Me – Are we aware of the battle that goes on in the spiritual realm? In every world religion, there is an acknowledgement of a spiritual realm. In every minor religion, there is an acknowledgement of a spiritual realm. Even for those who don’t believe in God, many believe in the supernatural. If you turn on the TV, or you watch Netflix at all you know that many television shows and movies are based upon the idea that there is some supernatural force at work. But how well do we know the enemy? As a Christian, many of us don’t have any problem believing in angels, the problem comes when we have to state with certainty that we must also believe in demons. If God is real, then the Devil is real. If angels are real, demons are real as well.
In the 1970 film “Paton” there is a famous line that’s uttered by George C Scott who plays Gen. Patton. He shouts at the defeated German army commanded by Field Marshal Rommel, “Rommel… I read your book!”
We – In order to be prepared for the attacks of the Devil and his demons, we must know more about him. Many of us don’t want to know. We just want to talk about the good stuff; salvation, God’s love, mercy and kindness. If you are living a Christian life, you are in a war, you’re in a battle. Spiritual warfare has nothing to do with personality, gifting, calling or background. When you signed up to be a Christian, you automatically entered into warfare.
There tend to be two extremes; overemphasis or under-emphasis.
o Overemphasis - cast out demons of tooth decay. Satan’s happy to put on a show for us
o Under Emphasis - maybe he’ll go away, he can’t hurt me because the Devil has been defeated. Revelation 20
Eph 6:10-12 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the Devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
1. How bad is he?
• Satan is relentless in his attacks. He desires our complete destruction. He hates us. He fights dirty.
• Think of the most evil, grotesque thing people do to one another. These things have all been spawned by our enemy. At the end of WWII, the 101st Airborne Division was moving into Germany and they came across one of the concentration camps. As they were sifting through what was left over by the Germans who had evacuated, they found human skin stretched to make lampshades. This was just one of many things that the Germans felt they could do. They were so influenced by evil that the grotesque things are no longer grotesque.
• Satan is far worse than anything real or imagined. The Devil has no sense of fair play. He has no mercy.
• When we are down, he kicks us.
• He knows our weaknesses, whether it be lust, doubt, or depression. He waits for the perfect opportunity and plants the seeds of destruction.
• Psychics, Horoscopes, personal astrological charts, Tarot cards, Ouija boards, Dungeons & Dragons, and palm reading are all ways the Devil tries to gain a foothold. Most people think they’re innocent practices or mere nonsense. To Satan, you are allowing yourself to be open to his influence.
The main reason God doesn’t want us to consult these supernatural forces is that he wants Him to be our only source of supernatural activity.
It’s a shame that psychics have reintroduced a great misunderstanding of the supernatural to the world when the church has known about it all along. Unfortunately, the church is still pawing through theology books, wondering whether God is still doing supernatural things today, while the psychics are telling the police departments where to find the bodies. I’m waiting for the day when the police will call the church and say, “Will you people pray to God for information?”
Most spiritual warfare is won in our awareness of the enemy.
Satan hates you and has a horrible plan for your life!
John 10: 10 “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
The Devil’s job description is clear, he is a Thief, a Killer and a Destroyer!
Thief - he wants to rob us and steal our health and another year of life. He wants to steal productivity, our relationships, our joy, our peace and our faith.
Killer - he loves to kill. Anything that has to do with death is fully supported and encouraged by him. Many people, even Christians, have entertained the idea of ending it all, but every suicidal thought is from the cruel, killer heart of Satan. I’m not trying to blame everything on him - there are often medical reasons for depression, and stories of evil and death are not always going to lead to death - but suicide is the Devil’s work. It’s his nature to destroy us; it’s not natural for us to desire self-destruction.
Destroyer - he wants to destroy us with sin. He tempts us toward sin with the seductive promise of fulfilment: Excitement in an affair, the escape from alcohol or drugs, the allure of pornography, and the seduction of power.
2. Spiritual radar - in war, just the presence of radar is often enough to prevent an attack or invasion. If the enemy knows that you know where they are and where they’re coming from, they may already be defeated.
We must keep our eyes on God but also, we must keep our eyes on the Devil. We must stay vigilant and know what the enemy is doing.
If I were to enter the middle of a battle, with shells exploding all around me, and I approach the Colonel and say, “I see there is a war going on. Who are you fighting? How many of them are there? What are their objectives? What are their movements? What kind of ammunition are they using?” What if he were to answer, “Well, we don’t need to worry about the enemy? We don’t like to discuss him much. We don’t know where he is or what he’s doing. We’re just shooting our guns and lobbing our hand grenades. Today, we shot off 17,000 rounds. Isn’t that exciting? Aren’t we doing well?”
Ignorance of the enemy will not protect us. We must keep our eyes on him! On the other hand, if we keep our eyes on the Devil, but not on God, we are also in trouble. We must keep our eyes on God and without fear while keeping our eyes on the enemy as well.
1 Peter 5: 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the Devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Be alert - Alertness is much like radar. The mere presence of radar is often enough to discourage the attack of enemy planes. In the same way, our constant awareness can deter Satan in his attempts to hinder us. When the Devil comes on our radar screen, red lights and buzzers should go off within us, preparing us for attack and often averting the attack altogether.
3. Three Battlegrounds - in every battle, there are strategic objectives. Power installations, Roads, bridges and airports are the most likely in a modern-day battle scenario. The devil has a strategic plan as well. He is most likely to attack in three areas, three battlegrounds.
a. The Mind - most spiritual warfare takes place in the mind.
