Series: Make War

Basics of Spiritual Warfare

Why do we go to war? What provokes us to war there must be a good reason.

Before enlistingto fight a physical war one must consider whether the causeis just or not.  Is it to bring liberationof an oppressed people, is it a war for the cause of freedom, or is it to bring justice, or to keep a tyrant in check, or is it a war to gain power.

Everyman, woman, and child who has ever lived is in the middle of the war regardlessof whether they realizeit or not.   We are caught in timeless warbetween lightand darkness, between Godand His enemy, the Devil.

This spiritual war that we find ourselves in is not fought like physicalwars that we are familiar with.

2 Corinthians 10

³ For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 

Our warfareis spiritual and the weaponswe use are also spiritual.

While most warsare fought to acquire new land, seize goods, or simply gain more power. The war fought between light and darkness has something far more valuableat stake, that is your souland the souls of those aroundyou.  Your soul is far more valuable than any acquired earthly possession.   Your soul will live on for eternityin either one of two places.

Since the beginning of time as we know it there has been a war goingon for your soul.  Godis wanting a people who love Himand who want a real relationshipwith Him.  God is wanting those who will worshipHim in spiritand in truth.  He lavishes His loveon us by sending His Son Jesusto die for our sins yet He gives us the freedomto make our own choicesbetween good and evil. He is desiringthat we too laydown our livesand submit to the Lordship of JesusChrist over our lives.  He wants your soul.

Meanwhile, satanour adversaryis also fightingfor your soul.  He will use liesand deceitand everything possibleto convince you to reject God’s ruleover your life. 

Considerhow precious a soul must be, when both God and the devil are after it.  Charles Spurgeon

His goal is to convince you to reject God’s rule over your life regarding:

• Sin-He promises pleasure which normally turns to pain and sorrow
• The Family Structure- He tries to distort the family structure which God created.
• Your Roleas A Believer – He tries to get you more focused on other things so that you do not fulfill the great commission.
• Stewardingof your time and resources

He tries to undermineEverything Which God Has Decreed.

The systemsand valuesof this worldare contraryto the systems and values of God.  

Satan’s forcescontinue to promote immorality,rebellion, greed, and all manner of sinfulness, while the forcesof Righteousnesspromote order, respect, love, and holiness. This makes the boundary linebetween the two opposing sides very clear.

We engage in spiritual warfarebecause God’s hearthas become our heart.   We standfor that which He has instituted.  If He calls idolatry, blasphemy, stealing, lying,murder, sexual immorality, coveting, all sinthen it is sin at all levels.  We believe it and are willing to go to war for itknowing that our souland the soulsof our loved ones are at stake.

There is no middle ground, we are either on one side or the other.

Matthew 12:30

³⁰Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

You are either on His sideusing your talentsand resourcesto gathermore soulsfor His kingdom while engagingin the fight against evilor you are fighting on the side of evil making yourself an enemy of Christ.  Either way soulshang in the balance, even your soul.

Knowing this will help us to understand whywe go to war.

What is the purpose of making war?

What do we hope to accomplishby going to war? Just like any war our spiritual warhas an objective.

2 Corinthians 10:5-6

⁵ We destroy argumentsand every lofty opinionraised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶ being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

By going to waragainst the forces of darkness we aspire to tear downevery highthing including sinand sinful thoughtsor everything that exaltsitself against the knowledge of God.  By going to waragainst wickednesswe are making a stand for righteousness. 

We hope to advancethe kingdom of Godat the same time take backthe ground(souls) which the enemy has stolen.

There was a storythat I came across while researching this topic.  I think it is relevantin helping us understand what we are trying to accomplishas we make waragainst our enemy the devil.

Dr. Gerry Breshearswas born in the United States, he was a Christianwho was highly interested in scienceand sought to explain things of the bible in a scientific way.   For instance, when he ran across passages which talked about Jesus casting demonsout of people, he automatically assumed those people werepsychotic“crazy” patients who in today’s culture would be treated with therapyand medicine.

He maintained this view up until the age of 22when he took a trip to Mindanao,Philippines.  It was there, where he encountered the worship of spiritual forces.  It was a very dominant partof culture in Mindanao.  Even in the marketsin which you would buy fish, chicken or vegetables, there were also the sale of implementsfor spiritual practices.

