Thursday, January 30, 2025

Peter walks on Water: Walking in Authority in Spiritual Warfare



A friend of mine has been going through some very difficult things recently. He grew up on the streets, selling drugs, drinking, and for many years that was his life. He was on the run, causing trouble, messing around with life. But slowly, God got ahold of his heart. It took years and years. But it finally happened. He started attending a church in town, helping with the various ministries, bible study, men’s choir, and so on. And just recently he finally decided to get baptized.

And as he came to the day, he faced attacks from the enemy, attempting to stop it from happening. Then the day came and he went under the waters and came out a new man. And in the days after, the enemy has continued his attacks on this transformation, to stop it in it’s tracks.

The word of God tells us that the entire world is in the power of the evil one. And the evil one has many demons working for him. The demons have various ranks, from low ranking demons assigned to attack different people, to high ranking demons that are considered powers and authorities over various regions. Much like our communities are divided up by state, county, and city, demonic powers have areas which they have authority over on the Earth.

And in those areas, they seek to prevent humans from becoming followers of Jesus the Nazarene.

The attacks they are able to levy against humans are limited. They couldn’t necessary just send a group of people to kill someone who was about to become a Christian. But demons are able to influence other humans in various ways. They can influence someone to be rude to us, or to flirt with us, or to tempt us to do something wrong.

The enemy can send people to us, who could trip us up. The enemy can also send demons to us to whisper to us, lie to us, and attempt to get us caught in sin.

That would probably best explain the enemy’s goal, to get you caught in sins. And at all costs, to keep you away from Christians, the church or anything that might melt your heart toward Jesus.

My friend finds himself in the midst of the spiritual battle. He made a decision to give his life to Christ and the enemy first attempted to prevent that day from coming, but now after, he seeks to uproot him from it, and bring him back to the world of sin.

Yet God at the same time is protecting him, wooing him, encouraging him, and using fellow Christians to strengthen him.

This is the spiritual battle that we face each day. And in this series we’ve been addressing how to engage in and win the battle.

You can open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3, and we’ll see someone who is experiencing his own serious spiritual battles.

Starting in verse 1: “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—”

His name was Paul, and he wrote much of the New Testament, including the letter to the Ephesians, which we’ve been going through the last few weeks.

Did you notice what Paul wrote? A prisoner, of Christ Jesus. Did you know that Paul was in prison when we wrote this letter to the church at Ephesus?

It’s true. He was imprisoned in Rome, the dating is approximately AD 60-62. Now that is spiritual warfare. Paul had so faithfully spread the good news about Jesus that the enemy had to try to lock him away in jail.

We see the purpose here, for the sake of you Gentiles. When the Bible talks about gentiles, who is that referring to? I remember growing up Catholic and they would talk about the gentiles and I was like who is that? Gentile is a term used by Jews to describe non-jews. So when you see that in the Bible, it just means someone who is not Jewish. So basically, you and me.

Next it says, “2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.”

Paul speaks about mysteries made known to him by revelation. In our spiritual warfare battles we will find that God will reveal things to us about what is really going on. But we have to ask Him.

God is always nudging me, letting me know, you need to pray for this person. Many times I’m sure you’ve even had God wake you up in the night to pray for someone. Do it, because it’s very needed in the moment. If someone keeps coming to mind, pray for them. And if God tells you to, even call them or find some way to connect with them.

God is revealing things to us always, if we are intimately connected with Him. He does this in so many interesting ways. God recently spoke to me through a movie of all things. He nudged me to write down some things from my past, ancient memories of some very bad things that happened to me when I was young. God prompted me to write, and cry, and confess, and heal from it. He tied together all these memories that have stuck with me for years, and showed me, these are signs of something that happened to you when you were very young, that damaged you greatly.

He takes us on journeys of healing, all of this is a practice that God does, revealing mysteries to Christians, through a process called revelation. Revelation, that word means revealing. God reveals things. Sometimes God keeps showing me something in scripture or just in my mind and I have to pray and ask God, “Why do you keep showing me that Lord?”

Do you want to experience the next level of revelation? Do a 21 Daniel fast where you only eat fruits and vegetables. Do a full fast for one day, or three days, or more. Fasting and seeking God’s heart is very powerful.

Yet Paul is referring to a different mystery here in Ephesians 3.