The Devil cannot read your mind, only God can do that. But he can put suggestions there. It involves recognizing when a thought is not righteous, or when it does not agree with God’s truth. Not all evil thoughts are from Satan, but he will exploit them and add to them.
2 Corinthians 10: 3–5 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
Strongholds - I’ve heard people use the term stronghold to refer to humanism, Islam, consumerism and other religions and institutions. In this passage, it refers to strongholds of the mind “Human Reasoning”. The strongholds are castles in the air built up in our minds through wrong thinking-through unbelieving, depression, fearful, and negative thinking.
There are two mental strongholds that are extremely common: thoughts of inferiority, and thoughts of condemnation. When we begin our journey with God, the enemy will show up, count on it, and he will begin to whisper lies into our ears.
Lies like:
• You’re not good enough
• Nobody likes you
• You’re too old
• You’re too young
• You will fail
• There is no way out
• God is not pleased with you
• You need to give up
• God won’t bless you
• People won’t listen to you
• You will always live this way
• You won’t amount to anything
Listen, the enemy will speak these lies to you through people as well. The enemy loves to use people, especially church people to tear down what God is doing. I remember when I first got saved and began to do ministry the enemy did not like that. I was a target. I was on his hit list and still am. He began to speak lies to me through other people in the church.
• You’re not good enough
• Nobody will listen
• What can you do
• Your ideas for youth aren’t good
• You will fail
A Mental Sentry - Every Military Post Has Guards.
The purpose of a guard is to stand quietly at their post until they hear a rustling in the bushes. Then they immediately ask: “Who goes there?” And are prepared to evict any intruder. We also need to post a guard at the gate of our minds to check the credentials of every thought and every imagination, ready to cast down that which is not true or of God. We take these thoughts captive. It’s a mental model of capturing a thought and ejecting it from our conscious thoughts. It means saying no to an idea or a temptation that could lead us into the Devil’s trap. It then requires a reminder of God’s promises to counteract and become a defence against further attack.
b. The Heart - Evil Attitudes And Emotions Take Root. In regards to spiritual warfare, it’s most likely referring to attitudes and emotions.
In the same way that you are responsible by taking a shower and brushing your teeth every day, becoming a Christian means taking daily responsibility to deal with our attitudes. The Devil loves to ride into your heart on your attitudes.
Anger, Bitterness, Rebellion, Independence, Pride or Unbelief
Emotions are God-given therefore we must humble ourselves and not worry (Worry = fear and unbelief).
First Peter five gives us a way to deal with emotions and attitudes. The first is to humble ourselves.
1 Peter 5:6-9 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honour. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the Devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
The second is that we are instructed not to worry. We’re supposed to cast our anxiety or fear on God. We cannot trust God and worry at the same time.
The Devil uses three primary methods in all that he does. If we don’t allow these things in our lives, we have effectively disarmed Satan. These three are pride, unbelief, and fear. Everything that Satan does, his entire kingdom and his nature, emanate from pride, unbelief, and fear. These things should never be tolerated in the lives of Christians.
We deal with pride by humbling ourselves, and we deal with unbelief and fear by casting our anxieties on God.
c. The Mouth - life or death with our words
Our words can be tools that bring life or death. They can be combined with Holy Spirit power and used for true righteousness, and life. Or our words can be a vehicle of Satan for deception, accusation, and death. Words, like music, are a method or a medium of communication.
As Christians, we know that our words have power. Somebody could be on the other side of the world and when we pray, we can affect the physical body of a sick person. We believe in the power of prayer. Words do have power with God, if we pray according to his will, agreeing with what he promised.
If we can release supernatural power to help someone who is sick on the other side of the country, what kind of power is released when we gather to complain and criticize? When words flow from a selfish or judgemental heart, we tend to think we aren’t really doing any harm. But words are powerful, and our mouths are either wellsprings of life or of death.
Proverbs 18:21 - The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
Our harsh words can be couched in “words of love”:
• We really need to pray for John because…
• I’m just sharing this so you’ll know what to pray for…
• I’m not judging her, but…
• He is such a wonderful leader, but…
James 3: 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
In every group, there are some people who are able to see the faults and impossibilities in every project and every concern. They can influence the whole group, uttering negatives until everyone believes “it will never work.”
There is power in our mouths. What we speak out has spirit power: negative or positive. The words would spring from our hearts can defile us and others. He must watch our mouths.
You - You can’t play with the devil church because his one and only goal it to strangle your faith and ruin your testimony. He wants to destroy you completely! He doesn’t want to twist your arm behind your shoulder and make you say uncle like the bully back at school but he wants to rip your arm off and beat your skull in with the bloody end of it. He’ll take his time and he’ll be back when you least expect it because he’s patient and persistent! He’s not a toothless tiger but walks about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour
and while he is powerful…HE’S NOT ALL-POWERFUL!
While he’s knowledgeable…HE’S NOT ALL-KNOWING!
While he’s got his iron in a lot of fires…HE’S NOT IN ALL PLACES!
Glory to God for Calvary’s Hill and an Old Rugged Cross where Jesus died for you and me. Thank God for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Bright and Morning Star, the Holy Lamb of God that was slain and fights on our behalf if we’ve been saved and had our name written in His Book of Life.
We - A great thing to know is that Satan cannot read your mind nor know your thoughts. Many times Christians believe that if they rebuke Satan in their mind that he will flee but Satan must be rebuked in an audible voice. While it is possible for Satan or one of his demons to oppress our minds [put thoughts into our head] only Almighty God knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.
