SPIRITUAL WAREFARE - SWORD OF THE SPIRIT PART 3

             
               

HOPEFULLY, YOU HAVE READ PART 1 AND 2 BEFORE READING THIS...AND YOU MIGHT WELL ASK "WHY SPEND SO MUCH TIME CONSIDERING THIS TOPIC?" SURELY YOU MUST KNOW WE ARE AT WAR IN THE HEAVENLIES, FOR THE SCRIPTURE DECLARES, "WE DON'T FIGHT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES (SATANIC FORCES) IN THE HEAVENLIES! (EPHESIANS 6:12) IF WE DON'T KNOW WHO OUR ENEMIES ARE, HOW WILL WE BE ABLE TO EFFECTIVELY ENTER INTO WARFARE, AND BE VICTORIOUS IN SUCH BATTLES? TRAGICALLY, THIS IS WHAT WE ARE EXPERIENCING IN OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THIS VERY DAY!  THEY REFUSE TO IDENTIFY THE ENEMY BY NAME AND THUS WE ARE EXPERIENCING WORLD-WIDE THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES THAT EXIST!

WE ARE TOLD IN 1 SAMUAL 17:47 "...THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S...". KEEP IN MIND WE CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT HIM AND HE WILL DO NOTHING WITHOUT US! (JOHN 15:5) OUR VERY LIVES AND THE LIVES OF OTHERS COULD WELL DEPEND ON OUR PUTTING INTO ACTION THESE TRUTHS AS FOUND IN SCRIPTURE, FOR WE ARE TOLD IN JOHN 14:12 THAT WE WILL "DO GREATER WORKS...", NOT IN QUALITY, BUT IN QUANTITY, AS JESUS WAS EMPOWERED TO DO BY THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ORDER TO FULFILL HIS MINISTRY WHILE HE WAS ON EARTH. THUS, SO ARE WE CALLED TO GO DO BEING EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!  

IT IS IMPERATIVE, THAT IN ORDER TO TRULY FULFILL GOD'S PLAN WHICH ALL TOO OFTEN INVOLVES SPIRITUAL WARFARE CONCERNING EACH OF US, WE MUST BE EQUIPPED/EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT SO AS TO ENTER INTO BATTLE AND BE VICTORIOUS AS WE FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!  KEEP IN MIND, WE ARE HIS SOLDIERS AS THE CLASSIC HYMN DECLARES "ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, MARCHING AS TO WAR...WITH THE CROSS OF JESUS GOING ON BEFORE..."!  THE CRITICAL QUESTION IS "ARE YOU EQUIPPED TO GO INTO BATTLE IN THE HEAVENLIES" AND WIN?

WE ARE TOLD TO "THEREFORE SUBMIT TO GOD. RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU." (JAMES 4:7)  EPHESIANS 6:10-18 CLEARLY ADDRESSES TAKING A BATTLE-STANCE AGAINST SATAN AND HIS MINIONS THAT WE "MAY BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND IN THE EVIL DAY". (VERSE 13)  KEY QUESTION..."ARE YOU RESISTING THE DEVIL AND WHAT STRATEGIES ARE YOU USING TO DO SO?"

IT IS DECLARED IN MATTHEW 11:12 "AND FROM THE DAYS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST UNTIL NOW, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SUFFERS VIOLENCE, AND THE VIOLENT (SPIRIT- FILLED CHRISTIANS) TAKE IT BY FORCE IN USING THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT...AGAIN THE RHEMA SPOKEN WORD OF THE WRITTEN WORD (LOGOS).

AS WE READ IN CHAPTER 4 OF MATTHEW, IN ORDER FOR JESUS TO BE EMPOWERED TO BE THE VICTOR IN THE BATTLE AGAINST SATAN ON EARTH, AS I DECLARED EARLIER, IT WAS IMPERATIVE FOR HIM TO BE BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE RIVER JORDAN BEING BAPTIZED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST.  IT IS WRITTEN THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT LED JESUS INTO THE WILDERNESS TO HAVE A SHOWDOWN WITH SATAN WHO WENT THERE TO TEMPT JESUS AS HE BEGAN HIS MINISTRY,  FOR THIS WAS THE INITIAL BATTLE THAT HAD TO BE FOUGHT BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN SO AS TO ESTABLISH WHO JESUS ACTUALLY WAS AND IS! JESUS DIDN'T FIGHT THIS BATTLE ALL BY HIMSELF, FOR HE WAS EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, JUST AS WE ARE FIGHTING, NOT BY OURSELVES, BUT EMPOWERED AS WELL BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I AM FULLY AWARE THAT I AM BEING REDUNDANT IN SOME OF MY COMMENTS....BUT AGAIN, THESE TRUTHS MUST BE SHARED OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN ORDER FOR US TO IMMERSED IN SUCH ACTION TRUTHS!

THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHERE THE “SWORD OF THE SPIRIT” I.E. THE RHEMA, WHICH IS THE SPOKEN WORD (SCRIPTURE) OF GOD, NOT THE LOGOS WHICH IS THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD, WAS SEEN IN ACTION WITH JESUS TAKING HIS AUTHORITY AGAINST SATAN IN VERSES 4,7,10 OF MATTHEW, FOR HERE WE SEE JESUS WIELDING THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT AT SATAN…I.E., HE SPOKE , OR "DECLARED A THING..." AS DID GOD WHEN HE DECLARED (COMMANDED) "LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT AS WELL AS OTHER COMMANDS IN GENESIS 1:3-31.

