Spiritual Warfare.. What the Scripture says.. Do you buy it?

A target is a mark to shoot at, an object of ridicule or criticism and a goal to be achieved. Did you know that you were a target of God’s arch enemy, Satan? We are all on his hit list. No one is exempt. He has you set as a mark to shoot at as often as he possibly can and he will use any kind of weapon he can to get to you. 1 Peter 5:8 says: Be sober, be vigilant (alert); because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.




Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:12 to fight the good fight of faith. This is a fight. It is a spiritual fight. It is a fight of faith. We are not fighting things we can see but things we can not see. Ephesians 6:12 says: 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.



A principality is the position, territory or jurisdiction of a prince. Power has quite a few meanings. Several of which are (1) a position of authority over others (2) one that has control (3) a physical might (4) force or energy used to do work. A ruler is someone who rules or governs over something, someone or someplace. Darkness is the absence of light. Things are done secretly in darkness because no one can see it being done until it is too late. There are evil spirits that do wicked things in heavenly places. Wicked is morally bad, evil, sinful. These evil spirits are fierce, vicious, repugnant, vile, harmful and dangerous. They operate in high places or heavenly places, in the spiritual realm.



In Daniel 10:12-20, Daniel had been fasting and praying for twenty one days, waiting on a word from God. Then, twenty one days later, an angel appeared to Daniel with the answer. The angel told Daniel that God heard him when he first prayed twenty one days ago and God had sent him right then with the answer. The prince of the kingdom of Persia stood against the angel, fighting with him, trying to keep him from bringing the answer to Daniel’s prayer. When Michael, one of the leading princes came to help the other angel, he was able to get through. Many times we never realize the actual source of the enemy’s attacks. We blame circumstances and people. We waste our energy fighting natural conditions instead of supernatural causes and it doesn’t do us any good. We just become more frustrated.



In Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27, it mentions the heavens and the heaven of heavens. Many people get confused about God’s angels and evil angels fighting in heaven. What they don’t understand is that God’s Word teaches there are three different areas of heaven. (1) The heaven where God lives (2) The steller heavens which is what we call outer space and (3) The heavens around this earth which is the atmosphere surrounding this planet. The last heaven is where spiritual war takes place. Ephesians 2:2 says: Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. The air is where wicked spirits operate. These wicked spirits can hinder our prayers. They can’t stop them, but, they can impede there progress, hold them back, obstruct them and block them temporarily.



Satan would have you to think that God doesn’t hear your prayers, He doesn’t answer prayer anymore or maybe that your prayers can’t get any higher than the ceiling. The truth is that He lives inside of you and your prayers do not have to get any higher than the ceiling. He hears you when you pray. He knows every move you make. He even knows how many hairs you have on your head.



Satan starts out targeting us when we are young, sometimes even before we are born. He targeted Jesus when He was a baby. He knew what God had planned for Jesus to do on this earth and he set out to stop it. All through the Old Testament, it was predicted or foretold that a Savior was coming. In Matthew, Chapter 2, it tells of how the wise men knew Jesus had been born because they saw His star in the East. They wanted to worship Him. King Herod heard about that and was troubled (verse 3). I believe that Satan took this opportunity to send a wicked spirit of maybe jealousy to King Herod. King Herod probably thought about the Wise Men wanting to worship the King of the Jews instead of him and it opened a door for a spirit of jealousy to come in and possibly anger, fear, resentment and other things. Satan had targeted Jesus and was using King Herod to try and stop what God was sending Him to do. The King ordered all of the boy babies two years old and under to be killed. God protected Jesus. He sent an angel to warn Joseph in a dream and they moved to Egypt until after King Herod died.



Angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. God gave them charge over us to watch us and keep us in all of our ways. They hearken to the voice of God’s Word. Evil angels, wicked spirits, devils and demons are all the same. They are evil spirits sent forth to do evil to the heirs of salvation. Their job is to steal, to kill and to destroy and to do whatever damage they can. They hearken to Satan’s voice. Hebrews 13:8 says: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change. I have a feeling that Satan does not change either. If he came against people in the times of Christ with his demonic spirits, he still does today.



Satan is not just sitting around doing nothing. He is exerting spiritual force to try and injure us, abuse us, steal from us, kill us or destroy us. He will even use false prophets and deceitful workers who try to act like they are apostles of Christ. This is done to try and lead us astray. We have to beware of this because Satan will transform himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).



The Apostle Paul was definitely a target of Satan’s. 2 Corinthians 12:7 says: And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. The Word plainly tells us that the thorn given to Paul was a messenger from Satan. This messenger of Satan was sent to stop Paul from preaching the Word of God because Paul had received an abundance of revelations from God. Paul was doing many mighty works for the Lord. People were being born again every day. He laid hands on the sick and they were healed (Acts 28:8-9). He caused a young man that fell out of a window and died to come back to life again. He laid hands on people and they received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul (Acts 9:11). He established churches (Acts 16:5). He casts out spirits (Acts 16:18). He did many mighty works for the Lord.



To wreak means to inflict. Havoc means devastation; wide and general destruction; and slaughter. Paul was wreaking great havoc in Satan’s kingdom. Satan didn’t like it so he sent this messenger of his to try and stop Paul. You can see this same messenger of Satan’s causing problems for Paul all through the book of Acts. He worked to incite the people against Paul. To incite means to move to action by impulse or influence. He caused Paul to be imprisoned, to be beaten three times, stoned one time, shipwrecked three times and snake bit (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).



No matter how hard the messenger of Satan tried to stop Paul, he could not. 2 Timothy 3:11 says: the Lord delivered him out of them all. Thorn in the flesh is a figure of speech. If someone was causing us alot of problems and we were aggravated at them, we might call them a pain in the neck. In Numbers 33:55, the Lord told Moses that if the Israelites did not drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, those inhabitants would vex them (annoy, distress, irritate and torment) and be pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides. In the same way, Paul describes this evil angel as a thorn in his side.



Matthew 11:12 says: And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. Violence is exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse. It is also an intense or furious, often destructive action or force. What is in the Kingdom of God? Righteousness, peace, joy, love, forgiveness, understanding, prosperity, generosity, salvation, etc. In Satan’s kingdom, it is just the opposite. There is evil, strife, confusion, fear, poverty, doubt, unbelief, sickness, disease, pain, greed, unforgiveness, rebellion, jealousy, temper, anger, profanity, depression, I could go on and on. Luke 22:31-32 says: And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. We serve the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven. It is up to us to get violent with the kingdom of Satan. We have to take back by the force of faith what Satan has taken from us, whether it be our children, our finances, our employment, our health, the hopes and dreams that God has put into our hearts or anything else. When our faith is strong enough to stand against Satan’s kingdom and all of his evil forces that are coming against us, we are able to help others that are going through the same things we have been through.
 
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