I. Be Aware
A. Aware of God and His purposes
B. Aware of our Worth and position in Christ
C. Aware of the enemy and battlefields we all face
1. Fight with the WORLD
2. Fight with the FLESH
3. Battle with DEVIL and his angels
Things are not as they seem on the surface. Somewhere behind every struggle in our world is a formidable enemy at work directly, through the manipulation of circumstances or through other people. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against invisible forces bent on our destruction and the establishment of a kingdom of beings bent on rebellion against God. Ignorance is defeat. Avoidance is defeat. Arrogance is defeat. Awareness is the first step in victory.
II. Be Alert
We must be aware that there is a war. We must alert to the specifics of the war.
A. Alert to broken down walls of protection
1. Protective walls of moral living
2. Protective walls of a godly family line
3. Protective walls of the Church
4. Protective walls of God ordained government
B. Alert to Avenues of Invasion (Influence)
1. Influence authorized by God for a specific purpose
2. Influence established thru family line sin
3. Influence permitted by our own willful sin
4. Influence gained through some traumatic experience
5. Influence achieved through deception
6. Influence attained thru close association with a demonized individual
7. Influence obtained thru untested "spiritual" or religious experiences
8. Influence acquired thru participation or association with a cult group
9. Influence allowed thru participation prohibited witchcraft activity
C. Alert to the specific sphere of attack
1. Operate in and through the thoughts
2. Operate in and through the emotions
3. Operate in and through the will
4. Operate in the body
5. Operate through other people
D. Alert to possible symptoms of infiltration (influence)
1. Prolonged inability to choose what I know to be right
2. Plaguing (compulsive) destructive behavior
3. Plaguing thoughts of evil that cause me repulsion
4. Uncontrolled feelings of anger and bitterness
5. Plaguing fear that keeps me from doing what I ought or desire.
6. Unexplainable unpleasant physical symptoms with no apparent cause
7. Strange events or sense of an unseen evil presence
8. Unexplainable negative feelings with no apparent cause
9. Condemning evil voices (thoughts) concerning self or others.
10. Sudden attitude changes
The key is the inability to see change in my life after a long period of time. Inability to grow more like Christ in spite of desire and effort may indicate a deeper battle.
III. Be Armed and aggressive
The war against these unseen forces is not defensive. The army that plays only defense will eventually suffer defeat. Scripture calls us aggressively engage the kingdom of darkness. The church is built by saints confidently marching against the devil’s gates that block recapturing the territory stolen by him. Ephesians 6 tells us prepares us to do that.
A. Be fully empowered by His strength through submission)
B. Be fully armed with His armor through the word and prayer
1. Girded with the truth of Christ
2. Protected by the Righteousness of Christ
3. Prepared with the Peace of Christ
4. Shielded by the Faith of Christ
5. Protected by the Salvation of Christ
C. Be fully engaged with His strategy by standing against and resisting)
Engagement of the enemy takes place on two levels; the personal level and the corporate level.
1. Fight for yourself (James 4:7-10)
a) Submit to God
The ground for demonic strongholds in our life is rebellion against God’s rule and direction over our lives whether passive or aggressive. Whenever we resist God’s direction we open ourselves up to a stronghold of the enemy. The beginning of the way back is to humbly acknowledge our failure to submit to Him and to re-submit ourselves to His agenda for our lives. A simple statement will do.
Lord, I admit my pride in trying to run my own life apart from you. I acknowledge You as my Lord and willingly submit to You. I place myself under Your authority once again.
b) Resist the devil and reclaim surrendered territory
We are to RESIST the devil. The word melds the word “to stand” and “against” resulting in “stand against”. Scripture employs the term three times in relation to engaging the enemy. Ephesians 6, James 4 and 1 Peter 5
We resist Satan the same way our Lord resisted Satan through a direct declaration of the Word of God reinforced by the power of the Holy Spirit. He not only spoke the words of Scripture applied to the specific attack but then specifically commanded Satan to leave.
