San
Davis
Sermon
given for Monday October 17, 2011.
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH BY DEFEATING THE EVIL ONE .....
How do we recognize and resolve attacks from the world, the flesh and the
devil? More often than none, we have all experienced spiritual warfare along
the way in our Christian walk. In fact the more focus we are on serving God and
glorifying Jesus, the more spiritual resistance we encounter from time to
time... Well how do we recognize spiritual opposition, and how do we respond
and how do we overcome?
Many of us have taken a personal beating from the enemy due to lack of
preparation or just not knowing how to respond offensively...Most would call it
spiritual naivete or spiritual passivity... Then again, lack of response to
attack from the enemy could also be due to the fact that most don’t know enough
about the bible to put up a fight. If we are not able to decipher from which
the attack is coming whether it be the flesh, the world or the evil one, then
we will not know how to fight….If we are able to determine from where the
opposition is coming be it the flesh then we could run from it. If its coming
from the world we could evaluate and determine the response...or if from the
evil one we then learn how to fight!!!
Too many of us Christians lose more battles than win and endure our walk with
God rather than enjoy it....Most of us consistently lose battles, we should be
winning. Those of us who choose to ignore, ridicule, or run from the realities
of spiritual warfare, are putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage in this
conflict...as children of God, we must learn to be strategic in our responses
to these attacks of the flesh, the world and the enemy, learning how to fight quickly,
biblically and effectively.
Ephesians 6:16 "And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from
heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure
you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
We must learn how to recognize all three enemies and not focus on one at the
expense of the others..... In Christ, we have the authority and the power to
consistently walk above their temptations and propositions if we will learn how
to discern the source of our battles and apply the proper defense strategy God
has designed for each enemy in His word.
Luke 10 18-20 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places."
A Christian not understanding his delegated authority over demons leave
themselves open for attacks....Many Christian are spiritually passive and
ignores demonic conflicts because of fear, while others sit on the sideline
mocking or attacking fellow Christians who are actually in the battle, these
Christians lack understanding about spiritual warfare and in my opinion are
cowards....For too many Christians the answer is that we do not know what we
believe or why we believe it. We cannot give what we do not have or share what
we do not know. More effective discipleship training is accomplished by design
than by accident or luck.
It is imperative that we recognize where the attack is coming from...the best
response to external opposition which is an attack from the world (people in
the world or things or people in the world) is to evaluate the solicitation
that provokes the flesh to sin and say to yourself its not worth it....after
all, the world offers too little (which is temptation and self gratification
which then leads to sin and self condemnation) and ask for too much (which is
my righteousness and salvation). Most of us spend too much time in the world
and talking about things of the world...The scriptures below addresses that...
I John 2:15 "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him".
James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world
means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the
world becomes an enemy of God.
{The Spirit is constantly warring against the flesh, and the scriptures
addressing this is noted in Galatians}
Galatians 5:17-21 "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,
and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to
each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are
evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity,
strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
{An evil entity within us that causes us to not want to do what we know is
right to do...our flesh warring against the spirit as noted in Romans}
Romans 7:15 -17 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I
want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I
agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but
sin that dwells within me.
In an escalated situation, we can determine whether or not our reaction will be
a Blessing to our circumstance or a Curse!! I would think, the easy thing to do
would be to evaluate the situation by saying "YES" to the things of
God and "NO" to the things of the devil or the world...but as always,
it is always easier said than done...as the flesh is constantly at war with the
spirit.
{Timothy 2 :22 Ephesians 4:22-24 & Galatians 5:16 are illustrations of how
to handle the sins or lust of the flesh when compared to the scriptures given
for handling sins of the world}
2 Timothy 2:22-23 "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness,
faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 But
avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife."
Ephesians 4:22-24 "Put off your old self, which belongs to your former
manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed
in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the
likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
Galatians 5:16 "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you
won't be doing what your sinful nature craves."
{Next we have to deal with solicitation from the evil one or the fathers of all
lies...The scripture to follow illustrates How to respond to his
attacks...James 4:7-10 and 1 Peter 2:3-9}
James 4:7-10 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn
and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and He will lift you up."
1 Peter 2:3-9 "If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you
come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and
precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in Scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion
a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will
not be put to shame." 7So the honor is for you who believe, but for those
who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the
cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble
because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.9But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light."
IN CONCLUSION
LEARN HOW TO PRAY OFFENSIVELY...
Most of us tend to pray prayers like that in Psalm 18 "In my distress I
called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help" or that of Psalm 27
"The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The LORD is the
stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?" to name a few... These
prayers are mostly Defensive in orientation than Offensive.. I'm not saying
there is anything wrong in praying these scriptures...in praying these Psalms,
we are petitioning help from our Heavenly Father which is most common among
prayers; however as children of the most high God who walk with authority...He
has given us power to tread upon serpents and all the power of the enemy, so we
need to fight the good fight of faith by praying more offensive prayers like
those illustrated in the scriptures below....
Psalm 3, Psalms 31, Psalm 91, Psalm 109, Jeremiah 18 and Nehemiah 4 to name a
few...not printing the actual scriptures will prompt you to actually read these
scriptures in your time of study!! There is absolutely nothing defensive about
these prayers...we are asking the Lord to fight with us instead of fighting for
us, and contend with us as we go to war with the enemy and him with us....
Bottom line, God has given us a shield of faith to ward off the fiery attacks
of the enemy, so instead of running from the attacks of the enemy, we are told
to resist the enemy and he will flee from us...Ephesians 6:12 We are more than
conquerors in Christ Jesus...It is time we began living like victors in this
world rather than as victims. Our Savior and our faith are more than enough to
guarantee we have consistent victory over the world, the flesh and the
devil...Assuming we learn to fight strategically and biblical with the weapons
at our disposal.....Our enemies, the flesh (physiological), the world
(sociological), and the evil one (the supernatural opposition, the devil), all
represent every possible combination of spiritual warfare we will encounter in
this life.
Remember we Overcome by The Word Of Our Testimony, so saints get up and fight
with your words of faith, fight with your testimony but most importantly, fight
with your prayers....
The word of God tells us in Revelations 12:11, “They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives
so much as to shrink from death.”
To God be the glory, honor and praise for it is in His Son Jesus that we live
and breathe and have our being...it is by our faith in Him that we are freely
given salvation, not of ourselves but by the grace of our ever Loving Eternal
Father, Yahweh God.
May our Lord of Peace fill you with His Shalom, guarding your hearts and mind
in Him...Much love to each of you my brethren in the Lord, God bless!
Sis San......
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