Spiritual Warfare, NOT!
By Ben Lucas
 
 

Spiritual warfare is not praying for God to beat up on the devil for you or for your friends or loved ones. Spiritual warfare is, HATING sin in all its sneaky forms and lying manifestations. Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but it is most certainly a battle! If we don't hate sin, then we won't fight it with all our heart. We will be like the Israelites in the Promised Land. They were ordered to kill without mercy, men, women, children, babies, pregnant women, and sometimes even the animals. Some have wondered about the supposed viciousness of God, forgetting that the history of the Israelites is a schoolmaster, a teacher for us. This alleged viciousness is to teach us to HATE sin, to give it no mercy, no place in our lives!

The position of the church today, seems to be, "we wrestle not" at all, with the world, the flesh, and certainly not the devil. The only fighting we do is with each other.

Jesus paid it all and we don't have to do anything. Paul said,

" Heb 12:4(KJV) YE HAVE NOT YET RESISTED UNTO BLOOD, STRIVING AGAINST SIN. And this Scripture is certainly true of the twentieth century church in America." We not only haven't resisted, we have surrendered in the interest of unity and brotherhood, and invited the forces of evil to speak and teach in our churches. Yes, the church of today, at least in Christian America, has forgotten to hate sin, and has accepted sin as "to be expected". But Jesus said, John 8:34(KJV) Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, WHOSOEVER COMMITTETH SIN IS THE SERVANT OF SIN. We're successful, rich, famous, well fed, and we have leisure time. Ezek 16:49 (KJV) Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, Pride, Fulness Of Bread, And Abundance Of Idleness Was In Her And In Her Daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. The average American spends 8 or more hours per week watching television. Our teenagers have nothing to do. No sin to fight, no spiritual highs to enjoy, no joy or love of the Lord. Of course, life is boring for them "life is not worth living without love". We haven't even taught them how to care, and love is not possible for those who don't care. Rev.3:15-17

How did the American church get into this position, lukewarm churches full of sinners who call themselves Christians? And calling prayer, spiritual warfare.

We have substituted prayer for obedience, consecration, faith, for repentance, and love. We pray instead of repenting and changing, we pray instead of loving. We pray instead of forgiving others. We have even substituted prayer for love, joy, peace, and the other fruits of the spirit.

The church teaches us to pray for the things that we already own and/or are commanded to do, for instance;

John 14:27 (KJV) PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU, MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Peace belongs to the people of god, we don't have to pray for it, we have to recognize that it belongs to us and from that position fight for it. James 4:7(KJV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU.

Mat 5:44 (KJV) But I say unto you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Mat 22:
37 Jesus said unto him, THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (KJV)

 These are orders, commandments, not, suggestions! How dare we pray as if God has short changed us and made us without the ability or the power to obey. John15:11 (KJV) These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, And That Your Joy Might Be Full. When will we realize that most of what we pray for has already been given to us by the Lord? Praying for something that we already own is counterproductive. What needs to happen is for individual Christians and the church to recognize that ALL THINGS belong to us, and stand up and fight the devil, like the Israelites were supposed to fight for the promised land, no mercy, no quarter, no prisoners taken!

They, the Israelites did not obey and their descendants after thousands of years are still paying for their disobedience to God. Their attitude was, but God you're being unreasonable, kill everything, burn everything, struggle, fight and die. Lord, "you don't understand, really things aren't all that bad." "After all, these people would make good slaves." And Gods answer, if they could have heard it was, then as now, "yeah, right! Check it out, disobey now, and your slaves will become your masters.

Yes, the church in America today is very like the Israelites in the wilderness. God gave and they wouldn't believe enough to obey. But notice, then as now, what God gave them was the power, the right, the authority, the title deed, to the Promised Land. But they and we must march in and take it. There were and are deaths and wounding. There were and are casualties. Sin and the devil don't just roll over and die. There is a battle and if you don't fight, you don't win

Spiritual warfare as practiced in America in the 1990s CANNOT and can never provide victory for individual Christians or churches. Because the church is teaching "pray that God will beat up on the big bad devil and make him stop being mean and hurting people". But the devil IS mean, nasty, dirty, vile, and evil, just as much as God IS love. If God had wanted to make the devil nice, He could and would have made him nice.

Isa 45:7 (KJV) I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and Create Evil: I the LORD do all these things. Jesus Christ our savior already beat up on the devil, He whipped him publicly and dragged him through the heavens, showing everyone the devil in utter and complete defeat. Eph 4:8 (KJV) Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, He Led Captivity Captive, and gave gifts unto men. Maybe you're one of those that think this war isn't for keeps or that its just a game played by puppets. If so please notice, Hosea 4:6 (KJV) MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE:, because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Who is in control? Whose choice is it to reject knowledge? John 8:34 (KJV) Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, WHOSOEVER COMMITTETH SIN IS THE SERVANT OF SIN. How is it possible for us to continue in sin and claim we are fighting and winning the spiritual war? Heb 10:26 (KJV) For If We Sin Wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, There Remaineth No More Sacrifice For Sins, I don't like using this Scripture without a 2 page explanation of willfully. (Write for it) But it is possible to use up the power of the blood of Christ, see the next few verses.

Spiritual warfare is not prayer! Spiritual warfare is fighting, resisting, the devil and his lies.

2 Cor 10:5 (KJV) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and BRINGING INTO CAPTIVITY EVERY THOUGHT TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST; Spiritual warfare, is bringing ourselves, our thoughts, our actions, into the obedience of Christ. Yes, it's much more difficult and time consuming than prayer, but it's the only way to overcome, and win!

Notice Please, of the seven churches in Rev. 2 and 3---six of them are given the promise--if you overcome or conquer. And to overcome anything, even a bad habit, you must fight. Praying helps, but ordinarily, God will do what you can't do, but He rarely does what you can do!

Have you been praying or fighting? Winning or losing?

Are you being destroyed by the devil, because you don't know?

If what you're doing isn't working and the devil is still pushing you around, isn't it time to think, change, learn, even study, in order to take and enjoy Gods' promises in this life?

>From the book, "Exorcism, Decently and in Order" available now at www.formatpublishing.com http://www.formatpublishing.com/book.html
Ben Lucas is President of the International College of Practical Christianity. His articles and books have been a blessing to many worldwide.

If you enjoy this weekly Practical Christian E-zine, please encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe or, with their permission, subscribe for them. Thank you.

Please feel free to print, copy, forward, and/or share these articles unaltered for any non-commercial purpose.

Unless otherwise noted Format Publishing, the International College of Practical Christianity, or the author hold the copyright on all material appearing in this letter.

The Practical Christian E-zine
Exploding the myths of churchianity with hard hitting scriptural insights
Editor formatpublishing@practicalchristian.com
 
 

Back to:  WHATS NEW PAGE or FILELIST of
End Time Prophetic Vision