Those who think we should ignore or avoid any direct conflict with Satan ignore a specific and clear instruction to stand against him. Jesus authoritatively resisted his attack.
He demanded Satan’s departure and shattered many demonic strongholds that had afflicted people for decades by direct and indirect confrontation. He specifically passed this awesome authority to his followers.
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20
We must always keep such authority in perspective.
Note: not all demonic attacks will be stopped immediately. God may serve a higher purpose by allowing the attack to continue. Remember Job? Paul?
Some sample prayers of renunciation and resistance will be made available to those interested. These are merely samples of ways to take a stand against.
c) Draw near to God
I cannot say enough about the necessity to continually seek God’s presence. This is done through the spiritual disciplines which we have been studying for some time now. These are the Biblical means for drawing near to God as a lifestyle.
d) Clean house
Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:8-10
Therefore, having these promise (intimate relationship with God), beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1
Garbage attracts rats. The only effective way to deal with the rates is to remove their energy source. Stop feeding them and they will go away.
Eliminate garbage, eliminate and prevent rats. Cleansing needs to take place on two levels. If we are faithfully practicing the spiritual disciplines this will be a regular exercise. The first level has to do with our personal lives; thoughts, attitudes, words, actions. There must also take place next a cleansing of our homes of any objects that defile our house and give demons permission to control. Invite God to go through your house and bring sensitivity to anything that may be an entrance point for the enemy; books, objects, movies, activities, substances, pictures, etc.
e) Call for the Elders if necessary
Sometimes a stronghold may have grown to a point where we must call upon help from others. James prescribes a directive for those under such demonic oppression in the fifthe chapter of his letter.
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; James 5:14
The word translated “sick” is the Greek word “astheneo” (strong) with the “a” in front which means “not”. Is anyone without strength? Tracking the usage of this term in the New Testament unearths a range of meaning including physical weakness, spiritual weakness of faith and practice as well as weakness due to demonic influence or invasion.
The Biblical solution for such “weakness” is to call for help from the elders. This may be a reference to the official office of elder or the spiritually mature.
This encounter prescribes action for both the elders and the one seeking deliverance.
• The weak call for the elders of the church.
• The elders pray in faith and anoint with oil.
• The weak confess sins.
• The elders pray for one another
God’s response to this process…
• Forgiveness of sins
• Restoration
• Raising up
• Healing
• Accomplishment of much
f) Resist Continually (Lifestyle)
Deliverance is not usually a one-time thing. In fact, it is never a quick cure. Spiritual warfare must be welcomed as a lifestyle. It may not be continually intense but it must be continually practiced. Restoring or re-modeling a trashed home will take some extended time and effort but once the restoration is completed you shift into maintenance mode.
In the same way, spiritual warfare is continual and life long and from time to time intense.
2. Fight for others
God instructed the whole nation of Israel to all fight as one against the major strongholds and then each tribe received instruction to finish the task on their own until the enemy was completely purged from the land. Failure to do so affected them all. The sin of one family caused devastating defeat on the whole group. They left strongholds in the land which brought about a list of distressing events and problems chronicled in the book of Judges.
Victory came from the cooperation of the whole. Defeat came by the compromise of one.
a) Build Hedges of protection (repair walls)
Pray
Strengthen the family unit
Continually study and teach the truth
Pray for the government
Practice holiness
Beware of false teaching
Practice daily accountability
"Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6
"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. Isaiah 58:12
b) Battle along side one another
c) Battle on behalf of one another
2 Tim 2:24-26 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.
There are a ton of passages related to helping one another and encouraging one another.
We must stop fighting each other and begin to fight for one another.
We also have a responsibility to fight for our communities and the cause of Christ around the world.
3. Fight for your Communities
a) Claim Territory
b) Resist Evil
4. Fight for the World
a) Pray for missionaries
b) Continually claim territory for the kingdom
