Spiritual Warfare

Lord Father God in Jesus name thankyou that you are a mighty God , able to

do more than we can ever imagine, it is you who flung stars into space and

created every breathing thing, it is you who wins battles and slings down

every argument, it is you who defeats the giant and slays the enemy.

Father God we come to you now and we commit this time to you and as we come to

your word and we take a glimpse at " spiritual warfare " we pray for your

protection over this site, for your protection over our families, for your

protection over us and pray the blood of Jesus cover us as a shield of

salvation.

Lord we pray for protection as we speak of things that we find hard

to comprehend and that we do not always understand, we give this time to you

and we bow before you.

You are our commander and we wait for the battle cry and we listen for you to

give the commands, we look now to your word and pray speak into hearts and

lifes through your Holy Spirit in Jesus name amen.

2 Timothy 2:3-4

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No one serving

as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his

commanding officer.

God's armor brings victory because it is far more than a protective covering.

It is the very life of Jesus Christ Himself. "Put on the armor of light,"

wrote Paul in his letter to the Romans, "...clothe yourselves with the Lord

Jesus Christ." Romans 13:12-14

And so we have looked at David the Psalmist and how David talked to God and how

God spoke back to David, we have seen that there was a relationship and we see

that David was a man after Gods own heart.

As David sought after Gods heart..God answered and saved him , time and time

again, because salvation is an ongoing thing, we are continuing to be saved.

As David lifted up his eyes to the hills, as David looked to the God who could

save Him , so God answered and delivered him from his enemies.

Here is David the King and the leader of the armies.

Here is David the King put into the place where God had put him and in all

things there is an order, but we shall look into this later on.

David being in battle would have on his helmet at all times, he would have

his armour on at all times, it would be unheard of to take off your armour

while engaged in battle, while out on the battle field, while in the enemy

camp, incidently in the spiritual you do not have to go out and search for the

enemy camp...the enemy camp is all around you.

But stronger is He that is in your than he that is in the world.

Here David the King would have on his helmet that saved him from death, his

helmet that insured security and protection, his helmet that protected him

from all the slings and arrows and attacks of the enemy.

And here in psalm 3 David is crying out to God for salvation from his enemies.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit”, says the Lord Almighty-“You

will succeed because of my Spirit, though you are few and weak”.

Zechariah 4:6

You see when David as a young lad he took the stones and his sling and defeated

the philistine giant, it was not through Davids strength, it was not through

how large the stone was or how well David happened to aim, this was done in the

Spiritual realm.

The battle has already been won in the spiritual, the enemy is defeated , but

the war still wages on in the physical, as we looked last month at God being at

the beginning of time and the ending of time we begin to catch a glimpse of the

eternal God who is before in and after all things.

THE SPIRITUAL IS FAR BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN THE PHYSICAL

We have looked at how david had a relationship with God and how he spoke to God

and how God spoke back and how it went further to God speaking through David

and this is basically it, ...

as we go on in a relationship with God and go deeper

and closer into God ...God will begin to speak through us as well as to us in

many ways and I am not just talking about the prophetic here.

God can use us in many and a variety of different ways, even when we do not even

realise it.

And so here we have David as a young lad being chosen by God to be the future

King, here we have a young lad who many would who passed by.

Many would not have chosen david, david would have been the last choice.

Saul had fallen and God chooses another future King and uses samuel to anoint

David,out of all the fine brothers, God chooses David ?

And so we come to the story of Goliath and the armies and the King.

1 Samuel 17:38

Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his

head, and he clothed him with armor.

You see here was a young lad with the Kings armour on and can you imagine it ?

A helmet that was far too big, armour that hung loosely, could he manage the

sword ? could he lift the shield ?

You see there are some types of warfare that we should not enter into.

We are not meant to enter into a battle that belongs to the Lord.

There is an order of things in the spiritual !!

As a soldier you must know what you can and cannot do, you must be trained as

a soldier, you must know your boundaries, you must always use caution, you must

always use wisdom, you must always enter into battle ( as mentioned in

previous studies ) using the fruit with the gifts and the armour.

You see the battle was the Lords here, THE SPIRITUAL IS FAR STRONGER THAN THE

PHYSICAL.

