Lord Jesus assembled his church to carry his Gospel to the ends of the earth. We have the holy commission in Matthew 28:19, we are the agents of this Great Commission, but I am telling you, it is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus who is working, moving, touching and transforming lives. If we miss this truth, we cannot reach out to the world effectively, the way the Lord Jesus did during the time of his earthly ministry.

The Great Commission is a spiritual warfare. Think of this; 30 years of Jesus prior to his earthly ministry, He was outside the realm of persecution and attack. But the moment He entered his ministry; all forces of Hell attacked him on every side and in many forms. So expect that the devil will do to us as well, but never be afraid, Satan and his demons were already defeated on the cross, he has no power over us, we are clothed by the resurrected life of our risen Lord. Let us touch the world by preaching the Gospel of Jesus with the power of the Most High God.

Let me give you questions that related to your position in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior:

1. Are you ready for this end time warfare? If not, then when should you be ready?

2. Are you denying and ignoring the power of darkness that destroys human lives?

3. Who are you in Christ Jesus?

4. Prayer, meditating the Word of God and worship are essential to you?