What is Spiritual Warfare

What is Spiritual Warfare?  What do you think of when you hear that term?  Many people avoid those two words altogether - because they do not understand their identity in Christ they think, out of sight out of mind, or like my late husband, Russ, and so many others, if you do not think about it, it cannot have any effect in your life.

Galatians 5:16-23 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissentions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in the past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”   

So Spiritual Warfare is the flesh and Spirit warring against each other.  You can be walking “in the Spirit” and the enemy can be tempting you to get in agreement with his ungodly ways, OR you can be walking “after the flesh” and the Holy Spirit is convicting you of your righteousness.

We live in a spiritual world and there is continuous spiritual warfare going on to win our hearts and minds.

 Man was made in the image and likeness of God – a spirit being.

·       Genesis 1:26-27 “And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Image likely refers to the non-material aspects of a person such as the ability to reason, personality and intellect, and to the capacity to relate, to hear, to see, and to speak; their mind, will and emotions.  Likeness refers to the spiritual dimension, the capacity for the human spirit to respond to GOD’s Spirit.

God formed man with a spirit, soul and body.

·       Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (soul; KVJ)

·       1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

·       We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body.

God cast Lucifer out of heaven because he rebelled against the authority of God and refused to glorify God.

·       Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning.  How you are cut down to the ground.  You who weakened the nations.  For you have said in your heart; I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

* Note the five (5) “I will[s]” of Lucifer’s declaration.

Where did the thought to rebel originate?

·       The thought to rebel didn’t just float through space to be picked up by Eve and Adam.

·       A thought cannot and does not exist apart from the intellect of a rational being, visible or invisible, to create it.

·       A thought is an extension of a “being”. A rational human (Eve and Adam), by agreeing with the thought, became “one” with the thought and manifested it to the environment by acting it out in rebellion and disobedience.

·       The god of this world (Satan) blinds the unbeliever from the light of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

·       Jesus said the prince of this world would be cast out and judged (John 12:31; 16:11).

·       Satan and his kingdoms (Body of Sin) are the source of and the influence behind the sins of mankind and use humans to express their evil nature.

·       Satan and his evil spirits do their work through humans who are “the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2).

Life in the Garden of Eden (The Two Trees)

Simply knowing what is good and what is evil does not give me any additional assistance in actually carrying out what is good and avoiding what is evil.  The knowledge simply gives me a deeper definition of the nature of good and evil and a clear understanding of when I have stepped across the line from good into evil. But no capacity or ability is bestowed upon me by that knowledge, by which I am enabled to actually be able to perform the right and refuse the wrong.  I’ve simply become an expert on what I am not doing (that is right) and on what I am doing (that is wrong).

·       Satan owns the earth spiritually or is the god of the earth, as it was turned over to him by Adam and Eve.  (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; John. 12:31, 14:30, 16:11).  Sadly, that includes the power that God gave Adam as well.  Shame, guilt, accusation, and fear appeared immediately after sin.  Remember, Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

There are evil spirits whose job it is to separate you from God, His Word, His love, yourself and others.   (The Spiritual Battle)

 Spirits (good and evil) use humans through which to express themselves in the world.  Through Adam’s disobedience, sin and death entered into the world.

·       Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world (people), and death through sin, and thus death to all men, because all sinned….”

·       Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you...” 

·       1 Corinthians 15:21 “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.” 

Although Adam and Eve opened the door for Satan and his demonic spirits to enter earth when he sinned, when Jesus died on the cross, He made a way for us to be reconciled to God and commune directly with the Father.  When we receive Jesus as our Savior and are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to reside within each of us.  Whereas in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came and went as He visited upon God’s prophets.

The Channel Of Temptation.

·       The channel of temptation is directed toward the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17).  All temptation is an attempt to entice us to live independent of God.

Taking Every Thought Captive

Where do you believe your thoughts come from? - either God, your flesh or the enemy – and it is your responsibility to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

·       The key to winning the war in our thought life is found in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war against the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations (arguments), and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled”  (NKJV).

When your obedience is fulfilled.

What does it mean, “when your obedience is fulfilled”?  We must stand ready at all times to exercise our authority over sin.  Sin opens the door for Satan or an evil spirit to influence us and show himself through us.  We cannot expect to ever defeat the evil spirits in our life unless we are prepared to be obedient to God.  We may strongly desire to be free of a Spirit of Bitterness or unforgiving spirit, but unless we actually take the step to forgive others, God’s way, we will still be held its slave.

·       Sometimes we put ourselves in a position to agree with evil, becoming one with it.  Sometimes Bitterness even feels good and unforgiveness feels justifiable.  When these things happen, we have become one with sin.

·       We cannot cast down unforgiveness or Bitterness until we are ready to break away from what they represent and choose to defeat them in our heart.  This is the first step to becoming free.  We must be in agreement with Almighty God – we cannot be in agreement with, justify or defend any sin in our lives.

·       God created us.  He described His human creation as “very good”.  We must come to a place of agreement with God about whom He says we are or we will not be able to defeat self-hatred, because our obedience hasn’t been fulfilled.

·       One of our most powerful tools in this spiritual warfare is recognizing Satan’s devices and by so doing, not allow him to manifest his nature through us.  When a spirit of lust overtakes you and tries to grip your body, you recognize it and think, “Wait a minute, I can’t revenge all disobedience until after my obedience has been fulfilled.  I recognize this thought as coming from Satan.  I’m not going to act out this sin; I’m not going to fantasize with it.”  You then say out loud, “I cast you down, spirit of lust in the name of Jesus.”  As we choose to rebuke any spirit and stand in the victory that is ours in Jesus Christ, our obedience is fulfilled.  We receive the victory which has already been acquired for us.

·       Why can’t we defeat the devil?  Because our obedience has not been fulfilled.  Some lies are deeply imbedded from childhood and are very difficult to discern.  But the Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide.  Ask Him for His help to identify these lies, and ask Him to tell you the truth, giving you the power and courage to cast them down.

In 2 Peter 1:3-4 we read, “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

This kind of spiritual power is supernatural.  It is more than the result of human effort guided by spiritual principles.  Rather, it is the indwelling of God’s own living presence in the human heart empowering and enabling us to draw upon God’s supernatural strength and ability.