Understanding Spiritual Warfare

Have you ever had a moment where everything felt heavier than it should.

• Spiritual warfare is the daily battle to stay aligned with God’s truth while resisting the enemy’s lies.
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First Know that:

• The Unseen Realm Is Real
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Just because something is unseen does not mean it is unreal.

Eph 6: 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.

Paul says there are realities we cannot physically see that are actually more eternal than the physical world around us.

2 Corinthians 4:18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Scripture presents the spiritual realm as a present reality — not fantasy, symbolism, or mythology.

• angels appear,
• demons operate,
• heaven is described,
• spiritual battles take place,
• God speaks,
• Satan schemes,
• and eternity is constantly referenced.

Why?

The visible world came from an invisible source.

Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s  command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

Everything physical was birthed from something spiritual.

But Elisha prays:

2 Kings 6:17 “17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

 

Spiritual Battles Behind Earthly Events

Daniel 10:12–13 …Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

There is more happening around us than what our eyes can see.

• And if the spiritual realm is real…
  then spiritual preparation matters.
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secondly

• The enemy’s main weapon against everyone is Lies and deception
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Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the  devil’s schemes.”

The word “schemes” means: strategies, methods, deception, planned attacks.

Satan’s First Scheme Was Deception

Genesis 3:1 “Did God really say…?”

His schemes still include:

• distortion, doubt, confusion, half-truths.

2 Corinthians 2:11“…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

• People Are Not the Real Enemy
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• Satan’s greatest scheme is to get people to believe he does not exist.
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John 8:44 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies

• The Devil is proactive in his plans;
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1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Satan’s Mission

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”

• steal peace and joy,
• kill purpose,
• destroy your relationship with God
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If Satan can’t destroy you, he’ll distract you.
If he can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.
If he can’t take your salvation, he’ll try to steal your peace.

This message is not about fearing the devil. (he is not like God.  He is not all present, all powerful and all knowing.)

Thirdly:

• God has provided the truth and all you need through Jesus to win the battle.
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• Believers do not fight for victory —
  they fight from
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Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Our tools of fighting

• We have The Name of Jesus
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Philippians 2:9–11 “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that 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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord…”

 

Luke 10: 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

• We have his Word
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  .
• The Mind Is the Battlefield
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2 Corinthians 10:3 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. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

“stronghold” comes from the Greek word ochuroma.. It depicted a fortress, a castle, or a citadel, designed to keep outsiders from scaling the walls or from breaking inside. Such walls were intended to keep intruders outside.

But by the time of the New Testament, the word ouhuroma also came to be the very same Greek word used to describe a prison.

Luke 4 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘…..

 

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.

Put on the Armor of God

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.

The Armor Includes:

Belt of Truth

Breastplate of Righteousness

Shoes of the Gospel of Peace:

Shield of Faith

Helmet of Salvation

Sword of the Spirit

Thirdly we have

• The power of prayer
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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.

Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Prayer is not preparation for the battle.
Prayer IS part of the battle.

• Prayer is where we continually submit ourselves to God
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Why is this important?

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Are you ready to win?

Surrender to God, stand firm and resist.