SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Understanding, Engaging, and Embracing in Spiritual War
———————————————————————
THE ATMOSPHERE OF LIFE…
THE WAR THAT’S ABOUT US
Ideologies, opinions, theologies, and the global good vs. evil, right vs. wrong.
———————————————————————
THERE IS A WAR BUT ITS NOT JUST OUT THERE…
———————————————————————
THE WAR THAT’S WITHIN US
The battle of wrong and right, decisions, temptations, commitments, follow through, selfishness.
———————————————————————
THE UNSEEN WAR THAT RAGES
2 CORINTHIANS 4:18 (CSB)
So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Understanding, engaging, and embracing this unseen spiritual warfare will change the eternal IMPACT we have in this world.
———————————————————————
1. UNDERSTANDING
Paul Defines The War:
Ephesians 6:12 (CSB)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness,
against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
There are forces of evil that want to turn us away from God and separate us from Him.
———————————————————————
WHAT IS THIS WAR ABOUT?
1 CORINTHIANS 10:20-21 (CSB)
No, but I do say that what they sacrifice (worship), they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord (sacrifice – worship) and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table (communion) and the table of demons.
IT IS ABOUT OUR WORSHIP (HEARTS)
IT IS ABOUT OUR OBEDIENCE (MINDS)
How do you practically honor the God you serve?
Spiritual war is all about your obedience and worship.
Which god do you obey?
Which god holds sway?
———————————————————————
HOW DID THIS WAR START?
Two forces are trying to gain your attention.
GOD VS SATAN
———————————————————————
GOD
When God created the rhythms of thought and the human psyche, he made a few non-negotiables on which human thought should be based.
His Word is TRUTH.
His intent is RIGHTEOUS.
His motive is LOVE.
His character is PERFECT.
He has a divine, unique PURPOSE for us.
His AUTHORITY is absolute but is also delegated to us.
He desires a life-giving RELATIONSHIP with us.
His GRACE will always make way for those who chose Him.
With these truths cemented into the DNA of the universe,
God wanted us to choose to worship and be obedient to these truths.
He wants us to formulate our will around His will. Our lives around who He is.
———————————————————————
SATAN
SATAN ATTACKS US TO DIVERT OUR WORSHIP OF THE TRUE GOD
Satan can not create something viable as an alternative.
Better love, more perfect…
You can’t add to God.
So, he wages this war of worship by diverting and shifting our perspective away from God’s absolute truths. Anything that minimizes truth is a lie. Anything that hides light is darkness.
Emboldened by his rebellion, Satan now brings supernatural war to the Human psyche, this supernatural distraction to God’s truths.
He knows that he could be victorious in the greater war if he can get God’s most precious creation to fall to the ravages of the war within.
———————————————————————
SATAN DISTORTS AND DISTRACTS
HE BLINDS WITH DOUBT
2 Corinthians 4:4 (CSB)
In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
———————————
HE STEALS GOD’S WORD FROM YOU.
MATTHEW 13:19 (CSB)
When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.
———————————
HE SETS TRAPS TO ENSNARE YOU.
2 Timothy 2:26 (CSB)
Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
———————————
HE FIGHTS TO STOP YOU.
1 Thessalonians 2:18 (CSB)
So we wanted to come to you — even I, Paul, time and again — but Satan hindered us.
———————————
HE PLANS TO DESTROY YOU
1 PETER 5:8 (CSB)
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
——————————————————————
THE WAR BEGINS
The war OUT THERE started the moment Satan no longer submitted to the truths of God’s Character.
The WAR WITHIN begins when we consider that these truths may not be absolute.
——————————————————————
DESTRUCTIVE DISOBEDIENCE
DISOBEDIENCE = MISDIRECTED WORSHIP
When humans base every thought and action on the absolute truth of God’s character, this is called obedience.
————————
WORSHIP
We live our lives so that our obedience to Who He is is evident in everything we do.
Satan needs us to be disobedient by diverting our attention from the TRUTH of who God is.
———————————————————————
Deviating from God’s foundations, we lose sight of our life-giving relationship with God, and we lose the war within and give Satan authority in the war out there.
———————————————————————
Spiritual death is denying the truth of God.
Genesis 2:17 (CSB)
…but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.
What do we die from? What spiritual disease causes our demise?
In the conversation after the fall in Genesis 3:10-13 – Disobedience, failing to focus our worship in the fullness of God’s character – Blame, Shame, and Condemnation obliterate our identity, authority, and purpose = darkness and death!
When we don’t have something to belong to, something to do, or something to hope for, we will drift away and find life worthless. “I don’t have anything to add… I am not good at anything.”
———————————————————————
2. ENGAGE
GOD ENGAGES – GOD ATTACKS BACK
(THE WAR OUT THERE – MODELS)
Genesis 3:15 (CSB)
I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
PROMISES JESUS
He came to show us the truth of God’s character.
“The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
Mankind had lost sight of the true nature of God. If we grasp these truths, as represented in Jesus, we would have life.
