You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Your comments made our first day of considering challenges to Spiritual Warfare a true blessing. We will stay with Spiritual Warfare, and Percy has a question. As a reminder, you are being asked to play the part of Libby and share your thoughts on the challenges people are having. Please share your thoughts and check the comments throughout the day to see what others are saying to Percy.
Dear Libby,
I need your practical advice. As a believer I know that Satan and his negative forces cannot destroy me. Despite this knowledge though, when I think about spiritual warfare I almost always take a defensive posture (i.e., I mostly think about fighting off spiritual challenges). My observation of Jesus is that he lived his life on offense as well and I want to be more like Him. Do you have any suggestions on the keys to not only playing on defense but also on offense where spiritual warfare is concerned?
In Search of Offense,
Percy
Today’s Question:
What thoughts would you like to share with Percy?
March 16, 2017 at 9:19 am
Like good soldiers we must always be prepared for battle, ie,, be on the offense. How do we do this? The battle is spiritual not carnal. The Word of God in Ephesians 6 :13 commands us to put on the whole armour of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Vs 14-17 outline the armour in detail…In summary we must consistently. go before God daily by studying the word of God, prayer and supplication, the fruit of the spirit bearing evidence that we are His disciples. The word of God is Truth. We are only made righteous by accepting His shed blood to save us, He is the Prince of Peace. True Peace can only come through His salvation. Our faith must be in Him and not ourselves. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God which we must know to be able to proclaim loudly to the enemy and the world that the enemy is defeated because God;s Word reigns supreme over every wile of the devil.
March 16, 2017 at 11:34 am
Dear Percy,
What a challenging question! Armed with scripture, I will try my best to help you!. The best defense is a great offense. And the greatest offense is knowledge. GOD will do the rest. Many Christians close their eyes to spiritual warfare because they cannot see it. But we cannot see Jesus yet we believe in Him and Heaven. So lets arm ourselves with knowledge and equip ourselves for the battle the way Jesus taught us.
I see spiritual warfare through three (3) lenses:
1. Activity in the spiritual realm is constantly ongoing: The Lord opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant to see the host of God’s army (2 Kings 6:11-7). In the Book of Daniel the angel was delayed 21 days in answering Daniel’s prayer because the prince of Persia resisted him. He had to be assisted by Michael the archangel before he could get to Daniel (Daniel 10: 10-14). Just as GOD and HIS angels exist in the spiritual realm so do Satan and his demons – and the fight is ongoing. This is a winner take it all battle of epic proportions.
2. Activity in the spiritual realm may confront you directly: This is what happened to Job. He suffered many trials and tribulations, including loss of property, children, and health – because of his faithfulness he was later restored to greater health, material and spiritual prosperity.. The Bible gives us a clear view at what happened to Job in the spiritual realm – GOD looked upon Job as a righteous man but because Satan wanted to prove GOD wrong, Job was subjected to Satan’s attacks.
3. The flesh warring against the spirit: Most Christians can identify with this realm. Indeed for many of us the greatest battlefield is in the mind – how many times have we allowed sin to have dominion over us, knowing full well what we are doing is wrong? GOD warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door, that he should rule over it but Cain did not heed GOD’s voice leading him to kill his brother (Genesis 4: 4-10).
Yes my friend, arm yourself with knowledge – know the devil and his battle plans – you cannot confront what you do not know or understand. Put on the whole armor of GOD so you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Having done all, STAND. GOD will do the rest. GOD will guide and strengthen you through HIS Holy Spirit and send HIS angels’ army to help you (see Ephesians 6-10-18).
Yours in Christ.
Libby
March 16, 2017 at 3:08 pm
That was encouraging