War is very controversial today in the physical realm, especially a kinetic war. Those attitudes, beliefs and convictions will transfer over to the spiritual realm too. However, whatever our opinion, there is an ongoing battle in the spiritual realm and at stake is the future of humanity. We are either victors or victims for there is a spiritual war ongoing for the heart of man, as the forces of evil want to turn us away from God and separate us from Him.
Our adversary is very real. Just not a flesh and blood person but a malevolent spirit being. However, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the demons.
Both are bad news - the second one, more so. The majority of professing Christians are largely ignorant of both. Because ..
The good news: The devil has already been defeated. Jesus Christ did it on the cross
Our role in it: To administer the defeat
Being a defeated foe, the devil is but a toothless tiger. Satan has no authority over us now, unless we give it to him through unnecessary thoughts which translates into action.
Although God is not the author of evil, He is a redeemer, who uses bad and even terrible things to accomplish good purposes and carry out His plans.
And that goes for the devil too.
How to go about it
The Bible says - “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” [James 4:7; KJV]
I) Recognizing It Exists
Genuinely examine your heart. For this strong Faith is virtually mandatory - “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” [Romans 1:17; KJV]
II) Recognizing the signs
It is almost impossible to list out all of the signs. However, they all have a general tendency to distance man from his creator, to take life more complacently and to take a more materialistic approach to life. I list a few of them:
- Unusual Temptations - “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [Matthew 26:41; KJV]
- Persistent Doubts and Fears - “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” [Isaiah 41:10; KJV]
- Physical Exhaustion - “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” [Isaiah 40:29; KJV]
The devil uses our mental space as his battlefield to wage war against us. He is a defeated foe and the only weapon left to him is bluff. However, he is a past master at it.
III) Recognizing the source
Demons are real persons, they just do not have bodies. Jesus invariably treated demons as persons. Scriptural evidence points to evil spirits having will, emotion, knowledge, self-awareness, conscience and the ability to speak.
IV) Proclamation
Proclamation is the activity of a herald.
The “them” mentioned here are the evil spirits and “the judgement written” are the relevant verses in scripture. We do not possess the authority to make our own judgement. And the demonic hordes know that fully well. Thus we have to know the verses of the scripture like the back of our hand. During His temptation in the desert, the Lord Jesus Christ replied to each temptation with verses from Deuteronomy.
IV) Biblical Fasting
The evil spirits use the flesh and its fallibilities to tempt is to sin. Abstention from anything that we crave and enjoy and using that time to focus on God and the Bible, brings the flesh under our control.
Satan will use the world, the flesh, and others to steal our hearts and minds away from God.
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