Stunned, she asked, “You mean I do have a role to play? I’m not completely helpless?”
When we look at the term, “Spiritual Warfare,” we easily can feel overwhelmed. But while there are areas in our life we cannot control at all, there are many parts of our life we do have a role in.
Believe it or not, we can play a role in what happens in our spiritual walk.
Short Answer is a series to help breakdown smaller portions of previously written posts. For today’s post, we are continuing to look at the various parts of Spiritual Warfare, particularly looking at our own responsibility. For the full post, please see: Spiritual Warfare | Making Sense of Evil Forces
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Putting Spiritual Warfare in Perspective
There are a lot of layers in discussing spiritual warfare, and I thank you for those of you who have stuck with me through this post.
The outer most layer, in which everything revolves around, are the two agendas. The Lord, what He has ordained, and those who rebel against Him. Under the Lord’s Sovereignty, the core of spiritual warfare, we see forces at work.
While sinners are enticed, influenced, and distracted by selfish desires, demonic forces harness and guide sinners toward destruction, especially in our societies . As mentioned in Spiritual Reality & Spiritual Consequences, everything we do affects us spiritually. Someone is watching and motivating influences. We see spiritual influence in countries and communities, regarding how people view life, how people view image-bearers of God. Consider how people view those in the womb, the disabled, the sick, and the elderly?
We see influence regarding how people view the morals the Lord has laid out. We see influence regarding how people view the roles for men, women, and children, how God defines marriage and the family unit. And we see the destruction, despair, and death in those who have embraced the agenda of self. Toleration isn’t the answer because the sui-ide rates are not going down.
You see, for Satan to fight against God and rebel against Him, he desires for God’s creation, which God created for good and for His glory, to be destroyed. So, the master of sin kills his own following. Remember the toxic reward I talked about?
John 8:44 – You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
We see how these forces can affect the grand scheme of the world, how these sinful influences can affect politics, leaders, teachers, the educational system, churches, the family unit, and eventually the individual.
But as we began today’s post, there is more responsibility upon the individual than Satan and demonic influence.
Responsibility of the Individual & Spiritual Warfare
In the post, I Was Created With A Spirit | Christian Affirmations I have gone over the importance of why we need to become spiritually alive, so I will not be repeating what was covered.
It’s important to realize demons are not going to be behind every door in our life.
As sinners, we are drawn to sin and while there is a demonic influence and agenda, as you see in the graphic I made, it all begins WITH the individual. Remember, Adam and Eve ATE the fruit. Satan only tempted Eve, who influenced and then tempted Adam.
While temptation can be influenced (at times by demons), the sinner is the one who commits the sin. The sinner is the one choosing her own destruction. Satan and his horde are not FORCING anyone to commit sin. We all have our own weaknesses and temptations. It’s our weaknesses that can be lured, preyed upon, and influenced to desire to commit sin. Sinners CAN be the ones to encourage and tempt others to sin, as well.
James 1:14-15 – But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Romans 1:32 – Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
For the sinner, she must be saved by Jesus. She must be transformed. She must have her eyes open to the reality of sin and spiritual consequences.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:06-07- That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ (Christ speaking)
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As the mist finally begins to clear, we are drawing closer and closer to the ending of understanding Spiritual Warfare. By my estimate, we only have two more Short Answers to go through. Next time, we are going to cover how we are to engage in spiritual warfare. See you!
The Gospel Message– The Gospel message is good news, which means there’s bad news. We all are sinners and condemned. We all deserve the just punishment of God’s wrath. Christianity is unlike any other religion because we cannot earn our way into Heaven. God saw the weakness of man and his utter depravity. Yet, He showed us grace. Jesus, God, One Person of the Trinity, became God in the flesh, the God-Man. He was always perfect and sinless. And His humanity was perfected on the cross, living the full sinless life. He became our atonement sacrifice. Dying in our place, taking on the wrath of God upon Himself. He died on the cross, and He was resurrected because death could not hold Him. Jesus is the answer. We, as guilty sinners, need His blood to pay off our debt of sin. For all who put their faith in Him – meaning eyes are opened to the Gospel, we see ourselves as a sinner, we see the need for Christ, we desire our Savior, and we see the ugliness of our sin. Putting our faith in Jesus, we seek HIs forgiveness and repent from our sins, we turn away from our old way of life. We, through the work of the Holy Spirit, continue to become convicted of sin daily. Our eyes will never be the same again. We see things in a different light, and the truth of Christ affects how we live and serve Him. Christ tells us to count the cost. Salvation is a serious topic, it is not to be taken lightly. For a breakdown of this powerful message, understanding how Christ could be God and Man, why God required sacrifices, and more -please see: Why Did A Loving God Kill His Son? (Does God Hate?)
If you think you know the Gospel, check out these questions and see how prepared you are for the day someone might ask you why you believe: The Gospel Challenge (30 Question Quiz) – Are You Ready To Defend Your Faith?
Scripture To Meditate On –(ESV) 1 Timothy 3:16 – Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
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