———————————————————————
John 10:10 (CSB)
A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
———————————————————————
———————————————————————
Disobedience to God’s truth leads to death, but worship of His true nature leads to life.
———————————————————————
JESUS WINS A WAR (Out there) THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO FIGHT.
IT’S JESUS’S WAR.
- We don’t need to defeat Satan; He has already been defeated.
- We are not fighting for our salvation. We have already been promised that.
- We don’t need to fear death – Christ has already removed that sting.
- We don’t need to wonder about the character of God and His love for us.
- We don’t need to figure out our destiny; Christ has already established that.
———————————————————————
WE ENGAGE (THE WAR WITHIN)
EVERY SINGLE HUMAN IS IN THIS WAR
We all feel the effects of the war about us AND wage the war within us.
——————————————————————
I love the underdog.
My favorite movie: The Kings Speech
America’s got talent.
——————————————————————
You may feel beat up, like an underdog, with no influence on a supernatural or spiritual plane.
You may feel like your life is in a tailspin; circumstances dictate your decisions, and nothing you do ever seems to work out.
You may be in the midst of a habit or addiction battle right now!
You may be pretty comfortable, and life has been good to you, but you still feel like there is more to do and more to overcome.
——————————————————————
We all desire a shift from where we are to where we want to be, from where the world is to where it ought to be.
——————————————————————
WE WIN THE WAR WITHIN BY BELIEVING THAT JESUS HAS WON THE WAR OUT THERE!
JESUS MODELS HOW TO WIN THE WAR WITHIN
Luke 22:42 – The battle rages on – “if not my will but yours…”
———————————————————————
THE POSTURE OF A WARRIOR
He stepped into His identity (baptism Luke 3:21)
He leveraged his authority (Luke 4:1-12 overcame temptation by the Word)
And fulfilled his divine purpose (Luke 4:17- 19: blind, deaf, broken-hearted).
JESUS SHOWS US HOW TO DEFEAT SATAN AND WIN THE WAR WITHIN
———————————————————————
#NEVER OVERSTEP NEVER UNDER STEP
Satan messes with our authority. “You will be like God.” “If you are the Son of God…”
John 6:38 (CSB)
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
————————————
#DON’T GET CAUGHT IN MEDIOCRITY
Satan steals the power of the promises of God. “Did God really say?”
God’s promises are our weapons, His Word is our defense, and Who He Is is our armor.
———————————
#DEAMPLIFY DOUBT
Satan needs you to doubt Jesus’s victory.
He wants you to doubt the intimate life-giving power of a relationship with God.
“My prayers are not being answered.”
“I did not feel the move of God today…”
“I am not good enough for God’s love”.
———————————
# STOP THE BLAME, END THE SHAME
The longer we wait to reflect on God’s personality, the worse we feel about ourselves. Blame and shame devour us. (1 Peter 5:8)
We know who we are, so we will know what to do…
———————————————————————
3. EMBRACE VICTORY
SUPERNATURAL VICTORY
Embracing all that God’s character establishes and that Jesus’ victories provide.
———————————————————————
THE FATHERS ARMOR
Ephesians 6:13-18 (CSB)
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
We understand the truth of God’s character, we engage from a position of Christ’s victory, and we fight the battle within through the guidance of the Holy Spirit
———————————————————————
WE DO NOT FIGHT FOR VICTORY – WE FIGHT FROM VICTORY
Our eternal impact is defined by how we fight in this war.
———————————————————————
WE FIGHT BY LIVING OUT JESUS’ VICTORY!
If you want to receive the accolades of Jesus’ victory, then you have to win the battles of the mind. We must return our thoughts to God’s character and Jesus’ victory.
John 17:3 (CSB)
This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent — Jesus Christ.
———————————————————————
1. EMBRACE GOD’S CHARCTER
Embrace the truth of God’s Character in you!
Isaiah 40:28 (CSB)
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.
———————————————————————
2. EMBRACE CHRIST’S VICTORY
1 John 4:4 (CSB)
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
———————————————————————
3. EMBRACE THE HOLY SPIRIT
Jesus won the war out there and then sent the Holy Spirit to help us win the war within.
John 14:15-17 (CSB)
If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.
To step into supernatural victory, we must agree to be guided in this war by the Holy Spirit.
———————————————————————
CLOSE
The tribulations of life, the harshness of our circumstances, and the uncertainty of our world do not disqualify the truth of God’s character, the power of Christ’s victory, or the direction of the Holy Spirit.
———————————————————————
UNDERSTAND, ENGAGE, EMBRACE
We understand that our war is about our worship and obedience to WHO God is, and we engage in this war by knowing our identity, taking authority over temptation through the Word of God, and embracing the posture of a warrior who fights from victory and not for victory.
—————————————————————
CLOSE AND CALL
- Those whose direction and decisions are not working out – need to admit that Jesus is victorious. Questioning instead of engaging. Believe in their inabilities… (King George)
- Those who believe but have lost their impact. Engaging and not embracing. You know of the victory but you dont feel victorious!
0 Comments