WEAPONS FOR A SPIRITUAL WAR
A minister died and went to heaven and ahead of him at the Pearly Gate was a guy in sunglasses and a leather jacket and the guy said to St. Peter. "I'm Joe Renko, cabdriver from Las Vegas." Saint Peter gave him a golden robe and golden staff and then it was the minister's turn. "I am Elmer Lundberg, pastor for forty-five years." Saint Peter gave him a cotton robe and wooden staff. "But that man was a taxi driver, and he gets a golden robe and golden staff?" And St. Peter said, "Up here, we go by results. Elmer, while you preached, people slept; while Joe drove, people prayed."
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
2 Corinthians 10:4; “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”
Men are men. Women are women. A man cannot become a woman. A woman cannot become a man. Men are better at some things than women. Women are better at some things than men. Marriage is between a man and a woman. We should not kill babies. Children should not be exploited or abused. Men should protect and provide for the family. Women should nurture and care for the family. These statements were self-evident truths for thousands of years, only in the past few decades did they become “hateful” or “bigoted.” Satan is attempting to turn God’s creation upside down. Up is down, left is right, right is wrong, evil is good, good is evil. These are the lies of the enemy. This is the post-truth trash world. But the “truth” is relative and whatever you believe it to be.
We may live in a post-truth world, but that doesn’t mean that the objective Truth that has been revealed to us through God’s Word will not stand the tests of a world gone mad. Going against the Truth of God’s design for men, women, children, and families is like going against gravity: eventually, you’re going to fall back to earth.
Part of the problem is that we are trying to fight the enemy on their terms and in their battlefields. We are all guilty of this. We enter the adversary’s battleground–social media for example–and expect to gain land from the enemy who can just wipe us out with the click of a button. Too many of the posts that we read affect our lives in negative ways. When you read a post and sometimes you think it’s about you because you see yourself in it, but it probably isn’t. But don’t get upset with the mirror, fix the reflection.
We also consume news and media that is carefully crafted by the enemy and expect things to change by lending them our time and attention. We immerse ourselves in the culture of the enemy and are surprised when that culture turns on us. One of the biggest problems is that most people who reject Jesus do so because it interferes with the way they want to live. But if we are going to win a spiritual war, we must dare to stand for God’s Truth in this post-truth world, but how do we do that? Here are a few examples.
Boldly defend the sanctity of life in a world that praises child sacrifice.
Boldly defend the holiness of marriage between one man and one woman as God designed.
Boldly defend God’s creation and the unique roles and gifts God has given men and women.
Boldly rebuke the Den of Vipers and their wicked ways. Boldly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is a spiritual battle and therefore we must use spiritual weapons to expose and fight the enemies of Truth, including when those enemies of Truth happen to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must lovingly and boldly rebuke Christians who reject Truth in favor of political allegiances and narratives and let God handle the rest. Jesus Christ and God’s Word are the ultimate sword and shield in this war.
Let me remind you of something important: we have the power of the one and only Holy Creator God inside of us. Whom then shall we fear? Jesus didn’t die on the cross for you to “feel good” about yourself or to live in apathetic complacency as His enemy’s mock, attack, and destroy truth. Hebrews 10:13 says, “From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.” So, pick up your spiritual weapons, we are in the footstool making business.
The first weapon that we have is the name of the Lord. Proverbs 18:10 states that, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” The devil hates the name of God and the name of Jesus. The disciples were rejoicing that they had power over the devil through the name of Jesus. When Jesus would show up, the demons would say, “we know you Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to torment us before the time?” The devil cannot penetrate past the name of Jesus.
The Word of God can also be used as weapon of God. Ephesians 6:17 tells us to, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” You have a powerful weapon in the Word of God because the devil cannot make the Word of God, which is truth, thus the devil fails. You can claim the promises of God in your life when you use the words, “yes” and “amen.” The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. When you use the word of God against the devil, you will get immediate results. Remember, God did not say that no weapon would be formed and against, but He said that no weapon used against you will prosper. God has given us weapons to win the battles of life. In spiritual battles you cannot use physical weapons. God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.
Another weapon in God’s arsenal is the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus is a covering over your mind, your spirit, or anything in your life, and the Devil cannot cross the blood line. Revelation 12:11 says, “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” When Jesus shed His blood, it conquered sin, death, disease, and every other thing. You need to plead the blood of Jesus over your life, your family, your future. There is power in the blood of Jesus, like when we take communion, it is symbolic of taking into our lives the very power of the blood of Christ.
We must also invest ourselves in prayer for the service. You must come into the service to worship with a clear mind and a clear conscience, motivated to praise the Lord with an open heart. Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Be a worshiper all week long! A true worshiper worships at every opportunity and does not demand some stimulus for it. Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the “Most High” will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
In Matthew 17 is a story of when the disciples couldn’t cast out the devil from a boy, so Jesus cast out the devil. When asked why they had failed, Jesus said, in some cases, there are strong spirits that you will face, so spiritual prayer will be needed to win the victory. What that means is that you need to keep talking to God thru prayer, for if you let your guard down, the enemy will win over you. Luke 24:49 says, “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Sometimes you must die to the flesh to strengthen the spirit. The weaker you are in the flesh, the stronger you will be in the Spirit.