The mystery is, verses 4-6: "In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”

The mystery Paul discovered through the Holy Spirit is that Jews and Gentiles would together, as one family, share in the promises of Christ Jesus. That’s true for us today. People of all nations who turn to Jesus all will inherit the kingdom of God.

People from every tribe and nation were standing before the throne of God in the book of Revelation. Every tribe, every nation, from Kenya and Nigeria to Egypt and Turkey to China and Korea, to the Philippines, Japan, France, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, and even the good ol USA.

And there are demonic powers and authorities over every nation there, attempting to promote false religions, attempting to block the spread of the teaching about Jesus, and attempting to stifle Christians. Yet God is at work, with angelic armies, and guardian angels and His infinite power, working to bring people to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In spiritual warfare we must understand that the battlefield is the entire planet of Earth, every nation, and more specifically, the real battlefield is every single person ever born. They are the battlefield. You are the battlefield.

Next, verse Ephesians 3:7: "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.”

What kind of attitude should we have as we fight our spiritual battles? We should see ourselves as recipients of God’s grace. It is God’s power working in us. We are not warlocks or witches casting spells or conjuring power within ourselves. We are praying to God, talking to God, seeing what God is doing through revelation, and then acting in alignment with God’s power. Then God’s power flows through us.

We discover what God wants us to do, whether it’s praying for someone, finding rest, ministering to someone, fasting, enjoying a beautiful sunrise, reading a particular scripture or book, enjoying a fun outing with our children, or taking a particular pathway in our life. We will know through talking to God what it is he wants us to do, then we act on it.

And as we act in His will, we see the power of God flow through us to others. Simple example: God nudges us to pray for healing for someone. We respond and go up to them, offer to pray for them, God then enters the situation and as we pray, God heals them. Do you see it? We watch God work through us, we don’t conjure it ourselves.

God nudges us to cast out a demon, so we begin to pray and rebuke the demon and bind it and cast it out in Jesus name, and God brings the power into the situation, God’s power responds to our request, which God inspired us to do, mind you, and then the demon is removed.

This is how God’s system works. The Holy Spirit is not “the force” from Star Wars that obeys our commands. Rather, we obey God’s commands, and as we act in alignment with God, the power of God flows through us to bringing healing, overcoming, salvation, or victory over demonic powers.

That’s an attitude of the mind, of following the leading of God, and letting God work through us, as we walk in alignment with His will.

Let’s look more at what attitude we should have in spiritual warfare: Ephesians 3:8, "Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ”

Paul, who is regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the Christian church for the last two thousand years, how does he view himself? As a powerhouse Christian soldier? No. He calls himself the least of all the Lord’s people.

In our spiritual battles we must have an attitude of intense humility. Not false humility, not pretending we are humble but actually being prideful. No, we should be deeply humble, deeply dependent on God. Pride is a deadly enemy, keep it in check by believing we are the least of God’s servants.

Next, Ephesians 3:9, "...and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things."

We see that God is making clear to everyone how the mystery is to come into the real world. How would it be that Jews and Gentiles would come together as one united people of God? Through the spread of the church, the body of Christ on Earth.

Paul planted the first churches throughout the Roman empire two thousand years ago. And his work did not fail. The church spread across the world, and Christian churches are now present in virtually every nation on planet Earth.

But notice that God wants to take the mysteries he reveals to us and translate them, administer them into the real world. God uses people to fulfill his purposes, plain average people like you and me.

God is always using his people to do beautiful things in the world. Rest assured he is revealing things to you. He’s giving you a vision for something. Continue to pray about it. Continue to seek God’s face on what he is showing you. Keep coming to Him. And the revelation will be clear, the mystery of what you were always meant to do with your life will be clear.

But then comes the part where the rubber meets the road: You must strike out to do what he’s put on your heart. I did that 11 years ago when I felt the call to become a Salvation Army officer. And I chased it down, at first working at the homeless shelter, then doing a two year internship in upper Michigan, then two years in Chicago, then finally, I became an officer and was appointed to my first corps. What has God put on your heart to do?

Believe it and then strike out in faith to see it come into the real world. It won’t always be easy. There will be set backs. There will be challenges. Never give up. Keep believing. Follow God no matter what. And God will cause you to give birth to the vision and bring it into the real world.

