Under Attack Series

2 Corinthians 10:3-4

Under Attack

June 3, 2012

Have you ever had anything stolen from you? Maybe it was money, or it was material possessions, it could have been a friend or family member. Or maybe you had something destroyed in a fire or tornado. Or possibly someone destroyed something you really loved and cared about. Maybe it was a family heirloom or someone special gave you a special gift and now it’s gone. Do you remember how you felt? There was that sinking feeling in your stomach, the heart ache, the pain and anguish of losing something.

You should be experiencing that same pain every time you think of satan attacking you. Remember, Jesus told us satan is the one who is wants to steal, kill and destroy you. Jesus offers life; satan offers destruction.

Folks, we’re in a battle for our very souls. And our battle is against satan. If you know how it feels to lose something, then you should know how it feels to have satan try again and again to rip out your heart, mind and soul. His greatest pleasure is to destroy you and me. Unfortunately, most of us don’t realize satan is alive and active and seeks to destroy us.

Let me make one thing very clear. I am not saying anyone here is filled with satan or that he dwells within you. I believe you cannot have Christ and satan within you at the same time. What I am saying is that it is very easy for satan to influence us and make us his tools so that we can destroy one another and the church.

Two weeks ago we began to talk about spiritual warfare. It’s not a pleasant topic, it’s not something we chit-chat about over coffee, but it’s something we need to understand and be aware of. Two weeks ago, I spoke about the passage from Revelation 12:17. It should open our eyes wide open. John wrote, The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Simply put, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then satan is after you. He wants to destroy you. It should sound scary, and, it is.

Do we believe satan is real and exists. Is satan simply a figment of our imagination? Is he just another way to say we messed up and made mistakes, not sinning, just slipping up? Is satan just a funny looking guy in a red suit with horns?

The question is not ‘do you believe in satan?’ The question is, do you believe satan is real?

There was a study completed by a Christian Research Group which is headed by George Barna. Listen to these amazing conclusions ~~

62% of people believe satan "is only a symbol of evil."

53% of born again Christians believe satan is real.

The religious group with the strongest belief in the existence of satan

72% of Catholics say satan is non-existent.

64% of women reject satan’s existence

59% of men reject satan’s existance.

59% of Mormons believe satan is real.

We don’t take this topic very seriously, and that plays into satans hands.

There are 2 scriptures I want to focus on. The first passage comes from 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 ~

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

In this passage Paul tells us that even though we work and go to school and shop and overall live in the world, we cannot fight satan as the world fights. We cannot fight with the weapons of the world. They will be useless. It would be like putting a band-aid over someone’s broken arm. Or someone comes at you with their machine gun, and you’re going to defeat them with a rubber band. It just won’t work. So Paul tells us, we can’t fight with the weapons of the world, we have something far better.

We could use tanks and machine guns; hand grenades and atomic bombs against satan, and that wouldn’t stop him. What we have at our disposal is something that is so much better, it is something that satan cannot stand against . . . what we have at our disposal is divine power. And what can we do with this divine power? WE CAN DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS.

So, what is a stronghold? It’s a word taken from a military context. And it’s used only here in the Bible. It describes a castle or fort with its moats, walls, turrets and towers. It’s defended by a handful of resolute, determined people. History records that many times a castle like that withstood years of attack because it was so difficult to dislodge its defenders. In essence that’s what we’re up against. BUT, as Paul tells us WE CAN DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS. BUT, we can’t do it on our own. We must use the divine power that’s at our disposal.