Sunday Service

October 15, 2017

“Developing a Spiritual Battle Plan!”

II Corinthians 10:3-4“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.4For the weapons of our warfarearenot carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,”

A military doesn’t engage in a war without first developing a battle plan. A battle plan is essential to assessinghow well you know your enemy and developing a method of how to be victorious. You won’t defeat your enemy without knowing your enemy. Specifically, you have to know who your enemy is, how your enemy operates, your enemy’s weapons and how their used.

Christians know they have an enemy and may even know his name, but many do not know how this enemy operates or how to combat this enemy.

Most Christianswill tell you we have an adversary and they would tell you his name is Satan or the devil, but do you know where he came from? (Revelation 12:9)

Satan: (Hebrew- satan means the adversary/Greek – satanas means the hater or accuser)

(II Thessalonians 2:9-10)

Devil (Greek: diabolos means false accuser, slanderer) (I Peter 5:8)

Beelzebub (Lord of the fly: a heathen deity thought by the Jews to have supremacy amongst evil spirits, and whom they described as ‘the prince of demons’.) (Mark 3:22)

Jesus responded to the Pharisees who accused Him of being possessed by Beelzebub declaring “Satan himself was Beelzebub.” (:23)

Declaration of War: ______. (John 10:10)

As Christians we are in a war for our “eternal life.” We battle daily for our soul as we encounter life situations every day.

Spiritual Warfare______

______.

What are the levels of battle?

World______.

(I John 2:15-16)

  1. The devil challenges and opposes God’s will. (Genesis 3:1)
  1. The devil holds the world in his power. (I John 5:19)
  1. The devil anxiously walks around the earth. (Job 1:7)

The Flesh______.

(Romans 5:12)

1.The devil oppresses people. (Acts 10:38)

Oppression is an unknown pressure that makes the normal challenges of life more difficult than they should be.

2.The devil binds people with infirmities. (Luke 13:16)

3.The devil is the initiator of sin and influences its practice on the earth. (I John 3:8)

The Devil______. (Revelation 12:12)

  1. The devil traps the souls of unbelievers. (II Timothy 2:26)
  1. The devil tempts people to sin. (Acts 5:3)
  1. Satan has the power of entry into lives. (John 13:27)

Satan’s Army

Demons began their existence as spirit beings created to fulfill the will of God. (Colossians 1:16)

When God removed Lucifer from his position, one third of the angels were cast out of Heaven with him.

(Revelation 12:3-4)

The New Testament indicates demons must have originally been in the presence of God and fully aware of spiritual realities:

1.Demons are revealed to be angels who sinned and did not retain their original state.

(II Peter 2:4)

2.Demons have an intimate knowledge of the deity, authority, and power of Jesus Christ.(Luke 4:41)

3.Demons fear and obey the name of Jesus when spoken in faith.(Mark 16:17)

Ephesians 6:12 – “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritualhostsof wickedness in the heavenlyplaces.”

There are several ranks of demons which exercise specific purposes for the devil in this world:

Principalitiesare ruling spirits assigned over nations and cities. ______

______.

Powersis the second level of authority in Satan’s kingdom. ______

______.

Rulers of darknessin the Greek means “KOSMOKRATEROS” which means World Rulers.The main goal of these Rulers of darkness is to control by deception.

______.

The spiritual hosts of wickednessin heavenly placespromote hedonism(the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence)and lawlessnessin the land to entrap souls of men in all manner of sin.

What is our Spiritual Battle Plan?Since our weapons are not carnal (of flesh and blood) then our war is not carnal but spiritual.

II Corinthians 10:3 – “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.”

  1. We must reclaim surrendered ground Satan gained by our surrendering to his schemes. Ephesians 4:27 tells us not to “give place to the devil.” ______

______. (Matthew 12:43-45)

  1. We must take authority over Satan and his demons:

(Luke 10:19)

  1. We must Declare and Decree the Word of God:

(Hebrews 4:12)

  1. Plead the Blood of Jesus:

(I John 1:7) – “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”(Revelations 12:11)

  1. Put on the Whole Armor of God:(Ephesians 6:10-18)

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