Pagan worshipperswould carry these implements up a mountainand would gather by these firecircleswhere they did pagan ritualpractices. 

Upon hearing this, Dr Gerrywas in aweand somewhat disbelief, he wanted to see it for himself.  So he went up the mountainand sure enough he found the fire pitwhich was used for offering sacrificesto pagan gods along with benchesand even left over animalsfrom the sacrifices.  

Being a curious 22-year-old who was interested in the science, he wanted to seefirsthandone of these ritualstake place.  However, when he asked one of hiscolleaguesabout attendinga ritual he was told that they no longer doingit right there anymore. When asked why not, he was told that “When faith academymoved on the side of the mountain, and had thereby brought allthose Christianson campus it messed uptheir spiritual powersso they had to movesomewhere else.

The presence of Christiansmessed up the practices of pagan powers.

Those high thingsthat stood againstthe knowledge of Godwere uprootedand cast out. Where the atmospherewas once ruledby oppressive demonicpowers, now is conducivefor an atmosphere of faithand salvation.

This has been the casesince the beginningof time.  When Israelmarched into Jerichoand the surroundingcities with the ark of the covenant, which was symbolicof the presence of God, their enemieshad no choice but to leave.  Which then gave way to the indwelling presenceof God.

We must understandthis as Christians, that when you stepon the jobas an image bearerof God, who has His Holy Spiritliving inside, that Godhas also steppedon the job.  Just by being thereyou disruptthe plansof the enemy.

We go to warto tear downthose highthingsthat exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.

How do I make war as a Christian?

As we mentioned in verse 4

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the fleshbut have divine power to destroy strongholds. 

We have determined that our weaponsfor making waragainst the enemy are not of the flesh.   Therefore, the war we fightis not in the flesh.  It is in the spirit realm. 

Meaning you can’t just blow up satanwith a grenadeor shoothim with an assaultrifle.  Our weaponsfor fighting the enemy are divine by nature. 

If we are in the fleshly realm, and the waris in the spiritrealm, but yet we are called to make warin the spirit realm, then that means you need divineinterventiontowaron your behalf. 

A great exampleof this is found in Daniel 9when Daniel praysto the Lord.  He confessesthe sins of his nation, He fastedfor three weeks with sackcloth and ashesin humilitypetitioningthe Lord to acton behalf of Israel.  Because Daniel along with Israel had been taken captiveby the Babylonians

So He prays earnestlythat God would restorehis peoplefor His name’s sake.

Then in Daniel 10 The angelof the Lord , Gabriel, who was God’s messenger, tells Daniel

Daniel 10:12-13

¹² Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. ¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. 

This is probably one of the best examplesthat we have of wars that take place in the spiritual realm.

A few things about this passage which informs us on how to obtain the divine interventionthat we need to make warin the heavenlies.

Daniel being a humanwho was in need of divine interventionsimply

• humbleshimself,
• confesseshis sin and the sins of his nation,
• soughtto understand God’s will regarding Israel during this time,
• fasted,
• prayedpersistently according to the will of God until he received an answer

As a result, we see that God answershis prayer bysendingHis angel Gabriel.  We are also given a sneakpeekof what happens behind the scenesin the heavenlyrealm when we begin to pray.

It says that at the momentDaniel prayed that God heardhis prayer and sent Gabriel.  But what is interesting is that Gabriel was withstoodby the prince of Persia. 

It is believedby some scholarsthat Cambyses king of Persiawas harassing the Jewsand doing them as much mischiefas he could during this time, thus Gabrielwas fightinga spiritual warin the heavenlieswhile the Jewswere experiencing the physical assaultfrom the King of Persia.  

Which is an indicatorto us, for every war that is taking place in the earthly realmthere are angelswarringagainst demonsin the heavenly realm.

The prince of Persiawith stoodfirm against Gabrielin battle for three weeks.  It was not until Michaelthe arch angelstepped in which allowed Gabrielthe freedomto bring the message to Daniel.  

When you humbleyourself, confess your sins, seek God’s will, fast, prayyou can be sure thatGod hearsyour prayerand is sending an answer. 

But also know that when you battle darknesshere on earth, there is spiritual battlebeing warredin the heavenlieson your behalf.

