3 Biblical Ways to Develop A Spiritual Warfare Mentality
2 Timothy 2:3-4 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Developing a spiritual warfare mentality is a key to winning in the spiritual battle. We are reminded that we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Introduction
To be effective in warfare against the invisible foe, we must develop, and understand what it means to have a spiritual warfare mentality.
There are some basic bible principles and personal disciplines that we, as believers in Christ, can develop and operate in that will secure the victory for our personal lives, families, ministries, and others.
In Matthew 17:41-21, we find an interesting account of Jesus engaging in spiritual warfare against demonic powers in the life of a young man.
In these verses, we have a desperate daddy who does not know what to do with his son who is vexed, and obvious demonic activity in his life.
The Bible says the son was sore vexed by the Devil. My friend, the Devil is still vexing men and ladies of all ages today. Young people are dropping like flies to drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual immorality, and rebellion.
Our country, Nigeria has been plagued with a demonic, occultist spirit that is sweeping thousands into its grip. The breakdown of the family has been is increasing more and more like never before, and it is affecting and destroying children and teenagers all across the nation.
The Influence of A Friend: Amnon Had A Friend
There are hundreds maybe thousands of teenagers, children and even adults inside and outside of churches, who are being destroyed because of the spiritual warfare ignorance in their churches.
Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”
I believe that everyone can be delivered from the satanic oppression and demonic attack that is plaguing them. There are so many young men and ladies that had destructive and demonic influences in their lives.
I find that the Enemy was not going to give up the territory in their lives without some of type of conflict. When Satan has control of a person’s life, and the chains of sin and demonic powers have been influencing that person for some time, it takes the right kind of mindset to help deliver that person.
I am not talking about sham deliverance services that we see in most Pentecostal churches today.
We need to have a spiritual warfare mentality.
1 Timothy 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
We must develop a warfare mentality; no man can enter into warfare, and war well, if he does not have the mindset-set for it.
The Basic Principles of Marriage
1. We must Understand and Accept the Commitment of A Soldier
John 15:13, Acts 20:24
To be a good soldier, we must understand that there will be no effective warfare if we are not willing to dedicate our lives to the cause of seeing people set free.
We must be willing to love others in other to help them.
when a soldier enters into battle, he must be able to face that battle understanding that he could lose his life.
We must be willing to pay the price to see people rescued from the power of Satan. Be willing to listen and obey every command of the master.
2. We must Continually Be Reminded Who Our Enemy Is, and How to Fight Him.
Our tendency is to battle against flesh and blood, meaning having human enemies. We must continually be reminded what the great warrior of the father, Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-13
The enemy we stand against is the Devil
It is not your friends, wife, children, and family members, it is Satan himself
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
It is amazing that Apostle talks about Spiritual warfare a lot in his letter to the churches. It is important to know this so that Satan will take advantage of us as a result of our ignorance.
The Enemy is the only one who does not want any credit for what he does and causes.
The Devil does not want anyone to know he is the one at work. He wants the finger to be pointed at someone else. He wants the finger to be pointed at someone physical, so we will engage in flesh and blood battles.
Our weapons are not carnal weapons, therefore, you can’t use fleshly weapons to fight in spiritual warfare. We must not be as the heathen.
They only deal with the physical. We as Christians can deal with the Devil with the mighty weapons God has promised us.
Who is our Enemy? The Devil is, if we are to have a true spiritual warfare mentality, we must daily remind ourselves that the Devil is our enemy.
3. We Must Learn How to Truly Submit
Submission is a must if we are to experience victory over the Enemy. I cannot express the depth of this truth. It is something many hear, but something many cannot seem to comprehend. If we are to really deal with the Enemy, we must learn the true submission.
James 4:6-7
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
The first priority in your life is, submitting yourself to the God-given authorities in your life. If you are living in rebellion against the leadership that God has places over you, then the Devil is happy.
1 Samuel 15:23a, “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft”. The Enemy understands the power of authority in our lives. He understands that when we operate under God-given authority he does not have a right influence over us.
There are many levels of authority.
One level is parental authority. When a child or teenager operates in rebellion or disobeys their parents, they give place/territory over to the Devil to torment them.
Example- Runaway Children, Rebellious wives, church members, and many more.
We must understand how effective submission is in Waring successfully.
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