Spiritual Warfare

An experience that is common to all of us in this life is that our spirit, our heart, and our mind is sometimes overwhelmed. It is a part of the spiritual war in which we are involved. Here are some words of advice and wisdom from the Word of God about how to deal with this matter that is the devil's best weapon against us.

The unclean spirit is mentioned more than any other type of evil spirit. It is like the carrier spirit or the gateway spirit for other spirits that totally possess and destroy a life. The unclean spirit seeks to void the distinctions between clean and unclean that God established in his word as so vital. The unclean spirit is the voice of compromise in matters of morality and right and wrong. The New Testament gives us many examples of what an unclean spirit takes a person and it is extremely grievous and sad. Listen to the hopelessness in the cries of those who the Bible declared to have an unclean spirit and beware, for they are still here and seeking a place to inhabit.

To be "in the flesh" and to "walk after the flesh" are two different things and the Bible carefully distinguishes between the two. We are all "in the flesh" because we live in a body of flesh. But those who are born of the Spirit do not "walk after the flesh" but "after the Spirit." Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

What does it mean to be "in the Spirit?" The Bible uses this phrase 25 times in the New Testament, so it is important for us to understand what the Bible is referring to. This is a very helpful and practical message about how to walk with God and the Spirit's real work in our lives.

We must gird the whole armor of God with prayer. It is a most important part of the spiritual armor. We are to pray always, with all prayer - that is all the different kinds of prayer, always in the Spirit, and for all the saints, and always watching thereunto, or making sure we are diligent in this matter of communion with God. What a difference it makes when the people of a church pray fervently for one another this way! What a bond of love and fellowship it creates! How it works to bring about oneness of minds and hearts!

We are not called or commanded to defeat the devil, because we are not able to do that. But what we are called and commanded to do is to STAND, and to be still standing when this is all over. Satan's attacks are always aimed at changing our mind about the very things the armor of God protect: Truth, righteousness, preparation, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. Those who compromise on the biblical view of any of these issues have failed to stand because the devil got to them in their mind.

Trouble is part of life in this sin-cursed world. Being a child of God does not exempt us from trouble and hard things. But "evil day" or day of trouble, is the place where Satan and his minions are sure to attack us in our minds with the goal of making us doubt God and question his faithfulness and his word. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand this assault of the devil in your time of trouble.

Ignorance of the Word of God, and therefore ignorance of the ways of God and the mind of God, makes a person very vulnerable to the lies of the devil. The world comes up with word games and little phrases that lead the mind astray from truth. The idea of critical thinking has become a virtue among many professing Christians and it is one of the most ungodly concepts the devil ever came up with.

It is not enough to be able to discern between truth and error - we must learn to discern between the "spirit" of truth and the "spirit" of error. We have all heard the truth preached with a bad spirit. The spirit of error will always enter your thoughts with truth, but only as the bait to get you to take down your guard. We are given some clear instruction in this Scripture on how to tell them apart.

There are 24 types of sin and sinners named in these four verses of Scripture. They paint a clear picture of the person with a reprobate mind. Somehow we have been made to believe that having a reprobate mind is some special kind of sinner that is worse than others, but it is in fact the state of all those who reject God. Many of them have found places in churches and even places of leadership there, so that now the way of true salvation is very hard to find.