Christian Spiritual Warfare

Archive for the ‘Victory in Christ’ Category

Often when people think about spiritual warfare, they think of those times when demonic forces rise up in a direct, external attack upon us, either personally or through other people. Whilst certainly we all face these times in our lives, and we need to understand our authority in Christ to deal with them, they definitely not the most common means by which the devil comes against us. By far his most constant and consistent attack comes not from anything external, but internally, through our own thoughts and feelings.

Every time the devil can persuade us to think that sin in any of its multitude of forms is ok; every time he can nudge us to live out of our negative emotions rather than standing in Christ’s power; every time he can divert us to focus on the problems in our lives rather than on the Lord, he has won a small victory.

Much of the time, we don’t even think of these things as warfare. We see the source as being within ourselves – we are just down, or stressed, or overwhelmed – and therefore we don’t put up a fight. That, of course, is exactly what the devil wants.

Even when we do recognise the warfare element, the question arises, how do we fight against something that seems to come from within us? Is it just a matter of discipline: grab ourselves very firmly by the bootstraps and pull ourselves up? Should we start on a prolonged course of counselling to find the root causes of our problems and deal with them? Perhaps we should start on the “antidepressant merry-go-round.”

Self-discipline, counselling and medication all have their place, but they are not enough to bring us through a spiritual attack in victory. We need to fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons: and one of the greatest of those weapons is the Word of God.

The problem, of course, is that those times when we are tempted, down, or overwhelmed are not the best times to try to start using the Word of God. If it is not our normal habit to turn to the Word, we will probably not even think of turning to it in the difficult times. Even if we do think to open our Bibles, if we are not familiar with the Word we will not know where to go in the Word for what we need. It’s a very simple equation: you can’t take out what you haven’t put in.

David wrote, “I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Ps 119:11Ps 119:11
English: World English Bible - WEB
11 I have hidden your word in my heart, That I might not sin against you.

WP-Bible plugin) When He was preparing them for His death, Jesus told His disciples, “The Holy Spirit … will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (Jn 14:26Jn 14:26
English: World English Bible - WEB
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

WP-Bible plugin) Whilst the Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of moving sovereignly to give someone a revelation of things he had never known before, most of the time He chooses to give revelation through the Word that we already have in us. No Word means no revelation, and no revelation means no power.

It is not enough to turn to the Word in times of crisis. We need to be storing it up, hiding it in our hearts as David did. That comes from regular times of reading and meditation, not just on our favourite “blessing” verses, but through the whole of the Word. Over the years I have tried many Bible reading plans, but I always come back to the simplest plan of all: start at the beginning, read to the end, then start at the beginning again. (Actually, I now do a slight variation on this simple plan: I begin simultaneously on the Old and New Testaments, and read twice as much of the Old as of the New. It’s a good way to balance Law and Grace.) It’s important, too, that we don’t just read the word, but spend time thinking about it, chewing it over, finding its relevance for our own lives and situations. That’s what the Bible calls meditation.

As we regularly take the Word into our hearts and minds, it begins to become part of us, and once it is part of us we can count on it being there when we need it. When sin starts to look attractive, the Word will pop up and remind us of God’s opinion about the things we are considering. When we are down or overwhelmed, the Word will be there to remind us that, even if we don’t feel it, we are on the victory side in Christ.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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 It’s something we all face from time to time. The things that we’ve planned and worked for just aren’t happening; the people we thought loved or at least accepted us turn against us; the prayers we have been praying so long and so hard don’t seem to even reach the ceiling, much less getting answers.

 

Discouragement sets in. We wonder whether we got it right in the first place: were we, perhaps, following our own desires rather than the will of God? Was the word from the Lord that we thought we heard so clearly really only the echo of our own hopes and dreams?

 

Alternatively, we wonder whether we have done something to block the flow of God’s answers to us. Have we sinned? Have we failed to fulfill our part of the contract, to do the things that we can do so that God is free to do the things that only He can do?

 

As a result we lose heart. We find it harder and harder to keep putting in the effort, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, when all we seem to be achieving is to walk in ever-decreasing circles.

 

It’s an interesting word, discouragement. Dis-courage-ment. The removal of courage. That’s exactly what it does to us: saps our courage, our boldness, our strength. The more we come under discouragement, the weaker we feel; and the less we are able to deal with the situations which caused the discouragement in the first place. So the process becomes a self-defeating, downward spiral.

