There is a truth that we are in a war that has been waged since Adam and Eve
Battles are lost before they are fought
  • Not because most of us are unwilling, but we don’t know how
There is a battle that we are waging, whether we recognize it or not
This battle is called “SPIRITUAL WARFARE”
  • SAY “IM IN A BATTLE”
We need a BALANCED VIEW
  • Not too far to one side or the other
One side says that’s all a bit weird
One side says that’s it’s everywhere all the time
  • We need to be somewhere in the middle…
As Humans (Created in God’s image), We also have an enemy who wants nothing more than to derail, detour and destroy you (John 10).
Jesus says….
John 10:10
10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
In a war, the enemy has weapons that are often easy to identify
    • Bullets, bombs, mines, Gas, Fire, etc
But not the same in Spiritual warfare
  • Our enemy has gotten good at using the tools at his disposal to steal, kill and destroy what our God loves most (us)
Early followers of Jesus understood how important that was to know…
Peter said….
1 Peter 5
8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
Our enemy knows our story. He knows how and what takes us out
  • Do you ever notice how you seem to fail and fall and the worst time, and often to the same thing
    • Our enemy is looking for agreements and footholds to trap us into his lies
Here is the truth
Jesus has authority on heaven and on earth
  • The war is won, but battles still rage
  • Each of us are called to take part in bringing the Kingdom of God to the world
The battlefield is our HEARTS and MINDS
How to fight spiritual warfare with your prayer…

1: Understand the nature of the battle

Ephesians 6
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.
We are not fighting a normal battle, so it will not take normal means
Story in Daniel
  • Daniel was in mourning, most likely because of his people captivity
  • He had been fasting and prayer for 3 full weeks to hear from God
  • Finally, had a breakthrough in a vision of Jesus in His glorified form
  • Was so powerful that it took all his strength and make him afraid
This is what the angel said
Daniel 10
12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
The angel had been held up for the whole time Daniel was praying
Last week we talked about being persistent with our prayers
  • What if Daniel had given up
  • He would have missed out on this incredible experience
This also means that the Spiritual Realm (God’s Space) and The Physical Realm  (Our Space) is linked and woven together
  • Not up there and down here
The Spiritual Realm affects what goes on here and Visa Versa
God wants us involved in what is he doing in the world
  • That means that we are active agents going against the “Prince of the World”
“Without God we cannot, and without us, He will not.” ~ Augustine
  • God works his power and Authority through us as his agents of Change in the world
It’s natural to wonder why God doesn’t just do away with Satan
  • One day he will
But for now, he is calling us to be a part of HIS kingdom
So…
We are in a Battle
That battle happens in the Spiritual realm

2: Know the enemies weapons

His weapons are outlined in scripture, but it is also usually recognizable to us
  • Lies
Jesus said…
John 8
44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Satan Means – Deceiver
  • He cannot harm us, but he can lie to us
  • He is really good at it
How do those “LIES” affect us?
Through agreements and strongholds
Spiritual Agreements: Accepting the lie the enemy is telling you
  • Like a binding contract
  • Walking in agreement with the lie Satan has given us
Example:
  • Adam and Eve in the garden
  • You don’t have to forgive them. They don’t deserve it…
  • You’re just not good enough, you will never be…
  • That belongs to you. They owe that to you…
  • If I had that, then everyone will love me…
  • No one will ever know. This only affects me…
  • This is who I am! This is my identity…
  • They will never understand me…
  • I am all alone. I will never be loved…
Agreements start as temptations
  • You don’t have to believe those lies
  • Each one could be fought off with scripture
Agreements lead to strongholds
Spiritual Strongholds: A habitual pattern of thought, built into one’s thought life.
  • “Strongholds are mental habit patterns of thought that are not consistent with God’s Word.” ~ Neil Anderson
But we are not without hope…
Paul Says…
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take(Present Tense) every thought captive to obey Christ.
Take every thought captive
  • All of this begins in your mind
You are in a battle for your mind
  • for the minds of you children
  • teach them these things
How to break mental stronghold through prayer…
On a piece of paper, pray and write out any agreements and strongholds you believe have to hold in your life…
Breaking Mental Strongholds Prayer: From “The Bondage Breaker” by Neil T. Anderson
Dear heavenly Father, You are present in this room and in my life. You alone are all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present, and I worship You alone. I declare my dependency upon You, for apart from You I can do nothing. I choose to believe Your word, which teaches that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to the resurrected Christ, and being alive in Christ I have the authority to resist the devil as I submit to You. I ask that You fill me with Your Holy Spirit and guide me into all truth. I ask for Your complete protection and guidance as I seek to know You and do Your will. In the wonderful name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Prayer Of Declaration:
In the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command Satan and all evil spirits to release their hold on me in order that I can be free to know and choose to do the will of God. As a child of God who is seated with Christ in the heavenly places, I declare that every enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ that is in my presence be bound. God has not given me a spirit of fear, therefore, I reject any and all condemning, accusing, blasphemous, and deceiving spirits of fear (also insert current struggles/temptations). Satan and his demons cannot inflict any pain or in any way prevent God’s will from being done in my life today because I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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