Spiritual Warfare

PART 1 - JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN

Bruce started boxing at a gym about three months ago. He often spars with his trainer who is much better than him. The trainer could hurt Bruce if he really wanted to. Eventually Bruce becomes comfortable with sparring him. This is because Bruce knows his trainer won’t hurt or embarrass him.

One day Chuck stops in the gym to train. Chuck usually trains at a gym across town so Bruce doesn’t know him. They both are about the same size and have about the same experience. If the trainer made Bruce and Chuck spar, there’s a chance Bruce will win.

Bruce knows his trainer is much better than him and could hurt Bruce whenever he wanted to. Bruce also knows there’s a chance he could actually beat Chuck. Now here’s the weird thing… Bruce will probably be much more nervous just prior to sparring Chuck than his trainer. Why is this?

It’s because of the unknown. The unknown causes fear, anxiety, and hesitancy . The unknown gives us the “willies” in our belly. This is fear and anxiety manifesting. This is why most Christians strive to stay in the “comfortable zone” throughout their lives, avoiding the unknown..

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit encourages us to walk into the unknown with His guidance. The typical Christian won’t follow Him, a disciple will. The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to research and learn the Word, revealing things to us as we go. Disciples learn from those who already walk in the Spirit - those who cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, speak in tongues, etc. As we gain knowledge of the spirit world, it's unknown starts fading away. As the unknown fades, fear does too. The disciple will then be prepared to walk into spiritual battle under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Note to those teaching discipleship or spiritual warfare -

A good teacher removes the unknown. A good teacher is genuinely humble and doesn’t cloak their power and authority in secrecy or something too deep for most others to understand. They don’t portray their power and authority as being on a pedestal that’s out of reach of the student. When the student knows that the power and authority their teacher has is obtainable, the student will want to learn more. This leads to vigilance. If there’s one word that describes what separates a Christian and a disciple, it would be vigilance! The vigilance to always be researching and learning. The vigilance to overcome fear and worldly influences. The vigilance of submitting oneself to the Word/Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit. This vigilance turns spiritually weak Christians into spiritually powerful disciples.

PART 2 - ARE YOU SEEKING TO BE A CHRISTIAN OR A DISCIPLE?

The Word and Jesus are the same.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

To become a Christian we need to be obedient to the Word/Jesus. When we are obedient, we prove we love Jesus and want to be part of His family. When Jesus sees our obedience He’ll ask His Father, God Most High, to give us God Most High’s personal Spirit...the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15-26

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may remain with you to the age, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him; but you know Him, for He abides with you and shall be in you...the one having My commandments and keeping them, that one is the one loving Me; and the one loving me shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and will reveal Myself to him...If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father shall love him. And We will come to him and will make an abode with him...the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name...

The typical Christian in America stops their spiritual growth right here. They strive to be obedient, get the Holy Spirit, and then they call it good. They stop pressing in. Their spiritual growth either slows to a crawl or ends completely. They don’t even know there’s more to strive for...much more! Think of a new Christian as being given his white belt at a martial arts gym. When we receive our white belt (Holy Spirit) that means we are a member of that gym (God’s family). But receiving a white belt doesn’t mean we’ve finished our learning. Rather, it means we are about to start learning. The Holy Spirit has so much He wants to reveal to us!

A big reason why Christians don’t develop spiritual power and authority is because the typical American church desires to make Christians, not disciples. God didn’t commission the disciples to go out and make Christians, but rather to go out and make more disciples!

The great commission -

Matthew 28:16-20

But the eleven disciples went into Galilee...Jesus spoke with them, saying, All authority in Heaven and on earth was given to Me. Therefore going, disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, as many things as I commanded you...

Jesus told the disciples to go out and teach people to do all the things that He had taught them to do. Let's take a look at some of those things Jesus taught the disciples to do.

Matthew 10:1,7-8

And having called His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity of body...And going on, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of Heaven has drawn near. Heal feeble ones, cleanse lepers, raise dead ones, cast out demons. You freely received, freely give.

This is Mark’s version of the great commission.

