Spiritual Battles

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickness in high place.  If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horse? and if in the land of peace, (wherein) thou trutedst, (they wearied thee), then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?  For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but he Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 

The battle is the Lord's.  God never promised us a trouble free life.  He does promise us that he will be with us in times of trouble and He will deliver us and honor us because we dwell in the secret place of the Most High and we have known his name.  If we study the battles of the Old testament, one thing stands out.  God's people were attacked when they were in disobedience and when they were obeying God. 

1 King 15:25-31 Nadab was the son of Jeroboam king of Israel, Jeroboam did evil in the sight of the Lord and his son Nadab, did evil in the sight of the Lord too.  The Lord God destroyed Nadab by Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, He destroy Nadab and his whole family.

There battles were the result of disobedience and the outcome was destruction.

2 Chronicles chapter 11 and 12. Rehoboam was the son of Solomon; he was king over Judah, which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. King Rehoboam served the Lord for three years, after three years for forsook the law of the Lord, and all of Israel with him. In the fifth year of his reign, the king of Egypt came to make war against king Rehoboam. A prophet approached the king and say, “you have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hands of the king of Egypt. King Rehoboam and the princes of Israel humbled themselves and declared the Lord is righteous. And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; [therefore] I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of the King of Egypt. they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

There battles were the result of disobedience, but they humbled themselves and God granted them some deliverance. 2 Chronicles 14:2 King Asa, he was Abijah son, Abijah was King Rehoboam, King Solomon, King David. King Asa did that was right in the sight of the Lord. And God gave him peace for 10 years. And during these ten years he built and prospered. After ten years, the King of Ethiopia gave up against King Asa. The Ethiopian king had million men and 300 chariots. King Asa had 300,000 from Judah and 280,000 from Benjamin. And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, [it is] nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou [art] our God; let not man 2 Chro14:11. King Asa won the fight and gathered much spoil, plus sheep and camels, A seer came out to met with Asa after the battle and said The LORD [is] with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. And when Asa heard these words, of the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that [was] before the porch of the LORD. This was in his 15^th year. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God [was] with him. In his 36^th year of his reign, the King of Israel, Baasha came against King Asa. Instead of trusting in the Lord his God, He paid off the King of Syria with gold and silver from the Lord’s house. A seer of God which is like a prophet, told him he should of relied on the Lord. It Bible states in his 39 year he was diseased in his feet and he died the 41th year. The enemy came against King Asa while he was obeying the Lord.  The outcome of the battle was King Asa gather much spoils or goods.  Sometimes we do battle to get a further blessing form God.  Later in life, King Asa did not trust in the Lord.

Battles will come against when, we walk against God’s commandments and when we walk with God. If we are in sin during the battle, we will lose, but if we repent and seek the Lord, He will deliver us with little hurt. But if we are walking in the ways of the Lord God and we go into battle and we rely on the Lord. We will win and come out with the spoils of war.

The major way the enemy will attack you is by you.  In other words, the enemy will attack you by using any weakness within you.  Evil studies us until it can determine if there is a weakness within us in order to exploit the weakness. If evil thinks that it can trip you up, it will.  Once evil has tripped you, then evil will laugh at your fall. An example from my life would be using a credit card for a "want" when I am desiring to get out of debt.  Debt is a bondage.  Lets say a received a coupon in the mail for 25% off of everything at my favorite store.  A temptation arises within you to "save" your way out of debt when truthfully you don't really need the items on sale. You can conquered the desire to overspend with a stronger desire to get out of debt the temptation is no longer within, it is without.  If you study the coupon instead of immediately throwing it out, temptation will push against you with thoughts that you can save some money, or you really do need something, that you really don't need. How can we overcome these temptation within and without, but prayer, quoting the Word of God, or calling on the name of Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus will help you if you ask him.  He wants to help you. 

Once we overcome our own desires we need to overcome the desires in other people. A "weakness" in a person close to you can influence you.  In 1 Kings chapter 13, a prophet was told by God to cry out against the idolatry in Israel.  God told the man of God not to eat bread or drink water in Israel and not to return by the way you came.  After the man of God spoke out against idolatry in Israel, the King's asked the man of God  to eat with him.  The man of God replied if you give me half of your kingdom I can not go back with you for the God said not to eat, drink, or return the way I came.  The man of God was leaving Israel when a prophet like himself approached him and said go back with me and eat, the man of God said, no because God said no.  The old prophet lied to the man of God and said God has changed his mind come back with me and dine with me.  The man of God returned with the old prophet and died in Israel for disobeying God.  When we have overcome our weakness, we must overcome our peers weaknesses if we are to walk victoriously. 

The next level of attack would be directed at our spirits. An example of this is when a person who has a highly developed spirit seduces our human spirits and forms a bond with our spirits.  This is spiritual adultery. God Almighty should always be the desire of our spirits.  Our spirits should hungry and thirst for God only, not another human spirit, or an evil spirit.  Once an ungodly bond is made with our spirits, our soul will fight the union because we wish to please God, but we feel that God is somehow in the union because our spirits, which we rely on to communion with God, is in error.  We should be spirit controlled only while are our spirits are being guided by the Holy Spirit.  God has given us a mind and our minds need to be engaged in the decision making process. 

A person can spend years in training their soul to follow after the prompting of their spirits.  Never considering that their spirits could ever be in error.  Our spirits desire to serve God but in the case of Spiritual Rape.  Our spirits are no longer under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they are under the influence of the spirit who raped them. Our spirit can still decide to do the right thing, but it will be harder.  If we love Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father above everyone else, then God will give us the grace to break free if we ask Him to help us.  Love never fails have much love for God.

The world situation is not getting any better, therefore we his people have to get better.  The glory of the Lord upon us has to be brighter than the gross darkness of the world.  How do we accomplish that by abiding in Christ Jesus.  When we get our flesh life - our actions - and our thought life - our minds and emotions in line with the Word of God, then God's spiritual can dwell in the spiritual plane above us.  We can not achieve holiness on our own.  It is impossible.  We can be holy for short periods of time when we are seeking the Lord, but if we spent any considerable time in the world without Jesus in our thoughts we are bound to slip up.  The only solutions is to rely on Lord Jesus Christ and his grace.  Obey him in the little things that we have power over and he will give you victory in the bigger temptations that we have no power over.

In 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication.  Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.  According to the Book of Noah, it was sexual sin that caused the flood. The angels of heaven transgressed the word of the Lord.  And behold they commit sin and transgress the law, and have united themselves with women and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begot children by them.  And they shall produce on the earth giants not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh, and there shall be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth shall be cleansed from all impurity.    

The key to winning in a battles or trial is to do what David did.  An David say bring me an ephod, and David inquired of the Lord. And David obeyed the Lord and David had many victories.  An Ephod is a priestly garment. In the New Testament we are told to put on Christ.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to (fulfill) the lusts (thereof).

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