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Spiritual Warfare - Part 1: What is spiritual warfare? Why is it important to know about it and how to fight it? Spiritual warfare is a battle in which there are forces that we cannot see that want us to fall and not see the plan that God has for us. This is a war that we must face everyday and we cannot run from it. If we do not know what is going on, how can we fight? Living the Christian life is not an easy path, but it is possible. Are you truly saved? If so, how? What does it take to be saved? Is everybody who claims to be a Christian saved? These are going to be some questions that we are going to look at in this first part. Before we can fight a spiritual war, we must be prepared. How do we become prepared? First, we must be saved. A lot of people believe that they are saved and they are going to heaven. Yet when we face God on Judgment day, many will be surprised. It seems that people have the wrong idea about what it means to be a Christian. They do not know what the true meaning of BEING SAVED is. What do you think being saved means to you? Some believe that all you have to do is go to church and sing some songs and give money. They think that, that is all it takes. They believe that as long as they believe in Jesus, they are all right. Yet there is a big difference in believing in Jesus and believing Jesus. Almost everyone believes in Jesus, but yet they do not believe His Word. People just love to take that simple verse, just believe in Jesus and you shall be saved, and not the whole Word of God. A lot of pastors are preaching this message. They do not add the rest of God's Word, because they know that if they do, then people might not come to their church. Also, people do not want to read all of God's Word, for they know that they will have to change. The thing is, when we accept Christ, we should want to change. There have been a lot of times when I have asked people if they are saved, and the answer is "Well I got baptized when I was 6 or 7". Being baptized does not mean that you are born again. Many churches also say that if you are not baptized, you are not saved. Some of the denominations preach this. Yes, being baptized is important, but it does not determine if you are saved or not. A good example of this is the man on the other side of Jesus on the cross. Luke 23:42-43 As we can see, we do not know if this man was ever baptized or not. As far as we can tell, this man had been in prison for sometime. Yet he knew who Jesus Christ was and believed on Him. This man was truly sorry for his sins and accepted Christ. So, how does one become saved? Jesus said in, John 3:3-6 As Christians, we now have an understanding of what it means to be born again, at least we should. When we accept Christ into our hearts, there should be a difference. Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. The difference is in all the things we do; the shows we watch, the music we listen to, and the way we carry ourselves and speak. Our desires should be different also. In Colossians 3:1, Paul said seek those things are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Yet we do not seek those things above. The only time a lot of Christians seek God is when we are in Church or when we have trouble. It is easy to remember God when there is trouble. What about the times when everything is all right? Do we praise God the same? We are not truly seeking God if we only come to Him in times of trouble or only in Church. If we are truly seeking the Lord Jesus Christ, we should be doing this in on own time and all the time. Until we get a true understanding of what it means to be a Christian, there is no way we can fight Satan. Many Christians today are losing the war. Sin is running amok in the Body of Christ today. Many people are losing the true vision of Christ. Lust of the flesh is man's greatest weakness. With all immoral acts that is going on today God is not given a chance to help us. Men who say that they were called to be pastors are letting sin run in the house of God. In today's church there is, homosexuality, sexual lust, people having sexual relationship that are not married, and sleeping with anyone and sometimes everyone. These so-called men of God will say that they never said it was all right. If they never preach on all sin and never say that sin is sin, and if they know it is going on and they are leaders in the church, then they are saying that it is all right by not say anything. In Romans 6:1 Paul ask, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" Yet there are many who believe this. They just pray and still go on to do whatever they want to do. God cannot stand the sight of sin. The Blood of Jesus Christ cleans us and makes us white as snow. Sin leaves a fowl stench in the sight of God. We are in a battle with demonic forces. Satan will come after us and try to tempt us to fall away. We are in a battle with our flesh. The flesh wants us to do things that will please the flesh. So when we try to fight the flesh, we will lose every time. In Eph 6:12 The Word say that "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." When the flesh fights against us, we must go to the true source of the problem. We are always trying to do things ourselves and fix the problems with no help. Somehow, we always manage to mess it up worst than what it was in the first place. Galatians 5:17 We need to trust in God to help us, but we must do our part also. There are things in our lives that we must give up. I had to give up things in my life that I thought weren't harmful. In God's eye, it was wrong. We have to look at things through the eyes of God, not man. What are some things that you gave up for Christ? Many people are giving the body of Christ a bad name. The question is what are we doing? Here are some questions that we should ask ourselves. 1. What are we doing for God? 2. Do I seek God when I am alone? 3. Do I praise and pray to God at home the same way in Church? 4. Is my life a living testimony of Christ? 5. What am I doing to help the Kingdom of God? 6. What am I doing that is hurting the Kingdom of God? 7. Can people see that I am a Christian by my actions? 8. Do I tell people about Christ and do they see a difference between me and them? Before we can fight this spiritual battle, we have to know if we are truly saved and that we are not playing games with God. We are in a battle. God has already won the war. The Saints already have the victory. The question is, are we going to be a casualty in the end? We can fake it and fool people, but we cannot hide from God's eyes. There are many who are losing the battle day by day, because they have sin in their lives, and because they are not seeking God with a true heart. There is a sickness in the Body of Christ. Satan uses temptations of adultery, anger, sexual immorality, and many other things to attack the body of Christ and bring us down. These are some of the cancers in the Body of Christ. This is a battle we can win, but we must have God first in our lives 100 %. My prayer in this study is that we will learn how to fight a spiritual fight and be free of the sin in our lives and be able to face things in a whole new way. Things will come up in our lives, but they should be easier to handle with Christ. |
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