Spiritually speaking, we are in a war, but what are we fighting for? Who and what are we fighting against? Where do the battles take place when fighting this war? These are questions we all must answer for ourselves if we are to have any chance of victory.
First of all, people are not our enemy. I know it can seem so at times. People will inevitably come against us, but they are being motivated and used by spiritual beings and forces that can’t normally be seen with the human eye. Our battle is spiritual. Spiritual warfare is not a conflict between men but warfare against a spiritual realm that relentlessly influences the thoughts and values of mankind. There are unseen spiritual beings and spiritual forces on Earth that are determined to persuade men to think and believe anything other than the truth.
Satan and all of the evil spirits that are under his control fight against people to prevent them from accepting Jesus as their savior and Lord. If he loses that battle, he then shifts his focus to fighting against the discovery of who we are in Christ Jesus. He attacks our identity. Our mind is where the battles take place, and our souls (mind, will, and emotions) are Satan’s target.
He can’t gain governance of our souls in a fair fight, and he knows it. He has already been defeated. So, he must use deception, distractions, and subtle manipulation to trick us into handing over our souls willingly. History tells us that he has been very successful in this tactic.
We mature as Christians only to the level that our identity is understood and our souls are sanctified. Satan works overtime to prevent that from happening. Our soul is his ultimate target because the condition of our soul determines the source of our identity.
If the devil can shake us in our faith, he can make us question and even doubt our identity. He tries to keep us at a certain level of immaturity to prevent us from ever discovering who we are in Christ. It requires a developed faith to maintain our identity. However, even mature Saints can be deceived into letting go of their convictions and dropping their shield of faith. When faith is weak, our strength is small.
Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.
Faith is not a tool for us to get our needs met, our bodies healed, our bank accounts full, or bail us out of trouble. Faith is a perspective. It is a very narrow way of seeing, thinking, believing, behaving, and speaking. It is impossible to please God without this perspective.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Our primary call, once we are born again, is to be renewed in our minds and sanctified in our souls. Our spiritual growth and progress depend on our soul’s sanctification. We are triune beings created in the image of God. We are a spirit. We have a soul, and we dwell in a physical body. The soul (mind, will, and emotions) is the seat of authority in our three-part being. It makes up our personality and is the seat of our God given sovereignty. Our ability to say”NO’ to the One who created us proves that we are sovereign.
Man was designed by God to be completely governed by the spirit, not the soul. When man ate of the tree, sin entered the world, and man then became governed by his soul. God gives us the Holy Spirit at the new birth, re-creating our fallen spirits, so that when we submit our souls completely, we can return to His original design. The soul always has, and will always have, the final say over our spirit and body. This is why we must cast the crown of our sovereignty at God’s feet and say, “not my will, but yours be done.” As our soul goes, so does our walk with Christ.
The Holy Spirit will not force or coerce us into submission. He will patiently wait until we choose to submit our souls willingly. This does not happen at a single point in time but must be surrendered daily.
Without a sanctified and submitted soul, we will never fully understand our true identity and will not be able to fulfill all that God has called us to do and become. This is why our spiritual growth and progress must be our top priority.
The sanctification of our soul is not simply an academic process where we study and acquire knowledge. Sanctification is about transformation, and this is a lifelong pursuit. Sanctification isq pursued in the confines of communion and intimacy with the Father. Intimacy is the greatest catalyst for discovering our identity and facilitating our transformation. Satan hates it when we discover that we can have intimacy with God. He fears it, he hates it, and he will send every distraction available to keep us from intimacy with our Father.
Think of the impact of having a soul completely submitted to the voice and direction of the Holy Spirit. A soul living in constant communion and awareness of God’s indwelling presence. At this point, the soul will cease to be only a battlefield and become fertile ground where divine thoughts and supernatural creativity can flourish. A place where obedience becomes our joy, and rivers of living water pour forth from us and impact the world around us for God’s glory.
This will not happen without severe resistance. We will still experience conflict and confrontation. Even the most dedicated Saints will face times when old thoughts try to infiltrate as Satan tries to reclaim space in our soul.
Old thought patterns and memories can have roots that are entangled with the enemy’s lies. These are the strongholds that 2 Corinthians speaks of.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
The issue is not just recognizing these thoughts for what they are, but knowing what to do with them when they come. Make no mistake, they are coming! When a contrary thought resists the Holy Spirit, we quickly realize that we can’t fight it in our own strength, nor can we ignore it until it goes away. We need to remember that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual. We cannot win this battle with willpower, human strategies, or worldly philosophy.
The enemy’s weapons are lies and deception. Our weapons are truth and righteousness.
So, let’s break this statement down from the book of Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:10-17 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
If you notice, the truth is to be girded about our loins. Why does it use the analogy of loins instead of the mind? Because the loins contain the reproductive organs. Words and thoughts are seeds. Our minds are the soil where thoughts take root and reproduce after their kind.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We must not sit by passively and allow Satan to sow seeds of doubt and unbelief in our minds. If we do, we will soon water and fertilize those thoughts by meditating on them and speaking about them. When we give voice to Satan’s evil thoughts, we reveal that we have accepted them, showing him our weakness. He then proceeds to water and cultivate those with more thoughts, eventually building a stronghold he can hide behind and wage war against our souls.
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Whatever gets planted in our minds has the ability to reproduce if we feed and water it with similar thoughts. This is why we must have constant exposure to the written word. God’s thoughts and ideas can choke out and destroy evil thoughts and tear down enemy strongholds.
1 Peter 2:1-2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
Concerning the breastplate of righteousness, understand that it has two parts of equal importance. Without both parts, our breastplate has cracks and holes in it where the devil can gain access. The two parts of the breastplate of righteousness are faith and love.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
We know from the scriptures that faith works by love. We also know that by faith we are accounted as righteous.
Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
If our breastplate is lacking in love, not only does our breastplate have holes in it, but our shield of faith becomes ineffective against quenching the enemy’s fiery darts.
You can see how our spiritual armor is all tied together and interdependent. It is important that we have constant exposure to the truth of scripture and are diligent to meditate on it, internalize it, and allow the word of God to become a filter through which all thoughts must pass. This will require discipline, perseverance, and above all humility.
Satan even attacked Jesus’ identity in the wilderness, trying to infiltrate his thoughts, offering shortcuts and false promises, saying, “If you are the son of God….”
Matthew 4:3-11 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Satan is still attacking Jesus in this way by attacking His body. We are His body! And just like the head, we must have the correct answers to fight off every demonic attack.
Let’s follow the Lord’s example and respond to every demonic attack with the word of God, spoken from a place of intimacy with the Father, not just acquired knowledge and memorization. If God’s word is alive in us, we will be well equipped to fight against every evil thought, tear down every stronghold, and dispel all darkness.
JESUS IS COMING!
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