Here we have the Giant Goliath, far stronger , far bigger, and here David takes

off the armour and uses a sling and a stone,

You see the battle is already won in the spiritual but is still continuing in

the spiritual, the same as God can see you now as you will be, but can see you

now as you are.

The battle in fact was won at the beginning of time, but is fought throughout

time and will come to completion at the end of time.

When you are in glory ...there will be NO MORE ENEMY

The stone was rolled away from the tomb by an angel !!

Angels are far stronger than us !!

A stone struck the head of the philistine giant and he fell !!

So too the giant Goliath was defeated by the spiritual, those angels that war

against principalities and powers in the unseen world.

Now to Psalm 3 and 4

And we shall just read from Psalm 3

Psalm 3 (Amplified Bible)

1 LORD, HOW they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up

against me.

2 Many are saying of me, There is no help for him in God. Selah [pause, and

calmly think of that]!

3But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4 With my voice I cry to the Lord, and He hears and answers me out of His holy

hill. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

5 I lay down and slept; I wakened again, for the Lord sustains me.

6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves

against me round about.

7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the

cheek; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; May Your blessing be upon Your people. Selah

[pause, and calmly think of that]!

For more detail into this battle look at 2 Samuel 15-18

(New International Version)

Once again in Psalm 3, David cries out to God to rescue him as he is surrounded

by more than ten thousand enemies, these were his own men, Davids own men were

rebelling and who was the leader of this rebellion ?

Davids own son...Absalom

But they were not rebelling against David but against God who had placed David

in the position of King.

Here in the spiritual war was being fought, the enemy had planned, the enemy,

was behind this, and a war was in progress, often we will find the ones closest to

us being the spear head used by the enemy.

Well we have the armour of God as Christians ..this is a fact...you hear of

people putting on the armour of God each day to remind themselves of the armour

, but in fact this armour never comes off.

Don't forget the enemy hates you with a vengeance and he will destroy you if

he had the chance, he would have no pity.

And so we have the armour and we use the armour ?

We have the gifts and we use the gifts ?

We have the fruit and we use the fruit ?

We use the armour with fruit as we use the gifts !!

We use the gifts producing fruit as we use the armour !!

All work together...

We do not want to be clanging cymbals ..do we ?

So lets look firstly at the spiritual warfare that we fight as soldiers with

the commanding offficer ..

and then we shall look at the " spiritual warfare " that is Gods alone !!

You see there is an order here..

Here in Psalm 3 is David the King with his followers, surrounded by more than

ten thousand men who had rebelled against him, His own son had led the

rebellion against him, here in psalm 3, it looks like David had come to an end.

He is surrounded and cut off, all seems to be against him, many would have

rumoured Davids end and fall and the mutterings in the enemy camp would have

been of Davids downfall and how maybe he had done something to deserve this.

So here is david and all kinds of thoughts might have entered his head at

this time , you know we may have many thoughts go through our heads in the space

of 24 hours and it would be impossible to take every thought and line it up with

Gods word and to take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.

But when we are made aware of an occuring thought !!

When we are aware that we are entertaining a thought !!

When we are aware that this thought may not be right or may bring fear into

our lifes THEN we take that thought before it has a chance to take root.

We line that thought up with Gods word and we say " what does Gods word say

about this ? we take that thougth captive and we bring it to Christ and we see

it in the light of the word of God and expose it for what it is.

The enemy will whisper all kinds of things and we can decide not to listen, but

now and then we realise that we are entertaining a thought or we are letting

that thought pattern affect our lifes, this is part of spiritual warfare..when

we take that captive and allow God to shed His light on it.

It is so easy as Gods children when the chips are down to blame God, it is so

easy when things go wrong and all seems to be against us to want to take

vengeance, it is so easy when it feels like everything is against us and we

seem to be on our own, when even the people we thought were our friends seem to

desert us.....to want to retaliate, to want to strike out.

There may well be times when those we thought were for us turn against us and

many may follow the person who has wronged us, but you see God is a God of

Justice.

Here we see david in the midst of adversity...in the midst of calamity, in the

midst of disaster.

Many Christians quote a verse..." If God is for us...who can be against us ? "

You know many see that as saying, " Nothing can be against us "

But that scripture is a question, this scripture is to be answered......