Faith is what gives a believer confidence in God's presence to access what belongs to him. Such faith is undeniable and can 'purchase' anything from God without hesitation. Ephesians 2:8 states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” This includes healing, prosperity, peace, love, joy, deliverance from demons, the salvation of the soul, and any other benefit which the word of God promises to us. FAITH means belief, firm persuasion, assurance, firm conviction, and faithfulness. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and the assurance that the Lord is working, even though we cannot see it. Faith knows that no matter what the situation is that’s happening in our lives or someone else's that the lord is working in it.
Fighting the good fight of faith involves running from sin and pursing things such as righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fighting the good fight of faith is about making a choice, a choice to pursue God's will and a life of faith on a daily basis. Faith is the method by which we are enabled to be victorious in every aspect of living. It is the foundation for salvation and used to form an intimate relationship with Jesus. If faith is this powerful, what is faith and how do we acquire it? According to Hebrews 11, faith is the substance of things hoped for, and it yields evidence of its presence when it manifests itself in the visible world through a response to what is believed. Faith is applied confidence in God to our daily lives and circumstances.
Using faith as your weapon of choice is to realize you cannot win the battle over your soul without it. It is your power in the kingdom to purchase what you need, spiritually and naturally. God receives faith and blesses it when it is centered in Him. Faith is one of a few spiritual artilleries that has the ability to move God on His throne to your particular need. It caused the woman with the issue of blood to be made whole, as the very essence of the touch of faith pulled virtue out of Jesus and captured His attention. She made a faith-move on God that grabbed His attention to meet her need. Faith should be your weapon of choice.
Have you ever noticed the way God multiplies your faith when you begin praising Him? Praise lifts your eyes from your circumstances to your almighty Father who is Ruler overall. Not one circumstance in your life can come without His permission, and that means that He has a way of causing it to work together with other things for His glory and your good. Praise does not flatter God to incur his favor. It might be interesting to learn that the opposite of praise is to blame. Could it be when we don’t praise Him, we are angry with God and blaming Him for a situation in our life? Have any of you ever been guilty of this yourself? Did you pray to Him for answers, for relief, or anything else? God requires you to pray to him through His only son, Jesus. In Daniel, chapter 6, Daniel explains that he prays to God 3 times daily, which pleases God. You have to ask him for what you need. You need to ask to receive. It’s as simple as that!
Living a life of praise will require a sacrifice of time. We cannot dash in and out of the presence of the Lord; there are times when we need to stay and commune for a while. We must bring our praise with no ulterior motives, no attempts to “twist Gods arm” to come to us. Our praises will become a powerful weapon against our adversaries.
Praise is a commandment! Praise God in His sanctuary! Praise Him in His mighty firmament! God does not need our praise! He is commanding us to praise Him because it is for our benefit. Proverbs 11:25 says, “The liberal soul will be made fat, and he who watereth it shall be watered also himself.” When we come before Him in Praise and worship is not the time to focus on yourself. The basic posture of a Christian is not “Bless me, Lord,” but rather I will bless the Lord.
Why is worship so powerful? Well, worship is a powerful tool. It is the means whereby we invite God's presence into our lives and into our world. Worship has a way of changing our lives and giving us different perspectives on how we see our circumstances. It is an incredible blessing to see life from God's point of view instead of our own. Worship is a powerful weapon of spiritual warfare that defeats the enemy and completely nullifies his plan of destruction for our lives. The correct answer to the question of “Why do Christians go to church and worship” is simply to remember God, to worship the God of creation, and to be thankful for the sacrifice of Christ that provides our salvation. When we worship, we become more conscious of God's presence. What are four reasons to worship God? First, we worship Jesus because of his divinity; next, we worship Jesus because of his supremacy; then we worship Jesus because of his humanity; and finally, we worship Jesus because of his humility. Worship is a declaration that God is in the midst of all that is happening in our world today, a powerful weapon against any lie that says God is not in control or that he is not able. Jesus laid out what real true worship is, first it's to worship God in spirit and truth. That means you understand who God is and all about the Godhead. So real worship is more than singing songs, real worship involves what Romans says; “your body as a living sacrifice.” To exalt God is to raise God to the highest place in our lives. To give Him first place in every thought in our mind, every word spoken, and every deed done. This cannot be done apart from His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus told the disciples to tarry and wait for the promise of the Father. He knew that for the disciples and the early church to walk in victory, they would need the power of the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. Many people do not realize that the Holy Spirit is the active force of God in their lives to help them overcome the devil, the flesh, and the world. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the one who would baptize people in the Holy Spirit. John knew that people needed more than a dunk in the water, they needed a filling of the fire. There is another side to Jesus Christ tho, He is a mighty man of war.
Again, there are 7 spiritual weapons at our disposal, and they are the name of Jesus, the Word of God, the Blood of Jesus, prayer, faith, praise, worshiping, and the power of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with the weapons, you just need to know how to use them to be successful in spiritual battle. Also remember that in the midst of the battle, evil may have its hour, but God will have His day!
It is for all of you to keep the faith that I pray for you today. Amen??????