Next, Ephesians 3:10-11: "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God is showing off his wisdom and power through the church, the body of Christ on Earth. It’s a giant rebuke to the demonic rulers and authorities, the rebels who thought they could overthrow God. They came to the Earth and corrupted humans. But now God shows off his power that even when we live in occupied territory, in realms controlled by demons, the power of the church grows up among those occupied territories as a stern rebuke to the powers of hell. They had thought that all man would follow demons to hell. But they were wrong, God made a way through Jesus for us to be saved, and those of us who follow him, though he don’t even see him face to face, are a marvel to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. They thought they had an iron grip on humanity, but they were wrong. God built up a peculiar people among them, despite them, and to even overthrow them.

I remember driving to my first pastoral position in Owosso, Michigan I could sense the downtrodden nature of the area, and what I was sensing was the principality over the area. It had total control. It was like a mighty stronghold over the area, blocking the light of God. As we served there and prayed and fasted and held events, you could sense the atmosphere of the area slowly changing. We were breaking through the glass ceiling, and the light of God was shining through. This is your privilege and power as a believer, to overthrow the principalities over your city.

Lastly, Ephesians 3:12-13: "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.”

Paul reminds us to approach God with freedom and confidence. And to not be discouraged because of the sufferings of the believers, for these sufferings bring great glory to God.

I want to point you to a portion of scripture elsewhere to illustrate how spiritual warfare works, and it's going to tie together everything we've discussed so far.

The disciples of Jesus are on a boat on the lake, and a powerful storm hits suddenly. The storm threatened to overthrow the boat. They were buffeted by the waves.

From Matthew 14:25-31, "Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

When the enemy attacks us, or we face trials in our lives, it’s like the disciples on the boat, the storm hits and we hold on for dear life. We cry out to God for help. We don’t give up. Yet the storm gets stronger.

So many times in the battles we face it gets worse first. The enemy strikes. The principalities and powers attempt to harm us.

But Jesus comes to us, walking on the water, showing us there is reason for great hope.

Often this is where the story ends, Jesus comes and rescues us as we cry out to him. But, for those who desire to go to the next level of spiritual warfare, to really perceive the truth of God, see the actions of Peter.

Peter sees Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the storm. At first he is shocked and disturbed like the others. But then he realized it was Jesus. His heart began to glow, and revelation came into His heart from the Lord, and he realized something few have ever understood even today in the body of Christ: I am called to walk in His power.

And he asks Jesus to call him onto the water. And Jesus calls him out and Peter steps out of that boat and onto the water. Not into the water, but onto it.

In your spiritual battles, realize like Peter, who saw the truth for the first time that day, you will do greater things in Jesus. You have the power in you, with Christ in your heart. You can walk on the water too. And the enemy will fall defeated at your feet.

How? If you will believe. Notice Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, and the power remained, but, as he looked at the waves and doubted, he began to sink. If our faith is strong, and we stand in the realization, the mystery that the power of Christ resides in us, we will overthrow the principalities and powers of this world. We do this by approaching God with confidence and freedom.

Let’s review our main points for today:

A. Spiritual warfare involves overcoming attacks from principalities & powers

B. God delights to reveal his mysteries to us His followers

C. The battlefield in spiritual warfare is humans (you)

D. God’s power works through us in spiritual warfare as we seek and follow God’s will and timing

E. Intense humility is the goal in spiritual warfare, pride is defeated this way

F. The purpose of God revealing his mysteries to us is that we would put them into action in the real world

G. Demonic principalities and powers are like strongholds over areas, but they can be broken by walking in God’s power.

H. We must approach God with freedom and confidence, like Peter who perceived the mystery of God’s gift of authority in Christ and translated that mystery through faith into the real world by walking on the water with Jesus

Friday, January 24, 2025

The Authority of the Believer in Spiritual Warfare




"In Santa Cruz there's a strip called Pacific Avenue, and there's a number of bars. And I remember walking down Pacific Avenue, and it was getting a little rowdy. I remember seeing two burly guys getting out of control after having drank a bit too much. And there was a bouncer there who was trying to get things under control, but it wasn’t working, so they called the police.

The police officer arrives and its a 4'11" female police officer. And I'm worried, how is she going to handle this?

I could not have been more wrong, because I realized, the issue is not your size or your strength. The issue is your authority. 

This very confident 4'11" officer walks out. "Gentlemen, do we have a problem here?"

"No, we're good here. Get outta here."

