Christians are always engaged in spiritual warfare. It’s a personal fight of faith and a battle that goes on in our own minds. We need to recognize and acknowledge that we have a real enemy. Too many Christians are not aware of this fact; therefore, there is no resistance of the devil. There are demonic spirits watching us, waiting to find an entrance into our lives to harm and destroy us.
The devastating storms, sickness and disease, and even the loss of a young child all come from the demonic realm. If we don’t understand this, we will falsely accuse God. You might say, “God allowed it.” The Bible tells us that God allows what we allow. Many times the evil we experience is because of our wrong choices, our lack of obedience or our lack of knowledge.
Second Corinthians 10:4-5 (NKJV) reads, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments [imaginations] and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
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We must immediately cast down every wrong thought that is in opposition to God’s commands and His promises to us. We must do this with our words. One of the most prominent ways Satan attacks us is through fear. People fear all kinds of things. If he can get you trapped in fear, that fear will rob you of your faith. Throughout the Bible, we are commanded to “fear not!” The only thing we are instructed to fear is God. If we don’t fear Him, we will fear everything else.
The Bible calls fear a spirit—a demonic spirit. It can torment your mind and influence you to behave in harmful ways towards yourself and others. It will eventually affect your health and invite disease into your body. Have you ever considered that worry, anxiety and panic are all different levels of fear? While they may have different names, they can all produce the same feelings of dread and despair over our lives. Fear in all its forms, whether real or imagined, produces a strong physical reaction within our bodies. Job 4:14 states, “Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.” Proverbs 12:25a says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression.”
We also need to understand our authority in Christ. God gave all believers authority over demons. Knowing that, we need to learn to exercise our authority and avoid many of life’s problems. Satan’s desire is for us to doubt God’s Word and be weakened. God’s desire is for us to know His Word and walk in faith. The problem is that Satan comes immediately to steal the Word sown in our hearts. If he can take the Word from us, we are more likely to sin. The devil wants us to sin because it separates us from God, and then God can’t give us His blessings.
The solution is found in Psalm 119:11 (KJV), where David said, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Once you get the Word in your heart and understand your authority over the devil, you won’t put up with his nonsense anymore. We must know what the Bible says.
What else must we do to protect ourselves from the devil’s attacks? We must live a life submitted and obedient to God and His Word. “Submit yourselves to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” (James 4:7). Submitting ourselves to God means we obey all of His Word.
One example is Ephesians 6:2-3 (NKJV), which says, “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” This is a command with a promise. If we ignore the command, it will not go well with us. This is not about performance, but obedience. Obeying His Word is a result of grace. Grace is an empowerment not to sin. It is grace that gives us the ability to say no to sin.
As a Christian, you might not quite understand your authority in Christ. However, once you are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin studying the Bible, you will gain clarity. You will have confidence in God’s Word and understand the power in the name of Jesus to command any evil spirit to stop its maneuvers against you. The Holy Spirit teaches, empowers, instructs and comforts us. He is the greatest gift to the body of Christ against any form of spiritual warfare.
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Bill Wiese is the author of the New York Times best-selling book “23 Minutes in Hell,” the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife, Annette, founded Soul Choice Ministries in late 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries, please visit us at: https://soulchoiceministries.org/
You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BillWieseTV
