Spiritual Warfare
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8)
As I learn more and more about who God is and living my life as a Christian, I have also learned about our enemy. Many do not like to talk about or think about the enemy, but I find by not talking about him means we are afraid and that's exactly what the enemy wants. The enemy likes to put fear in our hearts. By not knowing about our enemy, we are not aware of how he works and may fall into his traps. As Christians, the enemy does not like us. He despises our relationship with God and will do anything to try to break that relationship or break our spirit by filling our minds and hearts with temptation, bad thoughts, anxiety, fear. He works through our insecruities, and tries anything he can in his power to make us feel worthless or sad. He works through our fleshy wants and desires, dangles the diamond in our faces and tempts us with the earthly things that our flesh wants, but that will kill our soul. He wants us to try to obtain our wants ourselves, get us to think that we know what is right for us and wants us to take matters into our own hands rather than go to God and listen to him for the answers. The enemy knows that when God says no, because only God knows what is best for us, we are more vulnerable because as humans we may feel dissapointed or feel as if God has forsaken us, especially when we don't get what we want (money, career advancement, fancy things) The enemy tries to give us the promises of our wants. This is spiritual warfare. The true fight against good and evil and the soldiers in this war is us. We live in the world that God sent the devil to and he is looking for who he can test and go with him instead of going to God. The evil one doesn't just attack, he comes to us with strategies and we must be prepared and know we cannot do this alone.
Lately, I feel like the enemy has been tempting me. I know it's the enemy because God does not tempt his children or put them through bad trials. (James 1:13) God does not tempt you. "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
The enemy has tried to constantly bring up things from my past life. My chains were broken and he has tried to constantly put them back on by working through my emotional insecurities, making me doubt the journey I know God put me on. He even has been in my dreams and tried to make me fearful through nightmares. He has tried to use the very people I love and try to have them put me down, make me feel guilty or cause pain and anger in their minds when God is trying to soften their hearts. He has tried to put thoughts in my mind of anger and doubt and make me forget about what I have learned under Christ. He is real and will try to "devour" anyone he can.
So during this time, instead of trying to take care of things myself or let my past that the evil one wants to remind me of to bring me down, I turned to to the word of God and put trust that God is protecting me. This is the answser God gave me.
The Armor of God
(Ephisians 10:20 ) 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God,so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvationand the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
So, in my search to God for an answser on fighting this battle of spiritual warfare, this is what I've learned from many teachings (Creflo Dollar, Derek Worthington at Trinity Grace Church, Joyce Meyer) and of course the bible.
Know that we cannot fight evil alone and when in combat we need to put on the "full armor of God. We can only win the battle, through God's grace. The devil has no offense to a child of God who knows how to submit to the power of Grace. (John 1:17) Jesus has already secured victory for you. He opened up the door and gave you access to God’s great grace. You must be willing and humble to submit yourself to God. If you submit, you will resist the enemy and he will fleet from you.
We are defeated when we fight the battle with our own efforts or have concerns about our performance (This is happening because I didn't go to church enough, or I don't have a good relationship with God, I didn't pray enough) This is living by law and not by Grace. The law is about our own efforts which we no longer live by. The evil one wants us to feel guilty and blame ourselves. The 10 commandments are the ministry of death and we must divorce the law. The law is you working for God, Grace what God did for us.
Meditate on this truth until you develop full trust and confidence in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Draw your strength from Him. Through your union with Him, you’ll remain strong, firm, and unmovable in the midst of every challenge and battle you’ll ever confront in life. (Creflo Dollar) (John 16:33) “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”
Learn where temptation comes from and know how to build a relationship with God so you know when he is speaking to you and not the evil one. The evil one will try to impersonate God to make us angry at him.
Accept that testing and suffering are common to all who follow Christ. It's not just you, you are not alone.
Have confidence as God's child that you are not worthless, God does not hold any good things back from us, your sins are forgiven, and never lose faith / trust. When we fall, God forgives and always wants us to come home. When we lose faith, trust and doubt God, you have already lost the battle. Always turn to the word of God to find peace
