It is through the unrenewed areas of thinking that the devil continues to exert his foul influence upon you.
The consistent renewal of our minds with the word of God will eradicate wrong thinking, wrong believing, scars from the past and hurtful, emotional memories that would exert their influence on our new life in christ.
Spiritual warfare is more than just dealing with the devil, one other major element of spiritual warfare is taking control of our minds and crucifying the flesh.
the devil is our enemy and our other enemy is a carnal mind our own flesh
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind
Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with Grace in your hearts to the Lord.
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.
As we give our minds to the word of God, the word itself begins to build a measure of deliverance, safety, preservation, soundness of mind, and healing into our lives on every level.
important keys
: Renewing our mind
: Meditating on the word of God until it get's into our heart and soul
: Learning to live a Holy Life
: seeking to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ on a day to day basis
: learning how to walk after the spirit
we need to allow the word of God to permanently and habitually lodge in our hearts, that the word so transforms our minds that when we pray, we do so in accordance with God's will
it is important to have a renewed mind and to be mentally prepared and alert to the way the enemy operates.
satan's attacks are specifically designed to catch you off guard and to take you by suprise.
mental preparation removes the element of suprise, and this will give you the upper hand against the enemy
Any time we are on the frontlines of battle and are doing something significant for the Kingdom of God, the enemy's attack against our life will escalate.
when we walk in Righteousness, we wear a weapon of offense against the enemy's slanderous accusations and insidious strategies.
spiritual warfare comes in two ways : offensive and defensive
Offensive warfare is tearing down strongholds the enemy has formed in our mind through deception and accusations.
Defensive warfare is guarding ourself against the tatics or schemes of the devil.
A stronghold is deception that has taken hold in a person's mind. it's a incorrect thinking pattern based on a believed lie.
strongholds are based on lies from the devil, they can come in the form of deception or accusations that always lead to guilt and the feelings of unworthiness, which weighs you down and tears you apart spiritually
strongholds are the devil's assets in war, and he uses them against us.
Take up the sword of the spirit ( God's word) today and start slaughtering the enemy's assets that he has been using against you.
we have two weapons to deal with deception
The belt of Truth and the sword of the spirit . the belt of Truth is a defensive weapon , a belt is something you wear to guard against attack
the sword of the spirit is an offensive weapon , a sword is used to slaughter the enemy
we use the belt of Truth to guard against the enemy's deception and lies
we use the sword of the spirit to tear down existing strongholds any deception that took hold in our mind.
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
God's word is Living active power, His word is a Lamp unto our feet, a sword in the day of battle.
Pslams 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
The word of God is our guide and Foundation
we need to learn how to take our understanding of the word of God and turn it into a '' sword of the spirit ''
we need to grab hold of the faith that we possess and turn it into a '' shield of faith ''
we need to take the understanding of God's marvelous Grace and transform it into a '' breastplate of righteousness ''
put on the whole armour of God, it is vital for us to remain in unbroken fellowship with the Lord in order for us to continually enjoy the benefits of our spiritual armour. if we break fellowship with the Lord, we step away from our all important power source. as long as our fellowship with the Lord is unbroken the power source for our spiritual weaponry remains intact. check your shield and make sure there are no cracks
3 primary weapons of the enemy are (1) deception (2) Temptation (3) Accusations
3 things the devil is always trying to do is (1) steal (2) kill (3) destroy
Satan uses temptation to gain access into our lives. temptation. Sin gives the devil a place in our lives, and temptation is the method Satan uses to encourage us to give him that place. In Ephesians 4:27, we are warned not to give place to the devil in our lives:
"Neither give place to the devil."
Satan had no place in Eve, so he went about tempting her so she would give him a place. She fell for it and it gave the devil more than a place, it gave him the world!
When Satan wants more legal grounds in our lives, we can expect some temptations to come your way. That's his way of getting us to fail and give him a place to operate. The moment we fail and sin, it is important to quickly turn from those sins and repent so that we can be forgiven and the legal ground removed.
Temptations lure us into opening a door for the enemy. If we take the bait and sin, a door is open for the enemy to gain access into our lives.
Accusations can open the door to the demonic if we let it, because it's goal is to pull a person down spiritually and cause them to hold their past against them self, which is unforgiveness and as many of us know, unforgiveness is a full blown 'legal right' to the demonic.
Deception is where the enemy can try to torment us through our thought lives, and cause us to believe things that are not true.
The enemy often tries to deceive people into believing that God doesn't love them, when in reality, God's love for them is so rich that He sent His son Jesus to die for us! You can't demonstrate your love for somebody in a much stronger and real way than laying down your life for them. As Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
The truth is, deception only torments a person to the degree that they allow it to when they listen to what the enemy has been feeding them.
