I’ve been doing an extensive study lately, on Spiritual Warfare, and I wish to share it broken up into a couple articles. Personally, it’s an intriguing topic to me, because the longer I run this race, the more I see Satan at work in this world. His hand is to the plough as we speak, and he’s relentless in his efforts to ultimately destroy the saint of God. We must not fear the devil, but we must be aware of his efforts to wreck our life any way he can. The late C.S. Lewis wrote, “Christians often make two critical errors when it comes to the devil: We either ignore him altogether, as if he’s a figment of our imagination. Or, we become obsessed with him, looking for a devil behind every door. Both are a mistake, and can lead to an imbalanced life. We must stay grounded in the Word of God, and simply proclaim what the Word of God say’s, and take heed to the warnings it gives us on the matter.

I’ve spent about a week on this topic, and something I wish to covey to us upfront is, Spiritual Warfare has a strong synonymous parallel to the life of Holiness and Sanctification to the Saint of God. I believe those who whole heartedly consecrate themselves to living for God has a keen sense of warfare taking place all around us. Why is this? In my personal opinion, I believe those who live an apathetic ho-hum walk with God are desensitized to the warfare taking place. When we walk in carnality, it puts scales over our eyes, and dulls our spiritual discernment, thus we walk around oblivious to the war going on in the spiritual realm. On the other hand, when we walk in the Spirit of God, and fully dedicate our life to the cause of Jesus Christ, we are sensitive to our surroundings; we are able to discern what’s taking place between the rulers of darkness and the people on this earth. This is why satan unleashes an all out attack on those who choose to live a life of holiness and separation from this godless society. We jump onto the devil’s radar, and become public enemy #1 to the forces of hell. Satan hates holiness, and he hates obedience. He hates worship, and he hates when we praise God. He hates when we live a life of spiritual discipline. It’s no coincidence the first thing Jesus encountered after fasting in the wilderness, was temptation from Satan himself. It’s no coincidence that in the midst of the godless paganistic worship going on, Daniel set himself to prayer and fasting, and he went up against the prince of the Kingdom of Persia, which was a spiritual force against God’s people. The point I wish to make is, if you plan to live a life for God with all your heart-mind-strength, you better plan to experience Spiritual Warfare.

Now, I’m not saying we should live in fear of the devil, for God hath not given us a spirit of fear;  but, I am saying we need to acknowledge the reality of his existence, and to watch for his schemes in our life. Peter lets us in on some insight of how the devil operates: 

 

1 Peter 5:8_(KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

 

Peter tells us to “Watch” and “Be on our guard” for the devil, because he roams about the earth stalking us like a lion. A lion is one of the most ferocious beasts on earth, and its hunting skills are unprecedented. A lion stalks its prey, and is very patient and methodical. It will often attack the weak and feeble, perhaps wounded animals unable to ward off the king of the jungle. The devil doesn’t fight fair, plain and simple. He stalks us, studying our every move. Here is why there is such a parallel to Holiness and Warfare: Satan wishes to attack us where we are the weakest, and expose the places in our life that we struggle with the most. If you don’t know this by now: our Humanity is our weak point in life. The old inherent flesh we were born with is the weakest thing in us, and the devil wants to attack us there, he even wishes to team up with our flesh and wreck our lives. This is why he is called the Tempter, he temps us with the enticement to please our flesh. This is why WE MUST have a daily prayer life and a daily walk with God. We must crucify the flesh daily, and walk and be led by the Spirit. We must allow God’s Word to be hid in our heart, and allow it to illuminate our path, and guide our footsteps. 

 

In essence, we have two enemies we must contend with and watch for: The flesh, and of course the devil. This is why Peter tells us: 

 

I Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

 

This is our second enemy, the flesh! Peter is telling us, anything that is contrary to the Word of God and Will of God is at war with our soul. This is why the pursuit of Holiness and dedication to God is heavily attacked, because the devil wants us to walk in our fleshly driven nature. Paul tells us in Galatians, the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. THIS IS WHY WE MUST WALK IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH, AND ALLOW THE HOLY GHOST INSIDE OF US TO LEAD US AND GUIDE US. That’s why Paul said, ”I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” So up to this point, we must understand Spiritual Warfare is a reality: There is an enemy to our soul, and it’s twofold! The flesh is as much an enemy to the Spirit filled Saint of God, as the devil is, so we must be on guard for both. Again, this is why it’s critical we live in a constant pursuit of Holiness.

The Lord is coming soon, and there is a great divide: I believe the Warfare taking place is separating the wheat from the chaff, and it’s essential we stay on our guard: It’s time to man up and prepare ourselves for Spiritual Warfare! 

In part II, I will discuss where satans base for attack is: THE MIND!

God bless, JDS