First off, what is spiritual warfare? Well basically, it’s when anyone inherits the privilege of knowing God intimately, and because of that, we inherit His enemies who seek to try and destroy God and His creation even though it always will fail. Satan is His enemy; a fallen angel who comes only to seek, kill and destroy, like a thief in the night. He wants to destroy God Himself, to destroy God’s beautiful creation, and to try and rule over the universe; however, there is one problem with his plan: NO ONE can defeat or even hope to ever overcome OUR GOD! In this, we can truly take victory and comfort because we are His children, co-heirs of Christ and we will be protected by Him in every way! Satan may be superior to mankind in strength and intellect, BUT he is inferior to God in EVERY single way! In order to help us stand against Satan and his schemes, God gifted us with His armor:
1) The Belt of Truth buckled around your waist (Eph. 6:14) The waist is considered to be the seat of emotions. Now that I truly think about it, whenever I feel emotions (typically nervousness in the butterflies in your tummy way), it seems to come out of my abdominal area first. In order to fight/equip in this way, you must commit your emotions to hearing and believing Truth. We tend to believe lies out of fear and/or self-pity, but we mustn’t allow our emotions to rule over our thoughts regardless of the repercussions.
Above: Some God and I time in the midst of the blizzard. This was taken right before I went in for a deliverance session with the women on leadership during our debrief. It was a special time indeed, and hopefully something I can expand on in a future blog!
2) Breast-plate of Righteousness in place. (Eph. 6:14) The breast area is where most people believe our soul to reside, carefully nestled right underneath. Our heart must stay pure and righteous, which is why God tells us to have Scripture “written on our hearts” while we are trusting Him to continuously guard them. Giving confession and forgiveness as soon as it’s needed is the BEST way to keep our hearts light and freed from those past chains, purified in Him.
3) With your feet fitted with the Readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace. (Eph. 6:15) Proper shoes allow us to go any place efficiently and safely, so we must choose our shoes carefully. To have the Gospel of Peace on our feet is to be prepared to effectively spread the Good News, His Testimony, His Word and Love out to every person, delivering a message of peace, love, hope and reconciliation!
”How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” ~Isaiah 52:7
4) Take up the Shield of Faith. (Eph 6:16) The wicked one is the one whom sends fiery arrows and darts at us in order to scare, hurt or intimidate us so that we turn away from God and His ways. Satan’s goal is to instill doubt, fear and guilt, BUT, this Shield of Faith is able to block out these false accusations and show us that God is in control and will ALWAYS fight for us.
5) Take and put on the Helmet of Salvation. (Eph. 6:17) A helmet guards our brain in which, holds all of our thoughts. This is meant to serve as a blockade against Satan, effectively putting a filter on our thoughts as well as becoming an assurance that our salvation is sealed in Christ and His epic love sacrifice! Any insecurities and doubts will not be able to get in because they won’t get past how God feels about us, His children.
6) Take up the Sword of the Spirit. (Eph. 6:17) This is the only offensive weapon God used against Satan, so this (and God Himself of course) is the only weapon we will wield against Satan. The Word of God is a powerful, formidable weapon; it is powerful, effective and instructive, perfect for fighting in offense against Satan.
Above: The biggest snowstorm in Istanbul, Turkey’s history; apparently, they got 5 years worth of snowfall in one night. Also, it can apparently thunder and lightning in a snowstorm too! There’s a first time for everything I suppose!
7) Praying in the Spirit on all occasions. (Eph. 6:18) Prayer is literally our constant communication to God, so we have to keep those channels open and ready. We must be able to receive encouragement and instruction from our Leader and this is a PRIMARY, fairly important, wave of communication to Him. Praying is also important and effective for others around us because not only are they His children, but they are also fellow warriors; iron sharpens iron, so please, pray for one another and share in each others’ burdens. His truth can/will set us free! But, only if we choose to listen and adhere to it as well. Prayer is effective, powerful, healing and the BEST form of praise to God because of what it CAN do because of Him. (James 5:16)
”I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me in garments of his salvation and arranged me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praises spring up before all nations.” ~Isaiah 61:10-11
We must always be sure to confess/repent back to God so that he can forgive us and purify us, in turn, causing us to grow in Him. (1 John 1:9) We are to go out among the nations and preach a message of peace, love and reconciliation, baptizing those who say yes so that they can be brought to Jesus through a symbolic resurrection, and then show them how to continue in this next season of getting to know their Savior and telling everyone around them of His Good News! (Matthew 28:19-20) Satan was already defeated by God once, hurled from Heaven into the pit of hell where he now resides; God can always defeat him again! (Revelation 12:10) You must believe that He exists, that He loves us and will fight for us, that he wants to bless us (and he CAN do so) abundantly and so much more. We must fully trust in Him and his goodness. (Hebrews 11:6)
Through the passionate, brutal, loving death of our perfect, flawless Savior, we have the gift of eternal life; we will receive that gift and be assured of having it once we truly accept Him and what He says. (1 John 5:11-13) Memorize His Word and believe everything he has said/written because it is 100%, absolute truth! Satan is pesky, BUT he is not sly and he always uses the same tricks over and over again; like Jesus, if you know Scripture well, you can use it to fight Satan because at the end of the day, he has no power over us because we BELONG to God! (Luke 4:1-13) The Word searches our thoughts and the attitudes of our heart even though the Bible doesn’t have actual hands; the Word is another name for Jesus though, and He DOES have hands, so he can/will prod through those thoughts, searching deep within our heart. This is a privilege! (Hebrews 4:12) The Word is ALL from God and it is all useful in equipping, teaching, correcting and training themselves and each other in order to do ALL the good works given to us BY God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Below: Beautiful Selçuk,Turkey, with not a speck of snow in sight! We will be doing ministry in this beautiful town for the next month, and we’ve already been here for a little over a week.