"Excuse me" she said, "I'm authorized by Santa Cruz County to enforce the law. I'd like both of you to know that. Over against the car. Do you understand?" And they both started to balk a little bit, and she put her hand on her revolver. It was a .45.

And you know what? I've never seen two big, strong drunk guys get sober so fast.” And pretty soon this 4'11" woman is in charge of the situation.

You know why? She had a badge that has a position of authority that says "I have all right and authority vested in me to exercise power. You must do what I say. And if there's any problem with that, I have some power on my leg that can enforce it immediately."

You are a child of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Your badge is your position in Christ. And you have on your side the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. And demons must believe and obey the authority of every child of God who takes the Word of God and speaks it. And you don't have to be strong or spiritual or go to seminary or know a whole lot. What you have to do is claim who you are and act on what is true, and they must obey.
-From a sermon by Chip Ingram, How to Do Battle With the Enemy and Win, Abridged/Edited, 6/11/2010

We’re continuing our series on spiritual warfare and today we continue to focus in on the internal battle. We can’t fight externally until we’ve learned to fight the battle in our own heart and mind.

We’re going to look at who we used to be, who we are now, our authority in Christ as believers, and how to use that authority to win the internal battle.

Our scripture begins like this: "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.” -Ephesians 2:1

We were once dead. Dead in our sins. Captured by evil practices. Desperate and alone. Sin was our master. And we didn’t even realize it.

We were like trained animals in a circus, doing exactly what we were told. We thought we were free, but more and more we realized we were captives. The show might’ve seemed fun, but then we went back to our steel cage. And slowly we realized something is wrong here. I’m a prisoner. How can I be free?

Next, verses 2: "You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.[a] He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God."

We were under the authority of a powerful entity known as the devil, the Satan, the adversary. He is the commander of the powers of the kingdom of the air.

He controlled us. He manipulated us. He kept us in fear and bondage. It reminds me of the C.S. Lewis Narnia series. The series was a Christian allegory. In the first book, Edmund was under the control of the white witch, which represented the devil in the movie/book. She gave him Turkish delight to keep him under control. But as soon as she had fed his pleasures, he was taken captive.

Similarly, the enemy will feed our base desires, give us what we want to keep us under control, but more and more we come to see that it’s a cage, a trap.

The world naturally follows this spirit of the enemy. C.S. Lewis called it the spirit of the age. It reminds me of the covid pandemic. Most people went along with the narrative, put on the face mask, get your shot, force others to get it, use the government to force others to get the shot, trust the science, listen to whatever the CDC and the government says. That is the spirit of the age.

The mass, the mob, who follow the leading of the authorities and powers of this world, is swayed by the spirit in control of this world.

Yet during that time there was a faithful remnant that resisted the evil agenda that was taking place in our country. They questioned the narrative. They questioned why churches needed to be shut down but bars and liquor stores could stay open. They questioned if there might be side effects to the shot. They questioned if masks were really effective in stopping the spread.

During any controversy and debate in our society, you will see the spirit of the age take charge, like a flood usually, very powerful. But you will also see God raise up a standard (a banner) against the enemy, and believers who are led by the Spirit of God will rally around the banner and stand against the lies.

The challenge friends is, to make sure you’re on the right side. Satan, the news media, our society, will try to make sure we are on the wrong side. They will manipulate us into thinking we’re on the right side, when maybe we aren’t? It's never easy to tell. Pray for discernment, and ask the Spirit to lead you. 

Next, verse 3: "All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else."

We were obedient to the sinful nature within us, we allowed sin to flow freely. Sometimes we fought against it, when we knew something was wrong, but usually we went along with it.

I remember feeling many times, like I want to be a good person, I want to do good things, but I can’t quite get myself to do it. There is no power within my heart to pursue it. I was lacking power, authority.

And I was subject to God’s anger, his wrath, we all were there at one time. We followed the leader, which was our sinful desires, and the spirit within was not the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of the enemy, nudging us in the wrong direction. We were obedient to it.

Next verses 4-5, “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)”

It should’ve been the end of the story, we were rebels against God, in alignment with Satan and the demonic forces deceiving us. 

But, God. Not our own abilities. Not because we figured out how to escape the world system. Not because we found some clever way to overcome death. No, it was by God’s grace, when he raised Jesus from the dead.

