Spiritual Warfare is a subject that I believe takes years to understand so I encourage you to study it yourselves so that you too can equip yourselves appropriately. Spiritual Warfare is taking a stand against the evil in this world. It begun in Heaven when God defeated the devil and sent him away. Jesus was giving to us humans as our protector and savior from evil forces. When He ascended to Heaven, He left with us the Holy Spirit, the comforter. The Holy Spirit dwells in each and every one of us. We don’t have to go looking for the Spirit, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will obtain the Holy Spirit. Now feeling the Holy Spirit move in you is where the work comes in. That work is studying the Word of God and walking in the way of the Lord which is something we have to do daily. The devil uses many tricks to tempt us away from God. He tempts us with luxuries, material gains, jealousy, lies, a host of things that will cause us to not act righteously in the eyes of the Lord. The biggest tool the devil can use against us is ourselves. We are our own worst enemy. If you truly knew how much God loved you, if you really knew and believed His love for you, you would do what Jesus did on that mountain and deny the devil entry into your soul. You have to resist the devil but you can’t resist the devil if you brush him off as any old thing. The devil is real, evil is real and you need to understand that. Once you understand that you have to understand that the devil will use anything in your life to get to you. Money, relationships, friendships, jobs, strangers, and your thoughts. All of this is fair game to the devil. Even though all of those examples I used are separate, they all tie into your thoughts. Your mind must be stayed on Jesus, your mind must be equipped and protected with the whole Armor of God.
How to protect yourself:
Ephesians 6:10- 18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Verse 18 is a verse that is most important, a verse that I am reminded of during this writing. It is something that we must do every day if we don’t pray anything at all. We have to learn how to pray and give thanks daily. God wants our prayers and praises. He doesn’t just want our concerns and worries. God wants us to come to Him in the happy times just as much if not more than we do in our troubles. Imagine how you would feel after helping someone with something and they don’t say thank you. Doesn’t that just boil your blood at times? You will call them ungrateful and for some people, you actually cut them off. We should be happy that God doesn’t cut us off and He gives us many chances to get it right. So be grateful and give God the praises that He so deserves. We must also learn to pray for others more than ourselves as well. Praying for others is a form of love and love is what Jesus commissioned us to do. We must love one another and truly want the best for one another. Job 16:20-21
My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.
I chose Job because if you know anything about Job, Job was tested by God to display to the devil that we can defeat Spiritual Warfare. Job had everything taking away from him but with his last ounce of faith he resisted the devil. We can defeat the evils of this world because the evil in the Heavens was defeated. If we understand that the battle for our souls was already won and that we have the Victory! John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” God never promised us an easy life but He did promise us a blessed life. You just have to understand what it means to be blessed and allow yourself to be blessed.
One more thing, learn to forgive. The devil loves for use to not forgive others. Unforgiveness is like a disease and it will kill us quicker than the one we supposedly hate or dislike.
The greatest thing you can do for an enemy of yours is to love them and release them.
© Brandi Anderson 2014
WEMAFIT 