Spiritual warfare is real and can cause some torment through deception if a person takes the bait and listens to what the enemy has been telling them
The Bible tells us that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against demonic forces. Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The three primary things we struggle against include:
#1 Deception: To deceive somebody means to make another person believe a lie or something that is not true. When the enemy sends deception your way, it is an attempt to deceive you into believing something that is not true, so you will fall into error. Strongholds are built through deception. A stronghold is formed when deception takes hold in a person's mind. A stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern that stems from believing something that is not true.
From the very beginning, Satan deceived Eve into believing that God's Word was not true. In Genesis 3:4, the devil told her that she will not surely die as God said she would in Genesis 2:17.
#2 Temptation: Temptation often follows deception. First the enemy tells us, "You won't surely die!", then he makes the fruit on the forbidden tree look good to us. Since Eve accepted Satan's deception (his lie), now the tree that she was not supposed to touch looked good to her. She was tempted (enticed) to sin, because she allowed herself to first be deceived. Temptation is when we are enticed or encouraged to sin in one way or another.
In Matthew 4, Jesus was led out in the desert to be tempted by the devil. The devil tried to convince Jesus that it would be harmless to jump off a building. Often people will be so drawn to sex with their boyfriend/girlfriend when the enemy tries to convince them that it is all harmless and fun, when it's not harmless at all, but an open door to the devil. Jesus saw through Satan's deception, and resisted the temptation by speaking God's Word. King David said in Psalms 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
When the enemy tempts you, he's showing you the worm... but behind that worm is a hook. The Word of God helps you see the hook behind the worm.
#3 Accusations: The devil is known as the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10). He is known to take a believer who has done an embarrassing or gross sin in their past, and continue to rub it in their faces and beat them down with guilt and condemnation over their past.
Dealing with temptation
In James 4:7, we are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us. But it's not that simple; in the same verse, we are also told to draw near to God. Dealing with temptation is a two fold process of resisting the devil and drawing near to God. The closer you get to God and the more you become aware of His love, the less power temptation will have over you.
James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (The context of those verse is clearly speaking of temptation).
Dealing with accusations
The fiery darts of the enemy in Ephesians 6:16 are accusations sent our way. For example, when the devil tries to accuse us of our past sins, we are to have faith in the work of the cross and know that they are forgiven and not to look back. Faith is what we use to put out the fiery darts of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16). We are not to meditate about our pasts, because they have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17), and our sins have been forgotten (Hebrews 10:17).
Ephesians 6:14, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth (knowing your sins have been forgiven through your faith in the work on the cross), and having on the breastplate of righteousness (not our righteousness obviously, but the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus);"
Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), but because of the work of the cross, we can receive the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22, Galatians 3:6). Therefore when the enemy tries to remind you of your past, tell him it's been washed away (2 Corinthians 5:17), your sins have been forgotten (Hebrews 10:17) and you have the righteousness of God (Romans 3:22)!
Remember this : prayer plugs us into the power source, prayer connects us to God and allows His power to flow to us in any situation. our source of power is the Holy spirit and God's word
walking in the spirit assures victory, we walk and war in His strength, the word of God is the source of wisdom, we operate in God's wisdom to defeat the power of hell
constant prayer is constant connection and protection, our position in christ is high above all pricipality and power .
we have been given divinely empowered weapons to resist the enemy's attacks and maintain the blessing of salvation.
2 Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
The word '' devices '' is taken from the word ( noemata) which is derived from the word ( nous)
The word nous is the greek word for mind or intellect. However the form noemata as used by paul in 2 corinthians 2:11 , carries the idea of a deceived mind. specifically, this word noemanta denotes the insidious and malevolent plot of satan to fill the human mind with confusion.
The word ( noemata) actually depicts the insidious plots and wicked schemes of satan to attack and victimize the human mind.
we should not be ignorant to the mind games satan tried to pull on us.
Paul knew from experience about the mind games the devil tries to pull on people
it was for this very reason that paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ
the devil loves to make a playground out of people's minds . the devil delights in filling people's emotions and senses with illusions that captivate their minds and ultimately destroys them.
trials will strengthen our relationship with the Lord. sometimes it may seem really hard to pray, but that's because the devil he always targets our communication with God because prayer plugs us into the powersource, like plugging a lamp into a outlet. satan knows if he can hit your communication and stop your from praying then it will be easier for him to entice you and get you to take his bait and its like fishing when the fish takes the bait we set the hook to catch it let it die and eat it. same thing satan does when we take the bait he tries to set the hook so he can steal kill destroy
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