Do you understand? When God raised Jesus from the dead, similarly, he also raised you from the dead.

Next, verses 6-7: "For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.”

What does it mean that we are seated in the heavenly realms? Is that just some nice thing that sounds cool and Paul wrote it to make us feel good? Was he just waxing poetic? No. He was declaring a spiritual reality.

What does it mean exactly?

A. Direct Access to the Throne - You are there right now seated in heavenly realm

B. Safety & Security - We enjoy God’s protection and love right now

C. Power over the enemy - You are seated above the enemy right now


First, it means that part of you is already dwelling there right now. You have access to God’s throne.

Second, it means being united with Jesus. He is in us, and we are in Him. He dwells in us. We dwell in him. That’s protection and love.

Thirdly, it means you are seated above the enemy, above every demon and evil spirit. You have authority.

Particularly today, I want to talk about your authority in Christ.

In spiritual warfare, you have to believe and know you as an individual believer have authority to call on the power of heaven to assist you.

Just before Jesus would go to the cross, he met with his 12 disciples in the upper room. And he told them something very powerful that night.

He said this, from John 14:12-14, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Jesus said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” (Acts 1:8)

You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms right now. You walk in authority. And the enemy is trying very hard to hide your authority from you.

But there is a difference between power and authority. It reminds me of a police officer who is directing traffic. The vehicles coming at him are very powerful. They could knock him over very easily. But, the police officer has authority. He is able to lift his hands and tell vehicles to stop and then tell vehicles to go. He has authority.

Similarly in Christ you have authority. Authority on this Earth. It’s something the enemy took away from us a long time ago, when Adam and Eve sinned against God. The authority over the Earth was taken from Adam and Eve and given to demonic forces.

But with the resurrection of Jesus, now the authority is returned, and we now have dominion once again in Christ. So we may pray, and believe, and we will see world events change.

It's good to pray by yourself. But it's even more powerful when we pray together and agree. If we gather as the church and pray and decree, then it will happen. Why? We as the body of believers are the house of representatives for the kingdom of God on Earth. We have that authority in Christ. But the authority does not come from us, and we don't exercise it in a vacuum. We exercise it only within the will of God, which comes from Jesus. The authority is really Jesus himself. We simply walk in Him and serve as conduits for His authority.

The enemy doesn’t want us to know we have this authority.

Next portion of our scripture today, verses 8-9: "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it"

The scripture today tells us numerous beautiful truths, God saved us by his grace when we believed. It’s a gift from God. Salvation is not something we can brag about.

That’s very important to remember, it’s the same with authority in spiritual warfare. As soon as you start thinking the power comes from you, the authority disappears completely. It’s gone. But as long as we stay reliant on Jesus, leaning on Jesus, abiding in Jesus, trusting Jesus as the source, as the one who delegates to us authority, then we can be completely confident in the authority we have. It’s from Him.

Last portion of scripture, verse 10: "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

The real question is, how do we make use of this authority Christ gives us?

We have it, it’s ours in Him. So how do we apply it? What use is having spiritual armor if you don’t put it on? What use is prayer power if we don’t pray? What use is scriptural power if we don’t read the scriptures? We must open these resources and make use of them.

We are God’s masterpiece. He has made us new in Christ Jesus so that we can do all the good things he planned for us to do long ago. 

We are his painting, which he is creating brush by brush against the canvas of our hearts. 

He is molding us, crafting us carefully into the likeness of Jesus.

If we know our authority and we use our authority, then we will be victorious. We will do all the good things he has planned for us.

In conclusion today, how do we make use of this authority? That’s the key. What can we do with it?

Let’s look at a few applications:
1. Pray in faith – your prayers can change the world, pray fervently, pray often, pray about everything, big and small. Prayer is your weapon

2. Declare the scriptures – memorize scripture and declare it over your life in the morning, throughout the day, and at night. The word is your sword

3. Break Curses – you have authority to break demonic curses and spells over people and over yourself – use that authority

4. Cast out Demons – use the name of Jesus to cast out demons, if you sense something evil speak the name of Jesus

5. Call on Angelic forces – use your authority in Jesus to loose angels from heaven to your situation or to your city

6. Repent of your sins – use that power word of “repent” to turn from your sins and receive Jesus’ forgiveness

7. Believe in the power of God – the more you believe and trust, and grow in that, everything you do will be more powerful, whether prayer or scripture or repentance or healing, believe and you will be victorious.