Mark 16:15-20

He said to them, Going into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation. The one believing and being baptized will be saved; but the one not believing will be condemned. And miraculous signs will follow to those believing these things: they will cast out demons in My name; they will speak new languages; they will take up snakes; and if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them, not any; they will lay hands on the ones being infirm, and they will be well. Then indeed, after speaking to them, the Lord was taken up into Heaven, and sat at the right of God. And going out, they preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the miraculous signs following after. Amen

The typical Christian only follows through with part of Jesus’ great commission, which is spreading the Word. What they don’t do is walk in power and authority to prove the Word as true. If they did they would be demonstrating Jesus’ power, which includes casting out demons, healing the sick, etc. Fulfilling the great commission in its entirety, the “full gospel,” is what makes a Chrsitian into a disciple.

Note to the churches -

Saving someone’s soul is great, but if that is the end goal, it is the incomplete will of God. The church should strive to save people’s souls... and then make disciples of those people! The reason the church doesn’t strive to make disciples is because they don’t know what it fully means to be led by the Holy Spirit.

PART 3 - HOW DO DISCIPLES GET THE POWER AND AUTHORITY TO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION IN ITS ENTIRETY?

Jesus is currently in the third heaven with God the Father. Jesus’ will is enforced here on earth through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit desires to glorify Jesus and do Jesus’ will.

John 16:13-15

But when that One comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you into all Truth, for He will not speak from Himself, but as many things as He hears, He will speak; and He will announce the coming things to you. That One will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will announce to you. All things, as many as the Father has are Mine. Because of this I said that He will take from Mine, and will announce to you.

In order to carry-out Jesus’ will, the Holy Spirit must have absolute power and authority over everything in the world. Here are a few examples of this…

God creates living things through the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 104:30-31

You send out Your Spirit, and they are created; and You renew the face of the earth.

Jesus led Moses out of Egypt through the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 63:11-

And His people remembered the days past of Moses and His people, saying, Where is He who brought us up from the sea with the shepherd of His flock. Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within him, leading them by Moses’ right hand, with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make for Him an everlasting name? He led them through the deeps; like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble. As the cattle go down into the valley, so the Spirit of Jehovah caused him to rest; so You led Your people, to make a name of glory for Yourself.

God made Mary pregnant with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:35

...the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and on account of this the Holy One being born of you will be called Son of God.

God the Father led Jesus, while He was here on earth, through the Holy Spirit.

Luke 4:1

And full of the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the deserted place...

God raised Jesus, as well as others, from the dead through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:11

But if the Spirit of the One having raised Jesus from the dead ones dwells in you, the One having raised the Christ from the dead ones will also give life to your mortal bodies through the indwelling of His Spirit in you.

Jesus led the prophets and teachers, including Saul (Paul), through the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:2-4

And they doing service to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate both Barnabas and Saul to Me, for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and placing hands on them, they let them go. Then these indeed sent out by the Holy Spirit went down to Seleucia, and from there sailed away to Cyprus.

The Holy Spirit performs miracles.to prove the Word is true, thus allowing disciples to fulfill the great commission in its entirety (the full gospel).

Romans 15:19

in power of miraculous signs and wonders, in power of the Spirit of God, so as for me to have fulfilled the preaching of the gospel of Christ…

Disciples know in order to fulfill the great commission in its entirety, we must be led by the Holy Spirit. When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us we become part of God’s family. This is when we can call God Most High our Father.

Romans 8:13-

For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you received not a spirit of slavery again to fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

PART 4 - ALLOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO LEAD US

Demons do their best to control us. The Holy Spirit on the other hand is a gentleman. He waits until we WANT Him to lead us. He knows we want Him to lead us when He sees us trying to obey the Word/Jesus. Not superficially, but deeply. When we are willing to look the fool for Jesus. When we step-out in faith. When we do...He’ll move.

The world and the Holy Spirit are at odds. The Holy Spirit is “Holy” because He is separate from this fallen world. He wishes us to be holy too because if we separate ourselves from this world, we won’t fall to the world’s influences. Here are a few worldly influences…

There are very popular pastors, some carrying themselves with wise dignity, who say the miracles performed during Jesus’ time were only meant for that time. Don’t idolize these people. Don’t let their false doctrine pull you away from obedience to the Word. Don’t let their doubt invade your mind.
Pride, fear, and cowardice are very common worldly influences. They work together. Pride opens the door to shame, foolishness, fear, and cowardice. These spirits will try to prevent a Christian from being obedient to the great commission. Such spirits won’t stop a disciple.
Few people make it to heaven. This means the majority of the world is going to hell. Knowing this, don’t follow the crowd. Choose...the world or the Holy Spirit?

