War!

"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)" 2corinthians 10:4

Weapons, warfare, strongholds! We are left without a shadow of doubt from the terminology of the Bible, that God wants us to understand and remember - WE ARE AT WAR!

It is challenging to our minds to think that the Prince of Peace, who calls us to live peaceably with all men and to make our utmost effort towards loving and genuine, harmless cohabitation at a physical level, issues at the same time a very real, strong and serious call to us all, to fight valiantly in spiritual warfare.

We are soundly reminded in Ephesians Chapter 6 that our enemy is not “flesh and blood” and that is why we read here that our weapons cannot be those we might provide for ourselves by which we might deal with physical foes. They cannot be the weapons of the flesh for they cannot provide any benefit or defence in the battles of the Spirit. Such man-made weapons could never prevail in this conflict, regardless of how advanced or impressive they might be.

Nevertheless should we be able to see with spiritual eyes the mode of dress of true believers, we would see them in full battle armour, arrayed and ready for the enemy, should enmity arise anywhere, anytime. A description of the spiritual armoury we are able to receive from the Lord and use by His might and strength, is given in the same chapter of Ephesians and includes both defensive and offensive weapons. Many scriptures elsewhere also detail impressive spiritual weaponry which is available to the consecrated believer.

That we are at war therefore and in need to be well versed with the weapons of this conflict, is a fact well known and well accepted by every spiritually minded believer. Like the weapons, the battle is not fought in the ability of our flesh, though we live in this body. The fight is rather a spiritual one, a conflict between us as believers in Jesus and the powers of the spiritual world of darkness, sourced by our enemy - Satan.

These powers are arrayed against us and would want our destruction at any opportunity possible. God's answer to this is to equip us with an arsenal which is not 'carnal', that is - of the earthly or human kind, but is rather described as ‘mighty through God’.  Herein is a clue to the nature and the use of these weapons. They are powerful against our enemy, when triggered, launched, lifted, driven or in any sense handled by us ‘through’ God. Success in these armed spiritual encounters has little to do with our own physical strength, human ability or skill, and everything to do with the way and degree to which we are able to lean on Jesus through His Holy Spirit, in the use of these provided munitions!

 The weapons of the Spirit which God imparts to all true believers include: prayer and fasting, the name and blood of Jesus, God's Word, discernment, wisdom, faith and the fellowship of the saints. All of these and much more are the mighty, powerful and formidable armoury which God has provided and imparted to us and which can and will defeat our spiritual enemies, when used ‘through God’. We are blessed to be so well equipped for the fight and able in Jesus to vanquish our foes!

Our task then is to ‘wear’ at all times the armour God has provided; to be prepared ‘in the Spirit’ by practicing with each of the ‘weapons’ and being competent with them; but most of all to be totally and humbly reliant on the power, direction and wisdom of the Spirit of God, when faced with an enemy in a battle. It is only through Jesus that we are caused to triumph over the adversary, by tearing down the strongholds and destroying the grip and work of the enemy in our lives and the lives of others!



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion