Preparing yourself for spiritual warfare.
PART II
We know that the adversary is near when he raises doubts about God and suggests behavior that is not in keeping with God’s will for us.
- He has us hurry in making some important decision without our seeking the Holy Spirit for direction.
- He gets us worked up about issues and gets us seeing the worse-case scenario instead of seeking God’s direction.
- He inflates us with pride.
- He casts over us unfounded fear or depression.
- In our thinking he pushes things to an extreme so that they are out of balance
What to do when Satan attacks.
- Remember that God will give us victory as we look to Him for guidance.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLTse)
[13] The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
2) Immediately giving ourselves to God for victory.
James 4:7 (NLTse)
[7] So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
3) Resisting Satan’s attack by relying on the Lord and by saying no to the Devil.
1 Peter 5:8 (NLTse)
[8] Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. [9] Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
We cannot, firmly say no to the Devil until first we have said yes to Jesus. Only in the Lord’s strength can we successfully resist the enemy and refuse to submit to his evil suggestions and his relentless assaults.
4) Remembering and doing God’s will as it relates to our circumstances.
Ephesians 5:16 (NLTse)
[16] Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. [17] Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. [18] Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, [19] singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and making music to the Lord in your hearts. [20] And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
VICTORY IS ASSURED IF WE FOLLOW THE COURSE THAT LEADS TO IT. DEFEAT IS CERTAIN IF THE ENEMY FINDS US UNPREPARED AND UNWILLING TO FOLLOW THE STEPS GIVEN IN GOD’S WORD.
SATAN’S GAME
- Satan tempts us.
He seeks to gain our consent to his proposals that would lead us to act contrary to God’s will for us. This is mostly done by us reasoning the Word of God and not accepting it as absolute truth.
- Satan assaults us. His assault against God’s people are.
- Experiencing various losses
- Unfounded criticism
- Physical illness
- Hindrance to spiritual endeavor
- Depression
- He appeals to our lustful desires
- Brings back to our remembrance times of pain, strongholds and feelings of “not being good enough.”
- Uses Deception of teachers
- Uses deception of appearance
TIME OF APPROACH:
While the Devil may attack anytime, He will usually wait until a time when we are off balance. This is usually caused by;
- Lack of study time (the dog you feed, flesh vs. the spirit will be the strongest, remember in a fight between your will and imagination, imagination will always win).
- Lack of Sleep
- Lack of exercising your body
- Lack of eating right
- Lack of me time
- When we are spending too much time alone.
- What do we do when Satan attacks?
- Remember that our victory is in Jesus and remembering who you are in the kingdom of God.
- Remember His promises and do His commands.
- Surround yourself with the Body of Christ (power source).
- A) make sure that they are strong in the Lord and can encourage you in love and not judge you with their own sinful thoughts.
- Saying no to Satan’s temptations and relying on God’s Word and doing things His way no matter what emotions you are feeling.
- Do not try to rationalize God’s commands through your intellect, just obey it!
It is important to understand that putting on the whole armor of God is not like putting on an imaginary coat. Putting on the whole armor of God is an action word, a command. It is something we do which in turn will put on the spiritual armor on the spirit man needed to fight our adversary.
Putting on this armor is a
- State of mind,
- A determination of your will,
- And persistence in your behavior.
To put on is an action word, and just as you put the armor on you can take it off!
Don’t fall into the trap of the Deception of Passivity.
God did not create robots, His desire is to make you free from the power of sin, intelligent to make sound decisions for we have the mind of Christ, a thinking, rational, renewed creation, created after in His own image. God never told men “be thou idle.” God requires cooperation with His Spirit and the full use of every faculty of the whole man.
Practice, practice, practice the right behavior (based on God’s Word). Use your imagination to see yourself enacting correct actions in the area that you seem to struggle with. Don’t give yourself excuses but be determined to do EVERYTHING that you have learned from God’s Word!
Remember Satan can’t read your mind, but he knows your history. Every area of insecurity, every hot button, every stronghold, every area where your faith is weak, even the areas where you think you have it all together and have a tendency to push God out of those areas.
Remember, nothing is impossible to those who are the children of the most high God! Depend on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you, and ALWAYS work on the process of renewing your mind to conform to God’s Word.