JESUS, NOW WITH HIS AUTHORITY AND EMPOWERMENT, SPOKE BOLDLY TO WHATEVER THE ATTACK HAPPENED TO BE AND AS YOU WELL KNOW, HE HAD MANY DURING HIS 3 YEARS OF MINISTRY AND THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BEEN EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, HAVE THAT SAME AUTHORITY/EMPOWERMENT OVER THE ENEMY'S ATTACKS UPON US AS JESUS DID.  PRAISE GOD...HAVE YOU EVER CONTEMPLATED WHAT LIFE WOULD BE LIKE FOR US IF THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD NOT BEEN LEFT WITH US WHEN JESUS ASCENDED TO THE FATHER?  WHAT A BLESSING AND AN ALL PROVIDING ALMIGHTY GOD IS FOR HIS CHILDREN!  THANK YOU, OUR MOST CARING AND LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER.

FOR IT IS WRITTEN IN ACTS 1:8 (WHICH IS THE KEY VERSE IN ACTS) "BUT YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS COME UPON YOU AND YOU SHALL BE WITNESSES TO ME IN JERUSALEM, AND ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH." THIS IS A POWERFUL SPIRITUAL WARFARE STRATEGY WITH WHICH WE AS CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN TRULY BLESSED...KEEP IN MIND - POWER IS OURS TO USE!

THUS, THE QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ASKED..."DO WE TRULY UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPTURES AND N THESE BLOGS,  AND ARE WE PUTTING THESE TRUTHS INTO ACTION"?  AGAIN, PLEASE REMEMBER JESUS' DECLARATION IN JOHN 14:12 "MOST ASSUREDLY, I SAY TO YOU, HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, THE WORKS THAT I DO HE (WE) WILL DO ALSO; AND GREATER WORKS THAN THESE HE (WE) WILL DO BECAUSE I GO TO MY FATHER."

 AGAIN, BACK TO THE WARFARE IN MATTHEW 4:4, JESUS BRANDISHED THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT (THE RHEMA WORD) AGAINST SATAN: “IT IS WRITTEN, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.” 
AND VERSE 7 "JESUS SAID TO HIM, 'IT IS WRITTEN AGAIN, YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD.'"
THEN JESUS AGAIN USING THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, SAID TO SATAN BOLDLY IN VERSE 10, 
"AWAY WITH YOU SATAN! FOR IT IS WRITTEN, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE,'  SATAN HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO FLEE BECAUSE HE COULD NOT ARGUE WITH JESUS WIELDING THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, DECLARING THE RHEMA WORD, WHICH AGAIN, IS THE SPOKEN WORD (SCRIPTURES) OF GOD ALMIGHTY! "THEN THE DEVIL LEFT HIM" (VERSES 10,11) FOR A SEASON, FOR HE WOULD BE BACK...AND WE KNOW ALL TOO WELL MANY TIMES HE RETURNED, TRYING HIS BEST TO DESTROY JESUS, AS HE DOES WITH US! AND WE KNOW THE CROSS WAS THE FINAL ATTEMPT BY SATAN, TO DESTROY JESUS.  PRAISE GOD, HE FAILED, THANKFULLY! NOW SATAN MOVES ON TO DESTROY US...THOSE OF US WHO HAVE DECLARED, "YES, LORD, I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CAME TO EARTH TO SET ME FREE."THEREFORE IF THE SON MAKES YOU FREE, YOU SHALL BE FREE INDEED." (JOHN 8:36) PRAISE GOD!

NOTE...IT IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR US TO UNDERSTAND THAT SATAN HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER US - NONE WHATSOEVER, EXCEPT THAT WHICH WE LET HIM HAVE IN OUR REBELLION/SIN! THUS, WHENEVER WE ARE UNDER ATTACK FROM SATAN, WE MUST FIRST CONSIDER, IS THIS ATTACK UPON ME AS A RESULT OF SIN IN MY LIFE? IF IT IS, IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR US TO RUN TO 1 JOHN 1:9 "IF WE CONFESS OUR SIN, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE OUR SIN AND CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS".  I REFER YOU TO MICAH 4:18,19 FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPORT CONCERNING THIS TOPIC. 

IF YOU HAVE WIPED THE SLATE CLEAN FROM ALL SIN, AND YOU ARE STILL UNDER ATTACK, THEN IT IS TIME TO COME BOLDLY AGAINST SATAN, WIELDING THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, FOR IT IS WRITTEN AND AS WELL A PROMISE..."YOU ARE OF GOD, LITTLE CHILDREN, AND HAVE OVERCOME THEM, BECAUSE HE (JESUS) WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD" (1 JOHN 4:4) AMEN? 

                            TO BE CONTINUED IN BLOG 4

AS I CONTINUE TO DECLARE, DEAR READERS OF THE UNITED STATES, UKRAINE, LATIVA, RUSSIA, THAILAND, TO NAME A FEW, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BE LIKE THE BEREANS: "TO FIND OUT WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO." (ACTS 17:11)