Friday, January 17, 2025

A Guide to Spiritual Warfare


"John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men with you there?" Paton knew no men were present--but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station."
-Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 18.

John Paton and his wife knew that the real struggle was spiritual, not physical. So they got to work praying and praying that fateful night. God answered those prayers, and he sent his angels to protect them.

We too must remember that our struggle is not physical, but spiritual. We must fight our battle in the spiritual realm, which is real, even more real than the physical world.

We’re going to be addressing the topic of spiritual warfare. We’re going to particularly look at how to fight the internal battle within our own heart, and how to find victory there.

What is spiritual warfare exactly? Spiritual warfare is the battle we fight in everyday as Christian soldiers, to improve this world, improve ourselves, defeat demonic forces, support angelic forces, and spread the gospel to the whole world.

If we as Christians know our authority in Christ then we’ll be successful. If we as Christians don’t know our authority or how to fight the enemy, we will fail, and be confused, frightened and live defeated lives.

God is building everyday as believers. But, the enemy will try to come against us, and cause division, confusion, sin, and loss.

The enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy is a murderer, even from the beginning. So we as Christians must know who we are, what we’re called to do, and how live it.

The book of Ephesians deals a great deal with spiritual warfare. Ephesians 1:3-14 is the foundation scripture for this intro to spiritual warfare.

It begins this way: “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” -Ephesians 1:3

Where does our power and authority as Christians come from? It comes from the heavenly realms. It comes from God, to us.

First thing to remember today, is we can do nothing without God. We need Christ’s power to fill us and empower us. But in Christ, we can fight and win the spiritual battle in front of us.

Declare it over your life out loud: I have the power of heaven within me. (From God)

Verse 4, “4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

God chose you to be made holy and blameless in His sight. That means your life matters. You have value. You aren’t just another number, another statistic, you are a child of the most high God. You are made in God’s image. You have a purpose. You matter.

Declare it over your life: I am chosen.

Do you believe it today? We access the promises of God through faith. Through trust. We trust in our heart that what God is saying is true. That’s how we open the doorway in front of us.

Inside that door we find a victorious mindset. If we refuse to open the door, through distrust, we will continue to live defeated.

Next, verses 5-6: “In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

During our lives on the fallen Earth we face battles, struggles, and problems. Yet we know that God loves us. And he has adopted us as his children, through Jesus.

Not everyone is a child of God. Not everyone follows Jesus. Our adoption occurs when we believe in God’s son Jesus Christ, ask Him to be our savior, and trust that he really did die for us on the cross. Then we are adopted.

Through this we’ve received God’s glorious grace. Beautiful grace. What is grace? It’s forgiveness of all the bad things we’ve done, but it’s more, he doesn’t just forgive us, he adopts us. We become his kids, his children. Like a child who was an orphan, who is now brought into a family.

It reminds me of a clip on YouTube, showing a young boy who was with a family opening gifts, he was being temporarily watched by the family, he was an orphan. But, in the last gift, was a note which the child read, in it the family asked him to become a permanent member of their family. And he broke down in tears. He had found a home.

With God, we find a home too. We are adopted by Him. And now we’re never alone. I remember before I became a Christian, I would look up to God and pray and feel only emptiness. Why? Because I was still an enemy of God. I had never asked Jesus Christ to be my savior, so God would not hear my prayers. I was an orphan. But when I asked Jesus to save me, he really did, and I became adopted. Now I am never alone.

Say it with Me: I am adopted.

These are all your identity. If you know your identity, you will be strong in the world. You will walk around at school or at work or at home, or on the street, and you’ll know in your heart: I’m adopted. I belong to God. Even if I die, I’ll just go to heaven.

That’s power. And Jesus came to give us power.

Next, verses 7-8: “7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,”

When you start feeling low, when you started feeling down, when you are feeling empty and upset, you’ve got to recite the truths of God to yourself. I do this every morning.

I am chosen. I am adopted. I am a child of the most high God. I am redeemed by Jesus blood. My sins are forgiven.

But notice what else God gives us in Christ, it says we receive all wisdom and understanding.

It takes a great deal of wisdom and understanding to live this life successfully. Every decision we make we’re basing on wisdom and knowledge and understanding, those are three different things by the way.