It does NOT mean that nothing can be against us, it does not mean that we can

sit down and leave it all in Gods hands and what ever will be will be, it does

not mean that nothing will come against us.

In fact when God really starts to use us, when God really starts to move in our

lifes and those around us, there will be a time when it will seem that

everything is against us, when we feel isolated and cut off.

We may suddenly find ourselves under attack and that attack can come through

the spiritual realm and into the physical, it can be a direct attack, it can be

an attack through others often closest to us,

An army does not sit down and relax and take it easy while the enemy creeps up

from behind.

We are to be ever ready and ever alert, always ready to fight and to be ready

to defend.

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31-32 NIV

This is the moment in time when you are surrounded by your enemies as was

David when you can use this verse, this is the time when you can say " I am

surrounded by enemies, BUT if God is for me ? because this is the time when you

are totally and completely dependent upon God.

This is when God steps in, you see it was no good coming up against the

philistine Giant with the armour...that was Gods war.

It was no good coming up against the enemies that surrounded david at this time

with the armour and the sword.

You see some Christians have great interest in principalities and powers and

seem to be fascinated with satan and satanic forces and seem to read books and

have a vast knowledge about this subject...it is sometimes as though they are

actually worshipping these things rather than God.

It is when we take our eyes off God and place satan on center stage that we may

well have problems.

I have known of people praying against satanic forces over countries, over

nations, over continents, over regions, states, over buildings, ....

You see it is one thing to use the armour as a Christian and to wait for people

to come out of the enemy camp and start to walk towrads you, then the commanding

general may well use you to bring that person to salvation,

Jesus Himself healed many, restored and delivered people, cast out demons, ....

BUT even Jesus himself when faced with the temptations in the wilderness never

bound satan or cast him away.

Even God himself talked with satan in the book of job...

You see there is an order in things of the spiritual realm, yes use wisdom and

boldness and see the demons run at the name of Jesus and see people being

delivered and healed, and use the spiritual gifts and use the armour.

BUT there is an hierarchy in the spiritual realm, you have satan as the ruler

of the air, you have the mighty angelic beings who are with him, who were with

him from the beginning when he was in the very prescence of God as the leader

of heavens orchestra.

Satan was and is a very intelligent being/person, satan copies and countefeit

God, he cannot create as he himself was created by God and is unable to create

anything, but he copies God.

When satan was thrown down onto the earth, many high ranking angelic beings

followed satan,...these high ranking officers of darkness rule over regions and

areas, they rule over nations and powers, they are permitted by God to stay and

they continue to do what they do becasue God allows it.

At the head is satan, then the principalitis and powers of darkness that rule

and reign, then we have the lesser ranking legions of soldiers...demons.

It would have been foolish for david to launch an attack on army officers,

indeed even more foolish to attempt to attack the leader of the armies.

If david had done this he would have had the full force of Absaloms armies

attacking him

I would advice any one seeking to do spiritual warfare in the spiritual realm

not to launch an attack on these high ranking officers and rulers, for a start

you are not only attracting attention to yourself but to those around you, you

could indeed come under great attack yourself.

THE SPIRITUAL IS FAR GREATER THAN THE PHYSICAL

I would say that this area of spiritual warfare is for God and for God alone

Lets say you someone prays against these spiritual forces saying that God had

instructed them to do so ? and lest say these spiritaul forces in the

heavenlies actually move on ? what have you done ? have you ceased the activity

of the armies of darkness ?

Have you actually destroyed these powers that God allows to rule ?

No...you have not......you have simply moved them on ...somewhere else...

This kind of spiritual warfare ( I believe ) is for God alone, and at these

times we simply get the sling and the stone and we see the enemies works

defeated not by our efforts nor by our might, but by the stone that was rolled

away from the entrance to the tomb of Jesus Christ by an angel....it is His

blood and His testimony and His place and His place alone to come against the

enemies forces.

Michael the great arch angel of the heavenly realms who leads heavens armies

deals many blows to the enemy camp and we see this in Pauls life and in the

lifes of the disciples, we see many coming to faith, many being healed, many

being saved , many being restored.

As the disciples moved in the power of The Holy Spirit, BUT ultimatley there

where times when only God alone and Michael and the heavenly armies were to

fight and the battle belonged to the Lord in these situations when mere man was

defensless.

So what am I saying here ?

