SPIRITUAL WARFARE: After Calvary

Newsflash: Jesus defeated and disarmed the devil for us 2000 years ago and has given you authority over all the power of the enemy.  

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Instead of doing spiritual warfare by binding the prince of the power of the air and calling out every demonic entity you can see or think of, instead of screaming at an already defeated devil, just enforce the victory that Christ has already won for you. The early church did not “bind the strongman” the way it’s done by some today. Demonic stronghold are bound and demolished only by the power of God, and the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ is the Power of God (Romans 1:16). When the Gospel is preached, demonic strongholds falls.

Once the strongholds fall, as must be the case when Jesus shows up and takes residence in you by His Holy Spirit, you can now enforce the victory that you have in Him…How do you do that? You stand your ground, that’s how; and your ground is on your unshakable foundation – Christ. Don’t let the enemy draw you away from Christ. Resist him by submitting to God and being steadfast in your faith.

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. – James 4:7 NIV

The thing is, the devil is after God’s Word to you, he is after the Word that God has spoken to you. He wants to get you to doubt it and if he can succeed in doing that, he then gains a foothold in your mind from which he proceeds to wreck havoc in your life. He hasn't changed his modus operandi  since the garden: ”did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1). Adam and Eve doubted God first and then went on to disobey Him. When Satan came to tempt Jesus, he did the same thing, “if you are the Son of God…” trying to get Jesus to doubt the Father’s words he’d heard a few weeks back:

²² … And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” – Luke 3:22 NIV

Jesus roundly and soundly defeated him with the Word of God every single time. After failing to get Jesus to doubt the Father and sin against Him, the devil figured it was time to beat it and then try again some other time. The Word says:

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. – Luke 4:13 NIV

And just as the Scriptures say, the devil did come back over and over again to tempt Jesus. He came through the religious leaders, through the political leaders and even through his disciples – Judas and Peter come to mind.

As Jesus hung on the cross, the devil thought he had finally won, but little did he know he had just signed and sealed his own fate. The devil is no match for God, no one is! He didn't even have a clue of how God was going to reconcile man unto Himself through His Wisdom and His Power (1 Corinthians 1:24) – Christ: the power of God and the wisdom of God. The Word of God declares:

⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory – 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 NIV

Had the devil known by crucifying Christ he would be orchestrating his own demise, he would not have done it, but He didn't  Unlike God, he is not omniscient. At the cross Jesus completely and forever defeated and stripped the devil of his power. As a master prosecutor, the devil uses the Law to accuse and condemn people, but he’s been disarmed. Jesus nailed the handwriting of ordinances that was against us – the Law, on the cross (Colossians 2:13-15). Jesus also gave us authority over all the powers of the enemy (Luke 10:19) we have nothing to fear.

Today we are in Christ and therefore seated with him in Heavenly places in the Spirit far above principalities and powers, consequently any spiritual warfare we engage in should be rooted in and also reflect this truth.

⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, - Ephesians 2:6 NIV

²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church – Ephesians 1:21-22 NIV

The Word also tells us that we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Corinthians 2:11), he’s always seeking to deceive us, he goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). He wants to plant seeds of doubt and unbelief concerning anything and everything God has said to us or about us in His Word. The enemy knows that once you are in unbelief you cannot enter the rest that God has for you (Hebrews 4:10-11) and if you aren't resting in God and quietly trusting Him and His Word, chances are, you are toiling in your own strength, trusting in yourself, leaning on your own understanding; walking in doubt and unbelief, effectively short-circuiting God’s grace from flowing in your life. R

We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness and against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). Question, how is this “wrestling” done? We don’t somehow go into the “heavenly realms” and physically wrestle these powers, obviously, so how do we do spiritual battle? We do battle from our vantage position of victory in Christ:

³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV

There you have it, the battlefield is in our souls, more specifically in our minds, that’s where the enemy seeks to erect strongholds of deception, doubt and unbelief. Using the armor of God that we have on (Ephesians 6:10-18), we wrestle with every thought the enemy bombards our minds with, we bring every thought to align itself with Christ and His Word in us, if it can’t align itself then it must be commanded to leave. All evil and negative thoughts will not be able to stay. Every battle you face, you either win it or lose it first in your mind.

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To win every spiritual warfare battle you face, know and believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ and that you are seated with Christ in heavenly places in the Spirit and that God is your Father and He loves you eternally and unconditionally. Reject every thought that is trying to get you to doubt God’s promises to you, reject the enemy’s attempts to get you to start fretting over stuff. 

Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the Author and the Finisher, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, He loves showing Himself strong on your behalf, every single time!