The Truth About Spiritual Warfare

You are in a battle.  It can be easy to forget that and just let yourself be overcome by stress, worry, and fear as a normal part of life...getting pulled along like a log going downstream...feeling like you have no control over the matter.  But then Satan wins. That gets me a little mad. How about you?

Ultimately we know that Jesus has already won the war, but you and I have millions of opportunities to enforce Jesus’ victory...or not.  If Satan is allowed, he’d love to hit you with some regret, disappointment, sickness, lack, weariness, doubt...really anything that will keep your eyes off of the Word and who you really are.  As Joyce Meyer has so popularly declared, the battlefield is in our minds. That’s why stress, worry, and fear are so prevalent. Satan is engaging us in battle. Unfortunately, too many Christians just surrender and say or feel that they are too weak, too unworthy, too sinful, or too powerless.  

Today, look at that pressure you are feeling of stress or worry and let it just be a sign to you that Satan is trying to engage you in battle.  It is not a sign of your failure or defeat - yet. It is only a sign that he is at work and now you need to respond. Failure to respond properly though could mean that you lose this battle.  No, not the battle for your salvation. Jesus took care of that. But we are talking about the battle for your quality of life here on earth, for the ability to fulfill your job as minister of reconciliation that God gave you, for the ability to spread the fame of God’s goodness all around the world and attract others to Him.  So, actually, a lot is at stake by whether you’ll win the battle or just continue to be pulled along by the things that are common to a mere man here on earth.  But we are not mere men and women.

If it’s a battle we are in, then we need to know how to fight, right?  Let’s check out some spiritual warfare instructions from God to us.

• Be aware there is a spiritual battle that you can’t see going on all the time and know who the enemy is.
  Ephesians 6:12 ESV “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
  
  
• Know that Jesus has already gained our victory.  His victory allows us to have peace in our lives.
  1 John 3:8b The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
  Colossians 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
  John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
  
  
• Realize though that we must still resist Satan, engage in the battle and enforce the victory.  We have to take hold of what Jesus died to give us. 
  James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
  1 Peter 5:8-9 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
  1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
  
  
• Learn your battle weapons supplied to you by God.  They are spiritual weapons and they are powerful! Next week we’ll discuss some of these weapons in greater detail and how they can help us overcome stress, worry, and fear.  In my book, What Are You Looking At?: Finding Joy in the Chaos & Monotony of Life, I go into detail about how to take our thoughts captive like the below verse says. That was a key concept for me in having more joy in my life. 
  2 Cor 10: 3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
  
  
• Be assured of your victory when you use your weapons.
  Isaiah 54:17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.
  Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
  1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
  Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
  
  
• Realize even though you are in the battle, that it is God’s power in you that is doing the work.  The God of Angel Armies will fight for you!
  2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.
  Deuteronomy 8:33  You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’

I could go on and on with Scriptures to support each point and I wish we had the time and space to read each verse in multiple translations.  You would love it. You ought to do that.

For me, there is just something about lining up these points and these verses that put all our problems into perspective.  That reminds me of who I am and who I serve. It melts the stress, worries, and fears away. But I need to remind myself often. I rehearse these facts over and over in my mind.  I meditate on these truths.  I can’t forget I’m in a battle and just let any fearful thought that comes my way be entertained or assume that is the way it has to be until heaven.  

I hope this encourages you today and you are ready to stand up against the enemy to enforce the victory that is your inheritance in Jesus!  Don’t quit, don’t doubt, don’t live in depression or fear. That is not reigning in life. Don’t forget, next week is more about our spiritual weapons and how to use them.