"Spiritual Warfare and the Christian's Victory" In
Scripture Readings:
Ephesians 6:10-18 and I Thessalonians 2:18
1. You MUST put on the whole Armor of God - v. 11
It is so essential that we have all pieces in place (read following
verse which lists the pieces of the armor). It is the piece of the
armor that you are missing that will be the door the enemy (the
devil) will use to get to you, so make sure you have all the
armor on.
2. You MUST understand your warfare is not a natural warfare,
but a spiritual one against the devil and his forces
(principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness).
- v. 11,13 Spiritual warfare must be fought with spiritual armor.
(v. 13-18) Natural weapons won't cut it here!
3. You MUST understand that spiritual armor must be
accompanied with PRAYER and SUPPLICATION.
"Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit...." - v. 18
I have had many opportunities to put these three keys into practice as a Christian. During my life as a Christine, I have seen how important it is to have the whole armor on. I have also seen that this is a spiritual warfare, not a natural one. Though it may be manifested through coworkers, family members, strangers, etc., remember they are not the TRUE source of your problem, but it is the spiritual forces around them. I have also seen how important prayer is during spiritual warfare - your own prayer as well as other people praying for you.
Let's look at I Thessalonians. 2:18 - "Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again; but satan hindered us." I did not want to use this scripture, as I don't want people to think I'm glorifying the power of satan (which I'm not, he's defeated), or scare anyone with the thought that Paul said satan hindered him. What does "hindered" mean in this passage? In the Greek, it means, "placing an obstacle in one's path, detain, and hinder". Paul says satan did this to him. Yes, the same Paul who said, "we are more than conquerors..." (Romans 8:37) and "...God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ..." (II Corinthians. 2:14)
So what does "satan hindered" mean when it comes to our Christian life? It means satan may throw obstacles in our path, may even hold us back a bit, BUT he cannot ultimately stop us from the plan of God. Paul knew he had the victory in Jesus and that satan could put up a fight, but ultimately satan ALWAYS loses! Jesus is victorious, as are we, because we are children of God!
Remember, if you are going after God and all hell is breaking loose around you, then it is likely an indicator that you are NOW a threat to the kingdom of darkness. Don't quit now, but rejoice that you are growing in God and thus a greater threat to the devil!
NEVER forget you will "ALWAYS TRIUMPH IN CHRIST" and are "MORE THAN A CONQUEROR IN CHRIST"!
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