When the Holy Spirit sees us trying to obey the Word/Jesus by casting out demons and healing the sick, He’ll move. Sometimes we need to be very patient. Every time there is a success our faith will grow a little. As we get more experienced and our faith grows, the Holy Spirit will sometimes make us work harder to get a healing or to cast out a demon. This is because He’s teaching us to go deeper to find the root of the problem. Once that root is removed the demon will leave and the healing will happen. This is how the devil’s strongholds can be broken in our lives. This can all be done with joy and expectation, but the vigilance of a disciple is necessary.

Most pastors will talk about the Holy Spirit, but they don’t utilize His full power that He’s ready and willing to demonstrate for Jesus’ glory. If a church doesn’t make deliverance and healing part of their normal activity, they aren’t being obedient to the Word. This is also true for individual Christians. We can’t let our church hinder doing the Word, the Word that we read with our own two eyes.

Several reasons can be seen for Jesus telling us to cast out demons and heal the sick. Here are a few…

The most obvious is that these things are inherently good. Who doesn’t want to heal someone who’s sick?
Spiritually deeper things aren’t always revealed in the Word. Sometimes they will only be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. This means we have to listen to Him closely and to follow Him vigilantly. Through this spiritual practice, we develop a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Being obedient shows our love for Jesus and pleases the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is pleased because these miraculous signs glorify Jesus and proves His Word as being true.

PART 5 - DEFINING SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND REMOVING THE UNKNOWN

Now we know that Jesus told us to spread the Word, cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, etc. to make disciples. This is His great commission for us. If we don’t do His will, we are sinning.

We also know that the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ strong arm here on earth. The Holy Spirit carries out God’s will. There is nothing in the heavens or on the earth that can prevent the Holy Spirit from carrying out Jesus’ will.

Spiritual warfare is the by-product of simply carrying out the great commission in its entirety. This means not only spreading the Word, but following it up with casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, etc. to prove the Word as true.

When we exercise this power, the demons will not hurt us.

Luke 10:19

Behold, I have given you the authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and on all the power of the hostile one, and nothing shall hurt you, not ever!

The details of how to unleash the Holy Spirit’s power will be revealed by the Holy Spirit Himself. A good suggestion is to learn from disciples, who already walk in His power, to speed the learning process up!

PART 6 - THE DEVIL’S COUNTERATTACK

Casting out demons and healing the sick are direct, violent spiritual attacks against the devil’s army. The Holy Spirit is our big gun that actually does the work of Jesus, through us. Deliverance (casting out demons) allows us to break evil strongholds and take back ground the enemy has previously taken.

Knowing this, it’s obvious the devil will want to do what he can to stop us. This is where a weak Christian can be molded into a powerful disciple. The devil’s counterattacks won’t hinder a disciple for very long. A disciple will pick himself up, dust himself off, and wade back into battle. The disciple will continue to battle on behalf of others. All the while, being aware of and avoiding the crafty snares of demons. A disciple always presses in, he doesn’t quit. This vigilance is what separates a Christian from a disciple. We aren’t ordered to make more Christians, but rather more disciples! We are to make more soldiers worth their salt for the Lord’s army!

1 John 3:8

...For this the Son of God was made known, that He might undo the works of the devil.

The devil will use anything he can, including the following spirits, to hinder our attacks against him…

Pride, arrogance, haughtiness, self-exaltation, know-it-all, self-righteousness, ego, selfishness, self-will, self-concern, self-centeredness, narcissism, Jezebel, domination, control, witchcraft, and rebellion. These spirits will prevent spiritual growth. They will make us avoid actions that might look foolish in someone else’s eyes. They also open the door to other spirits such as fear and cowardice.
Fear of committing to the Lord, fear of looking like a fool, fear of going against worldly views, fear of going against the incomplete doctrine of the church, fear of any person who opposes fulfilling the great commission in its entirety, fear of complete submission to the Holy Spirit, cowardice, anxiety, people-pleasing, security, safety, and self-protection.
Passivity, timidness, laziness, Ahab, and compromise.
Towards the Word...doubt, unbelief, skepticism, ignorance, distrust, and shame. Hard-heartedness, faithlessness, anti-Christ, false doctrine, and false apostles.

PART 7 - ACTION PLAN

Break generational curses that prevent walking out the great commission in its entirety. Do this by forgiving our ancestors that may have allowed demonic influence to come down the family line.
Repent for our own sins.
Cast out the demons.
Loosen spirits to help with our specific short-comings.
Receive continual deliverance and walk closely with the Holy Spirit.