In spiritual warfare, when you are facing demonic attacks, when are facing a difficult situation, you must always to remember to stop and pray. This sounds so simple, but it’s very profound.

We often have something crazy happen, and we go into a panic and we try calling people, doing things, running around like mad, but in all of it we forget to pray. And that’s our mistake. Stop and pray.

I have to force myself to because once I get going I don’t want to stop. I almost get too annoyed to stop and pray. So I have to force myself! If I don’t pray I’m not going to know the right decisions to make. Always stop and pray.

I know for me I start feeling very depressed, or upset about something, why can’t I feel good in the mornings, I feel so down in the morning and I get upset and start feeling hopeless and I tell myself well it’s just hopeless you’re always going to feel that way.

Stop, and pray. "Lord, I’m telling you that I feel down in the mornings, and I’m asking for you to help me and deliver me from that."

Stop and pray. I will pray when I need guidance.

Confess it with me: I invite God into every situation.

Next, verses 9-10: “ 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Something God does for us Christians is, he makes known to us his mysteries. Things he doesn’t tell anyone else. Things no one else understands he will reveal to you.

The mysteries of the universe, from black holes to angels and demons to the rise and fall of nations, seek God and he will make his mysteries known to you.

Yet the greatest mystery of all is the future. We see we have a bright future, a future beyond anything we could imagine. That sounds glib but it's a deep and profound truth. God is going to redeem this fallen world, and bring everything under the authority of Jesus.

Everything on the Earth will be brought under the authority of Christ, who will be seated on a throne in Jerusalem, which will function as the capital of the Earth. One day, during the millennial reign, we will go up and visit the king in Jerusalem, when he is seated in authority over all the Earth. Isn’t that amazing?

And there will be a seat of authority there for you too.

Confess and believe it: I have a place in God’s future Kingdom.

Next, verses 11-12: 11 In him we were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

You are a heir of his kingdom, which means you will inherit his kingdom. No theologian understands what that really means. But it's amazing beyond words.

That is your future, that is your destiny if you know Jesus as Lord and savior. But the enemy is trying to steal that from you. Don’t allow the enemy to steal, kill and destroy what you have in Jesus.

Yes, we can give it up. We can forfeit our salvation. We can allow sin to harden our hearts, and this can cause us to backslide, and even fall away. 

The battles occur in our mind and our heart. Our mind has the information that we need to believe about Jesus and the Bible. Our heart receives the information and embraces it in our emotions. As we feed ourselves God's word, fellowship, worship, and prayer we grow stronger in the faith. 

But, the enemy will work on us, and try to get us to question who God says he is. We will question things in the Bible. And we begin to change our mind and heart, and we slowly begin to turn away from God. And the enemy plants lies in our mind. And if we aren’t careful we start to believe those lies.

Don’t let the enemy steal your joy. Don’t let the enemy steal your inheritance. Don’t doubt God’s word, believe it.

The enemy is always trying to confuse and disturb your faith.

He does it with lies. The best way to counter lies is by believing the truth. The truth is a stronghold against lies.

If you can recognize this battle as it takes place, you'll begin to identify spiritual warfare, and fight back in the battle. 

Another way the enemy attempts to thwart us is through sin. Just once won’t hurt. It’s ok to do that, the Bible doesn’t specifically mention it. No one will notice. I deserve to be happy. Nobody’s perfect. God knows my heart.

And we use all these excuses to allow sin in the door. And once we open that door, sin comes in and takes over. And soon we realize, I’m back in chains again, and I can’t get out. If that’s you today, come and meet with me and we will pray together. When another Christian prays for you, it’s very powerful, they can help bring something called “deliverance” from sins.

That’s how God set it up, we need each other. We have to pray for each other. Praying by yourself isn’t enough, have someone else pray for you. It’s hugely important. 

But even if you’ve opened the door to sin, you can close it again. Ask Jesus to help you, ask Him to forgive you, confess what you’ve done honestly, and say Lord I repent, I turn away from that sin and I turn toward you. Set me free Jesus, I slam the door on that sin.

The enemy will also try to disrupt your belief in Jesus Christ as the only savior. He’ll start whispering to you: What about the tribal person in the jungles who never heard about Christ? What about the mentally ill who can’t understand? What about other world religions? What about other philosophies? What about other planets and galaxies? What about aliens? What about dinosaurs?