As a Christian, you are on the winningside.  Michael thearch angel eventually came and God’s answerto Daniel was exactly what he neededwhen he needed it. 

There is a supernatural powerwhich is releasedwhen we begin toMake Waragainst our spiritualenemy.  We must realize that we make war againstthe forces of darknessand not each other.

We can do this with the authoritythat has been given to us through Christ Jesus.

Jesus, before he ascendedto heaven gave us this charge:

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “Allauthority has been given to Me in heavenand on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore 

Jesus has authorityin both the heavenlyrealm and in the earthlyrealm in which we live.  With His last words on earth He commissions believers to “Go Therefore.” 

By what authoritydo we go with? By His authority who is in control of all thingsin heaven and on earth. 

Just as sickness, disease, deformities, demonswere subjectto Jesusthey are still to this daysubject to His name.  As Christianswe bearthe name of Jesus.  We are not only His image bearersbut we have his authorityliving on the inside of us. 

We do not have the power on our ownstrength to combatthe forces of evil.  We are to be strong in His might.  So, he’s calling for you to experience a strengththat is not your ownin this whole issue of prayerand spiritual warfare.

There are three categoriesof spiritual warfare which we need to war against. Everything that we will be talking about in the coming weekswill fall under 1 of the 3 categories.

Against the world, the flesh and the devil

World- Non-Christian culture

                  Flesh- evil desiresthat are against God

Devil- personal spiritual being created by God, powerful but not God

Why do We go to war?

We engage in spiritual warfare because God’s heart has become our heart.   We care about souls and where they will spend eternity.  We stand for that which He has instituted. 

What is the purpose of making war?

                  To tear down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

How do I make war?

                  Through humility, confession, seeking God’s will, fasting, fervent prayer

For the next few weeks, we will be in the series “Make War.”  If you are a new Christian the terminology could be a little confusing.  After all, are we supposed to be like Jesus and love everyone and be peacemakers?  Yes we are, but we are also called to make war in the heavenly realm.  So hopefully this message will explain the responsibility we have as Christians to “Make War” against our spiritual enemy. 

Why do we go to war?

We must first realize that the systems and values of this world are contrary to the systems of our God.  Satan’s forces continue to promote immorality, rebellion, greed, and all manner of sinfulness, while the forces of Righteousness promote order, respect, love, and holiness. This makes the boundary line between the two opposing sides very clear.

Being that we as Christians have been bought with a high price by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are no longer our own but we belong to God.  Therefore, we stand for stand for righteousness, and against all manner of wickedness. 

We engage in spiritual warfare because God’s heart has become our heart.   We stand for that which He has instituted.  We believe it and are willing to go to war for it knowing that our soul and the souls of our loved ones are at stake.  

What is the purpose of making war?

By going to waragainst the forces of darkness we aspire to tear down every high thing including sin and sinful thoughts or everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.  By going to war against wickedness we are making a stand for righteousness. In doing so, we hope to advance the kingdom of God at the same time take back the ground (souls) which the enemy has stolen.

How do I make war as a Christian?

One of the greatest examples of spiritual warfare is found in Daniel 9,10. In this we see Daniel’s role in spiritual warfare, but then we also get a glimpse of what happens in the spiritual world. 

• humbles himself,
• confesses his sin and the sins of his nation,
• sought to understand God’s will regarding Israel during this time,
• fasted,
• prayed persistently according to the will of God until he received an answer

As an answer to Daniel’s prayer, God responds by sending a messenger named Gabriel. Gabriel gets caught up in a cosmic battle against the spiritual darkness which resided over Persia.  Showing us that as we battle in the physical realm war is being waged in the spiritual realm as well.  We need divine intervention to help us achieve victory against our spiritual enemy.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 10, Matthew 12:30, Daniel 10:12-13, Matthew 28:18

1. Are you willing to make a stand for righteousness while opposing wickedness whether that is on the job, at the store amongst family members?

2. Who would you be willing to make war for, being their soul hangs in the balance?

3. How are you currently Making War?

4. Which area do you feel satan attacks you the most with? Is it sin, relationships, purpose as a believer or stewarding your time and/or resources?

5. What do you need to do to Make War against those attacks?