When I got saved, I thought I’d spend my life walking beside still waters and lying down in green pastures. I had no idea embracing Jesus as the captain of my salvation meant I was enlisting as a soldier in the army of God.
I’ve since learned that believers are soldiers and Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword. I’ve discovered that I’m more than a conqueror in Christ, which also tells me ungodly and unseen forces are trying to conquer me.
Keep this truth in mind: the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. (John 10:10).
Every demon has the same mission. How they go about it—their strategies and tactics—are different. A spirit of fear attacks your faith, for example, while a spirit of rejection attacks your identity. Satan is strategic. His army is highly organized, and he is sending specific spirits against believers to derail them from their kingdom purpose.
My prayer is that you will gain discernment to identify spirits opposing your life—and the lives of those you love—and develop spiritual skills to battle back. Spiritual bondage can manifest in many ways, but the good news is that victory can be ours. By walking in our God-given authority, we can effectively do battle and win in warfare.
I am in a war. This was a strong revelation I received many years ago that the unseen realm is raging with spiritual enemies that intend to kill, steal, and destroy my life.
Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 not to be ignorant of the devil’s strategies. We need to know our enemy, know our God, and know who we are in Him—but we also need to equip ourselves with revelation on how to defeat the enemy of our souls.
If you ignore the devil, the warfare doesn’t stop. If you focus solely on Jesus, it does not make you immune from warfare. Yes, we should absolutely be more God-focused than demon-focused. However, if Paul the apostle wrestled principalities and powers, who are we to think ignoring this reality will stop demonic attacks?
Havoc on the earth—sickness, disease, murders, immorality, and the like—is not God’s will. Jesus spoiled the principalities and powers. But the word spoiled doesn’t mean “neutered and made powerless.” Jesus plundered the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness and all the principalities and powers that call it home lost authority over the born-again believer. But we still must enforce the kingdom rule of law on earth.
HOW DO WE DO IT- WHAT WEAPONS DO WE HAVE?
Let’s start by looking what weapons we have to fight with.
2. THE WEAPONS OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
The Christian walks by faith, not by sight. Therefore, the weapons of spiritual warfare must be known, recognized, understood, and appropriated, that is, taken possession of. The Holy Spirit places great importance upon them. The weapons of warfare are as follows:
1) The Gospel -this is the greatest weapon of spiritual warfare because it, alone, when accepted by the unbeliever, transfers that person from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. (John 12:46; Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thess.5:5; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 1:6,7)
2) The Blood of Jesus– Satan’s defeat. (Rev. 12:11; 1 John 1:6,7)
3) Faith-which empowers prayer. (Heb 11: 1; Ephesians 6:12; Rev. 12:11; James 1: 6,7)
4) Your faith confession (the shield of faith)- these are your faith-filled words, spoken aloud from the applied Word of God, over another person, self, or circumstances. (Mark 11:23, 24; Proverbs 18:21; Ephesians 6:16; Rev. 12:11)
5) Prayer– (Matthew 7:7; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5: 14; Mark 11:23, 24; Proverbs 23:7; Proverbs 18:21)
6) The Believer’s Authority -see previous section.
7) The full Armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17)
8) The Word of God (James 4:7; Matthew 4: 1 -11)
9) Binding and Loosing prayer (Matthew 16:19; Matthew 12:29)
10) Agreeing (Matthew 16:17, 18) and decreeing (Job 22:28) in the Name of Jesus (Luke 10:17)
We began to see who we are, and the authority and power God has given us through the cross of Christ. The Lord has not left us unequipped for this battle. He has given us all we need to take our place in the fight and be victorious against our foe. As Christians, we are called to wage war against the enemy whether we see ourselves as spiritual warriors or not. In any battle with an enemy, one should always seek to know his enemy. Knowing the enemy’s plans and schemes will help us to overcome him.
If we are to fulfil the Great Commission to preach the Gospel to the world and make disciples of all nations, we will have opposition. Although there are different gifts and callings in the Body of Christ, all believers in Christ have been drafted to fight in this cosmic conflict and called to be overcomers. We all have a part to play in this cosmic drama.
We, the Church, have been given spiritual weapons. These weapons are not guns and bombs, swords, and pistols; they are not weapons of the world. We cannot fight a spiritual war against unseen spiritual beings with weapons of this world. Our weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds or fortifications of the enemy. Paul the apostle wrote about the Christian advancing on enemy fortifications from where the slaves of the evil one is firmly entrenched. The ramparts of sin and error must be pulled down. Every knee shall bow to our God!