 

Discouragement is one of the greatest weapons in the devil’s arsenal. He has used it to destroy countless individuals and ministries. If we are not going to join the list, then we need to know how to fight it.

 

Firstly, we need to take a really good look at how we see God. Is He just like a “bigger person” to us? The “Bloke upstairs”? Just a friend? A warm-and-fuzzy grandfather? None of those images is nearly big enough to counter the attack of discouragement. We need to see God as He is: the creator, sustainer and King of the universe. The all-powerful One. Take time in the Word to find God as He really is, not as He has been re-fashioned into the image of man.

 

Secondly, we need to take time to review the things that God has done in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Whilst it is great to read of His miracles in distant countries and long-past times, those things do not have nearly the power to lift us that our personal experience has. Knowing that God has made it possible for us personally to pay a $50 account when we didn’t have the money will do more to help us overcome discouragement than knowing that He raised someone from the dead on the other side of the world. Keep a “blessing book” and record all the things that God does for you. Then, when things are tough and it is hard to remember, you can go back through it and be reminded of His goodness.

 

Thirdly, we need to keep the focus on the Lord, not on the problem. Now I know only too well that is easy to say and difficult to do, particularly when the problems insist on attacking you all at the same time, rather than making an orderly queue. At first, especially, you will probably need to keep pulling your focus back to the Lord. That’s ok. If necessary, use some kind of “interrupt” mechanism to help you. For instance, an elastic band around your wrist (not to tight, we don’t want any hands turning blue and dropping off). Every time you find yourself getting focused on the problem, snap the band to remind you to turn your attention to the Lord.

 

Finally, remember that God has a different agenda to us. Yes, He wants success for His people. But His first interest is character. He can see the big picture, where we see only through the microscopic window of our human mind. It may be that the very things that are frustrating and discouraging you today are the things that, if you will allow Him to use them in your life, will produce the character that will make it possible for Him to open greater doors and give you greater success than you are presently able to even imagine.

 

Ultimately, discouragement is a choice. We can allow the circumstances of life to rob us of courage and boldness, or we can allow God to use those same circumstances to lift us to a new level in Him.

 

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This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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My daily reading recently included the story of Elisha and his servant. The king of Aram was at war with Israel, but whenever he plotted an attack, God revealed the plans to the prophet Elisha, who in turn told the king of Israel. Understandably, this made the king of Aram quite upset. Eventually he decided that he should deal with Elisha once and for all, so he gathered an army and sent them down to attack Elisha.

When Elisha and his servant woke up, they looked out to see a great army, complete with horses and chariots, encamped around them. And they were just two men!

It reminds me of an old war movie I saw once. The heroes had made a successful attack against an enemy fort, and were trying to make their getaway across the harbour in a tiny boat. Guns were firing at them from the shore, planes were flying overhead trying to bomb them, and somewhere offshore a ship launched a torpedo. All this against a tiny boat with a handful of men!

Life seems like that sometimes, doesn’t it? As we seek to go about our business of serving the Lord, we feel that we are surrounded by a massive force of enemies, and that we are being fired on from every side. We feel so small and helpless in the midst of it.

However, the massive army surrounding Elisha and his servant was less than half the story. Elisha’s servant was overcome with fear, and cried out in distress to his master. Elisha, however, saw beyond the natural. He prayed for God to open the servant’s spiritual eyes also, and when He did the servant saw the mighty army of God encamped around the army of Aram. It was not Elisha’s army, for Elisha to command, but God’s army of which Elisha was himself a part. And because he was part of that army, it would defend him.

Are you part of God’s army? Are you under His command, carrying out His orders and submitted to His will? Then you need never fear, no matter how great a force the enemy brings against you, or how strong the attack may be. Because you are part of God’s army, that army will always be there to defend you.

God’s army will always be greater than anything the enemy can muster, for four reasons:

1. God’s army goes forth in God’s power and authority. The best the devil can manage is bluff and illusion.

    

2. God’s army outnumbers the devil’s army two to one. Scripture tells us that when the devil rebelled one third of the angels rebelled with him. That means two-thirds remained faithful to God.

    

3. God’s army is not fighting to achieve victory. Victory has already been won by the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. His army fights only to enforce the victory which has already been won.

    

4. The General of the army, the Holy Spirit, lives within each of the human members of the army.

   We are not in command, but the one who is in command lives in us! No wonder the Bible tells us that “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Got an army camped against you? Fear not, God’s army defending you is bigger. Being attacked from every side? Fear not, the battle has already been won, and you are on the winning side.