If the enemy can’t get you to subtract Jesus, he will try to get you to add other things into the mix, new age spirituality, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, post-modernism, feminism, progressivism, etc, etc, etc. 

Remember when God spoke to the Israelites, he told them, you shall have no other gods before me. That’s in the ten commandments. No other gods.

Remember king Solomon, he married women who followed other religions, and he began to sacrifice to those false gods, and it led his heart away from the Lord.

I’ve seen people get very involved in politics and it starts to lead them away from the Lord, their passion is no longer for God, but for politics and political causes.

So many times I had a new person join a church and they are doing great, growing, but then they get a new job and they have to work on Sundays and suddenly they are gone.

I see someone doing well, getting clean and sober, they are attending church, growing in their faith, and then bam, the enemy sends an old friend with a bottle or a joint and they disappear once again.

Understand you are in a spiritual conflict everyday. You can have joy and peace in it. You can be calm and at ease. Yet you should also keep your guard up and understand, the enemy is trying to harm you.

Know who you are in Christ, and identify threats to your salvation, and block them. A few times I see a friend request on Facebook, an old friend from my using days, or a fake profile of some pretty woman, and I say not today devil, delete and block.

Do that in your life too. Recite the truth to yourself and identify and block threats.

The last two verses today say this: 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

We do not have to win all these battles and figure out all these enemy schemes ourselves. I’m thankful for that.

We have the Holy Spirit living within us. And the Holy Spirit is always convicting us of dangers. You will sense it within you, the Holy Spirit will whisper to you, this is a dangerous situation, don’t go there.

But you still have a choice to make. The Holy Spirit will not force you to do anything. He will encourage you at times. He will convict you at times.

I’ll give you an example, small example, I went to a lunch at the training college, not my favorite thing but my wife wanted me to go, so I went and talked with people, and then we left. Small thing right, but as we left I felt the encouragement of the Holy Spirit saying to me that was a right what you just did.

Similarly, the Holy Spirit will convict us, and say, go do X. There was a man in our facility being helped in the caseworker office. And the Holy Spirit said go talk to him. Lord, I’m too busy. And the Holy Spirit repeats things. Go talk to him. And finally I did, and it was a blessed encounter.

But sometimes I have said no and the Holy Spirit will say after: You did wrong. And I’ll have to ask God’s forgiveness.

You have the helper with you. In spiritual warfare you are not alone. You have a helper who is always guiding you. Praise the Lord.

Final declaration: I name the Holy Spirit as the leader of my life.

In conclusion, can you see how it all fits together? Each day you remind yourself that you belong to God. You declare the truths of scripture over your life. This slowly reshapes your heart, and protects you against the lies of the enemy. As you believe and trust, it becomes part of your heart. That’s hugely important, a word declaration is one thing, a heart declaration is powerfully different.

Then, as you face problems, you constantly pray and invite God into the situations. When the future looks uncertain you remind yourself of God’s coming kingdom.

All of this for the intro to spiritual warfare is about taking the scriptural truths, like a paint can, and dipping your brush into it and painting the truths onto your own heart. As you do, you will believe the truth more and more deeply and you’ll naturally reject the lies of the enemy.

All this makes it easier and easier to hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding your life. Then you will be a victorious Christian.

Declare these Truths Over your Life:

1. I have the power of heaven behind me (I can do nothing without God’s help)

2. I am chosen by God (God chose me to receive forgiveness for my sins)

3. I am adopted by God (God makes me part of his family)

4. I invite God into every situation I face (I stop and pray quickly)

5. There is a place for me in God’s future kingdom (I belong to Him)

6. I reject the lies of the enemy, I embrace the truth (I love the truth)

7. The Holy Spirit is my guide in spiritual warfare (I am lovingly protected)

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Five Powerful Refutations Of Once Saved Always Saved

Once saved always saved is a doctrine that permeates modern Christianity. But did you know that this doctrine didn't come about until the rise of John Calvin and Calvinism? Once saved always saved was not taught by the early church, or the church fathers. The doctrine didn't appear until the time just after the reformation.  

Here are five excellent presentations that refute clearly the false doctrine of eternal security/once saved always saved. 

1. John Bevere addresses the Issue


2. Once Saved Always Saved? Documentary by numerous Christian Leaders


3. Answering the Error 


4. David Pawson addresses OSAS



5. William Lane Craig - doctrine of Salvation