I am saying we have been given authority and we have been given power in

Jesus name to go with the armour and the gifts and the fruit and we can see the

miraculous happen.

But we must use wisdom when facing a situation that is beyond our capabilities,

because in the heavenlies there is an order, and I would advice against

attacking/praying against principalites and powers that rule over nations and

countries, unless you are prepared to have the full force of the enemy armies

launching a counter attack on your very life.

This is not make believe here, this is not fairy story land, this is not

something I am making up......this is real life stuff, this is life and death,

this is the stuff that effects lifes and families.

So what do we do ? what can we do as Christians ? how can we attack ? how can

we defend ?

How can we safe ourselves ?

You see David knew that in this situation he was helpless and the battle was

the Lords.

So what does David do ? he uses his armour !!

He says in psalm 3.......2 Many are saying of me,"God will not deliver him."

3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up

my head

6I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against

me round about.

7 Arise, O LORD!Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

break the teeth of the wicked.

8 From the LORD comes deliverance.

Here david is using scripture, he uses his armour,he says " you are a shield

around me "

Here David knows the scripture and uses it and uses his armour and see's that

his situation is out of his control and there is no one that can save him except

his God.

This is when he could say " If God is for me..who can be against me "

David realises what is going on here when faced by thousands upon thousands of

enemy forces and says "

7 Arise, O LORD!Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

break the teeth of the wicked. "

You see satan has lost his teeth, his power over life and death has been taken

away, Jesus holds the keys to death and to life, no longer can satan keep people

in chains of fear and oppression, no longer can the enemy have control that was

taken from adam and eve at the fall

Now God in Jesus has the victory and control and power and now Jesus has taken

back that authority over the earth that was taken from Adam and Eve, Jesus gives

it back to us again and we in turn hand it over to God.

We must realise where our boundaries are in spiritual warfare...

We must like David use wisdom, use that which is given to us, but in the end

realise that there are far greater powers at work that we as humans cannot

control, we must hand over to God those things which only God can do.

You see a Christian can cast out demons in Jesus name becasue this is God working

through a Christian, a Christian who has Christ in them can pray for healing and

see a person healed, we have this authority, we can rage war in the heavenlies,

And we do every time we pray, we rage wars in the heavenlies every time we

step out in faith and every time God uses us we create warfare unseen as it may

be,

But to wage war against higher principalities is not only dangerous but fool

hardy, we can wage war against the troops who seek to find bodies and camp in

humans, we can wage war against soldiers who seek to bring sickness and disease.

But to wage war against higher rulers and principalities that govern nations and

leaders and areas and certain boundaries is not for us, these things belong to God

and to God alone, for it is God who allows these dark forces to be active and to

govern, and it is God who gives permission and who rules over all not us.

2 Samuel 18...

Here we see that God came to Davids rescue and on that day 20,000 enemy soldiers

were slaughtered, these mighty soldiers who stood with absalom in the rebellion

fought in the forest of Ephraim and the forest claimed more enemy lifes that day than

the fighting.

Here we see Absalom's men defeated by the servants of David, and Absalom himself got

caught between the fork of a tree and hung there and then he was killed.

And so Davids life was spared and david was delivered and saved from his enemies.

We see time and time again in scripture that battles were not fought by number

nor by power, but we see that great battles in the spiritual are fought by

people who simply cry out to God and humble themselves and seek His face.

For the battle belongs to the Lord

Lets pray.

Lord God mighty saviour and deliverer of nations and peoples in Jesus name we

come to you and thankyou for the protection you give us as a sheild encircling

us with light.

You surely are the lifter of our heads and the great protector and comforter,

give us wisdom Lord as David when facing trials and tribulations, give us wisdom

to stand in this day and age and above all to stand in you having the knowledge

that the battle is in your hands.

Lord we use what you have given us, we use the authority you have given us, we

work as a team of soldiers ever ready to fight and to work alongside each other

knowing that we must never go out alone but always to listen to your instructions.

You Lord God are our commanding officer and we wait for you to deliver us from

trials and from the battle that we might face, we wait for you and in your time

we will go.

Lord Commander in chief of all that breathes and moves and has its being we

give our lifes to you and we go out in your name having been given authority to

stand and to fight, but to know our boundaries and our position that you have

given us in Jesus mighty name amen.