BASIC TRUTHS ABOUT SPIRITUAL WARFARE (Part 2)
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NKJV).
Many believers today are experiencing failure, frustration, defeat and death in spiritual warfare in spite of their protracted fasting and violent prayers simply because they are ignorant of basic truths about spiritual warfare.
God laments in His Word, saying, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hos. 4:6 NKJV).
“Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge…” (Isaiah 5:13 NKJV).
In the first part of this piece we began to examine some basic truths about spiritual warfare that every believer must know, believe and apply in order to fully and consistently appropriate, enforce, enjoy, manifest or demonstrate the absolute victory that Christ has already won for them over all the powers of evil.
Let us recap the truths we have considered so far.
First, the Believers are not fighting a Physical Warfare:
You are not engaged in a physical battle with your enemies but in a spiritual battle. Satan will always seek to deceive or lure you into picking up or taking on a physical fight and thus break your focus or concentration in spiritual warfare.
Paul clearly states, “For, though we are still living in the world, it is no worldly warfare that we are waging.” (2 Cor. 10:3 WNT).
Second, the Believers’ Weapons of our Warfare are not Physical or Carnal:
You don’t need any physical, fleshly, earthly or worldly armour or weapons of warfare to appropriate, enforce, experience or demonstrate the absolute victory you already have in and through Christ.
Paul testifies, “The weapons for our warfare are not earthly, but, under God, are powerful enough to pull down strongholds.” (2 Cor. 10:4 TCNT).
Third, the Believers are not in Warfare against their Fellow Human Beings:
The believers are not fighting, wrestling or contending against flesh and blood (humans) but against Satan and his demons.
Satan will go to any length to deceive and lure you into accepting, focusing on, or targeting your fellow human beings as your real enemies in spiritual warfare.
Paul writes, “For ours is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but against all the various Powers of Evil that hold sway in the Darkness around us, against the Spirits of Wickedness on high.” (Eph. 6:12 TCNT)
Fourth, the Battleground is the Believer’s Mind:
When you allow Satan to gain a foothold in your mind, he will eventually build strongholds, imaginations, or arguments in your mind that are contrary to the truths of God’s Word, thereby making your experience in spiritual warfare to be failure, frustration, defeat or death.
But, when you allow the Holy Spirit through God’s Word to dominate your thought, thereby bringing every anti-Christ thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, your experience will always be life, peace and victory.
Paul warns, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6 NKJV).
Let us now proceed to consider more basic truths that are vital for appropriating, enforcing, manifesting or demonstrating the victory you already have in and through Christ Jesus.
Fifth, Spiritual Warfare is primarily a War of Words:
Spiritual warfare is essentially a war of words!
Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21). Therefore, your experience in spiritual warfare is largely determined by the use of your tongue.
When you rightly and constantly use your tongue to affirm, confess, declare or proclaim your victory in Christ, you will always see, experience and enjoy victory in spiritual warfare (Mark 11:23).
Satan will always seek to manipulate you or the people around you to use their tongues to speak forth and release defeat, failure, poverty, sickness, or death into your life, family, finances, career, or business.
When you keep your mouth shut when Satan, through his agents using false dreams, visions, or prophecies, is speaking or pouring forth death into your life; you have already conceded defeat in spiritual warfare (Isa. 14:12-17, Psa. 2:1-7).
The Scripture admonishes you to judge, condemn or confute every evil tongue which rises against you in judgement.
Isaiah 54:
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD. (NKJV).
This is the only way that the weapons of the enemy against you will not prosper!
The armies of Israel led by Saul cringed before Goliath for forty days and nights because they shut their mouths when Goliath was defying them by his words (1 Sam. 17:8-10). The situation changed when David came on the stage and boldly replied Goliath, condemning his tongue.
Goliath said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” (1 Sam. 17:44 NKJV).
David promptly condemned his tongue, saying, “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” (1 Sam. 17:46 NKJV).
