Spiritual Warfare

First, there is the Word of God, then there is faith. It is weak faith, it is struggling faith, it is unsure faith, but it is faith. Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Mark 9:24 "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." This is the kind of faith that opens the door of our spirit and soul and mind and heart for the Holy Spirit of God to come in and make his abode with us. After this the Holy Spirit of God DOES increase our faith as we trust and learn of Him through his Word and the experiences of life as we walk by faith and not by sight. There is a great difference between newborn faith and the faith of a true saint of God at the end of his journey.

Sorrow is a part of life, but life is not all about sorrow. It is a necessary part of life, but should not be the dominating part of life. Sorrow must be mixed with everything else or it becomes death to us, and to those around us. II. Sorrow has the power to take over our life if we do not keep and rule our own spirit. When it becomes bondage, we have forgotten God and Satan has been able to establish a stronghold in our mind with it. There is only one way to have victory over sorrow and that is to have faith in God and to trust in his promises in the darkness, as well as the light.

The basic definition of the word "carnal" is "pertaining to the flesh," "to be in the natural state; unregenerate." The great difference between true salvation and the many religions of the world is that true salvation is a spiritual birth that begins a spiritual life here in this present world. The true believer in Christ has the Spirit of God living inside of him and his view of the universe around him includes the spiritual realm. Those who are carnal live and walk "after the flesh," and follow the ways of the world around them. They look to men for their help and they trust in the wisdom of men for their guide. This is what it means to be carnally-minded, and to be an enemy of God.

The devil will always begin his attack by questioning a moral issue in your mind. When you realize that there is a debate going on in your mind trying to justify something that you know is wrong, you can be sure that you are being influenced by a devil - an evil spirit. We can see Satan's step by step method of deceiving and ensnaring souls by his conversation with Eve in the garden. He has never changed his method because it works so well. Lots of wisdom here to enable us to fight the good fight of faith and to keep the devil from deceiving our children, as well.

Prayer has its foundation on the Word of God. Prayer is a spiritual exercise, it is not a religious duty or performance. It is communion with God and the Spirit of God must be involved. If we find ourselves bound and unable to really pray and know God hears us we can discern that we are being drawn away from God by other spirits that are not of God. If we are not experiencing the comfort, the guidance, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit we can be sure that we are listening to other spirits that are not of God. Prayer is a spiritual battle.

God calls, prepares, and sends men with a message from God. The response to that message from God makes people better or it makes them worse. There is no neutral ground. The message is not from the man who is sent, but it is from God. There is a great difference between a message from another man's mind and heart that touches our intellect or emotions, and a spiritual message from God, sent through a spirit-filled man, that touches our soul.

The one thing that makes the war between good and evil so difficult is that those that are evil are not bound by any rules while the righteous are. Anything goes for the wicked; they can lie, cheat, steal, kill, fight dirty, and they do not hesitate to do all of these things in order to prevail. The righteous are bound by truth, justice, mercy, righteousness, and the fear of God to do what is right in spite of what the wicked do. God has given the righteous rules by which to engage the enemy, and every Christian needs to live by them or the cause of Christ suffers and souls are lost.

To be afraid at times is part of how we are constituted. It must be so in a world such as this. The sin of man has made every creature a potential enemy, and there is danger all around us. But just as a spirit of infirmity is quite different than having an actual infirmity, the spirit of fear is quite different than simply being afraid when we should be afraid. A spirit of fear consumes our life by dominating our mind and emotions with fear and dread of what "might" happen. We become paralyzed and useless, and a liability to others because we have yielded to an unclean devil which has taken control of our mind. This kind of fear is never of faith and faith is never fearful. Resist the devil and he will flee from you! Realize what is going on, recognize the true enemy and source of your fear, and fight!

The woman in our Scripture apparently did not have anything really wrong with her body, but was oppressed by a spirit of infirmity. It is common for people to think themselves sick when they really are not. This is a spirit of infirmity. It is that voice that starts talking to you in your mind and striking fear in your heart when you have a pain, or when a doctor tells you there is something wrong in your body. The spirit of infirmity is probably one of the strongest spiritual foes we encounter. Always ask yourself honestly, "Am I really sick, or is this a spirit of infirmity?" It can steal your life by dominating your mind with imaginations that cause you to live in fear. This is certainly NOT the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Perverseness in the tongue is evidence of a breach in the spirit. When people just believe and think all wrong it is because spiritual evil has made its way into their spirit through a breach. That breach was likely caused by the perverse tongue of someone else. Hurtful, careless, or lying words shoot a hole through someone's spirit just like the bullet from a gun does. The damage is every bit as real and lasting, too. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. - Proverbs 4:24