Learning Practical
Spiritual Warfare
2008 Edition
Part One
Page 2
2. THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE :
STUDY TEXT:
Ephesians
6:10-18 “ 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
{flesh...: Gr. blood and flesh}
{spiritual...: or, wicked spirits} {high: or, heavenly}
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that
ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand. {having...:
or, having overcome all}
14 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: 18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints; “
Does it make sense to be called out of darkness into God’s
light to be a soldier of the Lord, and then we not take the
time and energy to learn how to fight with faith this
spiritual war the way that God intends?
Does it make sense to
try and resist the enemy if we have not first submitted to
God first so that we are operating in the power of God when
we try? Does it make sense to go out on a
battlefield and not bother to take the powerful spiritual
weapons and protection that God has given to us?
How long will a soldier in a regular war last in a
battlefield with no training, and no armor, and no weapons?
Everything that we have from God is ours through faith in
what He has promised in His Word. God will back up His
Word. We literally activate the Word of God by praying in
faith.
Jesus Christ told us to pray for
deliverance from evil or the “evil
one”, so we need to pray daily and take the whole
armor of God.
Matthew 6:13 “ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, for ever. Amen. “
The bible makes it clear that HE has made us more than
conquerors through Him that loved us and that greater is HE
that is in us than he that is in the world, and that we have
overcome the world through our faith.
In delivering us from the evil one and his traps, God makes
us strong in the Lord and in the power of HIS MIGHT.
Ephesians 6:10 (AMP)
“ In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through
your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that
strength which His boundless might provides].”
Be strong “in the Lord”.
Our strength must come from nowhere else, but the Lord.
We must be connected to the Lord through faith and our very
lives if we want the strength that comes from the Lord. We
are not operating in our own strength or might, but we have
what comes from Jesus Christ.
Demons are not afraid of you or me, but they are afraid of
us when we get filled with the power and presence of the
Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ begins to be manifested through
us. Jesus has already triumphed over them, and when
Jesus flows from our lives, it terrorizes the demonic.
When we keep ourselves in the Lord and in His Word and faith
and love, then we are strong. When we go our own way, we
make ourselves spiritually weak every single time. It is
the submission to the Lord that brings strength in us, and
without it, then we make victims out of ourselves.
James 4:7 (KJV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you.
Be strong also in the power of His might, or that strength
that He has given specifically unto you in this walk with
Him. Walking in faith and having a strong bond with Jesus
will bring spiritual power.
Put on the whole armor of God.
You must take the whole armor of God. It is not
automatic just because you are a Christian or go to church,
but you are being commanded here to put it on (verse 18
tells us that we do it by praying the prayer of faith). We
are to take these spiritual weapons of God that He has given
to us, and not just assume that they are already active in
our lives automatically.
If just having the blood of Jesus Christ was enough in our
lives to deal with things, then why are we told to resist
the Devil steadfastly. Why are we told to not be ignorant
of his devices? Why are we told to fight the good fight of
faith? The blood of Jesus in our lives gives us the
authority to move in the power of God and to take the whole
armor of God,
but
we have to still take it and use it by faith.
Ephesians 6:11 (AMP)
“ Put on God's whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed
soldier which God supplies], that you may be able
successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and
the deceits of the devil. ”
Here is a truth that you need
to understand. Satan already is fighting against
you. You are already a target.
He
wants you in Hell. If he can’t get you
that far, then he at least wants to cripple you and
compromise you and keep you ineffective to God so that
you become useless and a victim.
He already knows your
weaknesses and is using them against you already.
He knows your fears and your lusts
and your disgusts, and he come against those weak places
in your life.
You might as well understand
that now, and put on the whole armor of God so that
those weak places are covered by Jesus Christ!
You might as well obey the Word of God and stand for
Jesus,
while covering the weaknesses of your flesh with the
strength of God.
This armor includes
both
defensive and offensive weaponry.
It is both for protection and for tearing down of Satan’s
strongholds. It is the whole armor of God.
It is the panoplia or panoply of
the armor of God. It is the greatest and most complete
weaponry that can be had.
This
spiritual armor is of God and literally is the Lord Jesus
Christ, but you must take it yourself.
We are told to be strong in the Lord, not ourselves.
And God doesn’t just pour that strength on us
for we are told here for
US TO TAKE the whole armor of God.
It is a spiritual war against demonic forces, not humanity.
So, the weapons must also be
spiritual for them to be effective against spirit beings.
2
Corinthians 10:3-4 “ 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our
warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;) “
One of the most effective
tactics of the enemy is to seduce us into fighting people
and other brothers and sisters in the Lord especially,
instead of the good fight of faith. He knows that we cannot
fight a spiritual fight and a carnal one that is based in
sin and pride at the same time. We cannot be good soldiers
for Jesus Christ if we are attacking our own troops just
because something is different about them, or they are in a
different troop with a different denominational name.
We are called to a spiritual
warfare with spiritual weapons against spiritual opponents,
not flesh and blood as some are prone to fight.
Put on this complete armor of
God. It is interesting to note that Paul was most
likely at this time chained between two of these Roman
soldiers. In fact, he had quite a ministry of converting
them and the household of Caesar while he was in Rome. He
had an up close and personal example of these very armed
soldiers to draw on.
Why should we do this? We do this so that we can
successfully stand up against all the strategies and deceits
of the devil. Satan uses wiles or deceitful tactics.
He is a liar. The only
time that he tells the truth is to be able to stuff a lie in
the middle of it.
John 8:44 (KJV) Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
He is wiley, and will use deceit to trap you and convince
you that you are absolutely right when you are absolutely
wrong and will use your own prideful need to be right to do
it.
The armor of God protects us against his wiles and attacks
and gives us an advantage that he cannot overcome.
God is greater, and when we clothe ourselves in God,
then the enemy cannot use our own weaknesses against us.