That is the way to resist or confront your enemy and thus enforce and demonstrate your victory in Christ!
Your mouth is very crucial in appropriating, experiencing or demonstrating your victory in spiritual warfare.
When the enemy is speaking forth death into your life, if you don’t resist, confute, or condemn his tongue; you will come under the negative influence of the evil words the enemy has spoken (Rev. 16-13-14).
Your mouth is the nozzle or launching pad for all the weapons of warfare the Lord Jesus Christ has given you to appropriate, enforce, demonstrate, or defend the victory He has already won and given to you.
The Lord Jesus promised His disciples, saying, “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.” (Luke 21:15 NKJV).
The Scripture says of Jesus in the book of Revelation, “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev. 19:15 NKJV).
The same is true of you!
When you speak God’s Word in faith, you are simply wielding or releasing the Sword of the Spirit against your enemy (Eph. 6:17)!
You are not using any of your spiritual weapons of warfare effectively until you learn to open your mouth promptly to reject and condemn every evil tongue and word against you.
Sixth, the Believers already have the Victory in and through Christ Jesus:
The believers are not in spiritual warfare to fight, wrestle or contend against Satan for victory. Sadly, many believers today who claim to be fighting in spiritual warfare are striving to gain or obtain victory over Satan and his cohorts through their personal efforts.
This mindset is the primary cause of their constant fear and defeat in spiritual battles.
The believers are not called and equipped by God to fight in spiritual warfare to gain victory over Satan and his cohorts and works. This is a pivotal truth!
The Scripture clearly teaches that the believers have already won and gained full victory over Satan and his demons through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
This victory is not a partial, incomplete, gradual or ongoing victory; it is an absolute, total, final, complete, perfect and permanent victory!
The Scripture amply states and affirms this truth.
Hebrews 2:
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (NKJV).
Colossians 2:
15 He rid himself of all the Powers of Evil, and held them up to open contempt, when he celebrated his triumph over them on the cross! (TCNT).
1 Corinthians 15:
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (NKJV).
As a born-again believer in Christ, you already have the victory in Christ and through Christ. You must wage warfare with this mindset.
The devil will always seek to trick, confuse, or deceive you into seeking to fight to have or gain victory, thereby robbing you of the victory you already have in and through Jesus Christ.
But you must always stand firm in the victory and fight in the victory that Jesus Christ has won for you (Gal. 5:1).
If it is true that Christ through His death on the cross has defeated and destroyed Satan and all his works once and for all, why then do believers still need to contend or wrestle with Satan in spiritual warfare?
To appropriate, enjoy, enforce, manifest or demonstrate the victory that Christ has won for them over Satan and all his cohorts and works!
To demonstrate the preeminence of Christ over all things!
Seventh, there is no Truce or Respite in Spiritual Warfare:
Satan is an unrepentant or sworn enemy of God and His children. He will never stop seeking to control, exploit, deceive or manipulate you, and to steal from you the blessings you already have in Christ.
Therefore, don’t ever seek to negotiate with, appease or pacify Satan by any means. Satan vehemently hates you and he will never change his mind or disposition towards you (Rev. 12:12, 17, John 10:10).
Beloved, there is no truce, respite or ceasefire in spiritual warfare. Therefore, you must always be watchful and prayerful, putting on the whole armour of God so that you may be able to resist Satan and stand against all his wiles.
Don’t take off your armour of warfare or lay down your spiritual weapons until the very end, when you receive your crown of righteousness as an overcomer (2 Tim. 4:7-8, Rev. 21:7).
Heed Peter’s admonition.
1 Peter 5:
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (NKJV).
Be careful also to heed Paul’s admonition.
Ephesians 6:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (NKJV).
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing to me these basic truths about spiritual warfare. I refuse to fight in spiritual warfare for victory but in victory to appropriate, enforce, enjoy, and demonstrate to the world the victory that my Lord Jesus Christ has already won for me through His death and resurrection, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
