Spiritual Warfare
Diabolus ad ostium - The devil is at thy door. Stand to your arms, and watch!
Deuteronomy 20:1
When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God will be with you.
2 Kings 6:16-17, 20
Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. O Lord, open (our) eyes so (we) may see. Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were...
2 Chronicles 20:15, 32:8
The battle is not yours, but God's.
John 17:15
I do not ask You to take (my disciples) out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Satan's game plan to defeat the Christian - Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19, Luke 8:14
1. the worries of life (Proverbs 12:25a)
2. the deceitfulness of wealth (1 Timothy 6:17)
3. the desires/pleasures of the world (1 John 2:16)
4. pride/self-confidence (Jeremiah 9:23-24, 22:21)
Satan has power to defeat us, to kill our heart, soul, mind & body, to steal our joy, and destroy our testimony;
but the only authority he has over us is the authority we give/surrender to him (1 John 4:4).
Satan and his demons know the name (person), power, and authority of Jesus Christ
Mark 1:23, 3:11
Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Holy One, the Son of God.”
John Gibbon "How May We be So Spiritual, as to Check Sin in the First Risings of It?”
Be much in communion with God, and the devil will have little communication with you.
Horatius Bonar
When brought face to face with human evil, we feel our helplessness. It is too great for us. Outward remedies do not reach the seat of the disease. Laws restrain it; walls hide it; prisons silence it; civilization refines it; education teaches it to keep within bounds. But there it is, notwithstanding all these appliances; its real nature untouched by either magistrate or minister. We are helpless before the evil of ‘this present evil world’.
Be it so. We fall back on God. We ask him to energize the word; to clothe the speaker of it with superhuman power; to do the work which he alone can do, and for the doing of which he will be entreated of us.
Rev. James Smith, predecessor of Charles Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel in The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer on Matthew 13:28 “An enemy has done this.”
The Christian has many foes, but there is one who is emphatically called, “The ENEMY.” He is the god of this world; all worship him except those whom Jesus has delivered from him. He is the prince of the power of the air, he rules over and works in all unbelievers. He is a subtle serpent, endeavoring to deceive; a roaring lion, seeking to devour. He has the power of death. He gains access to our hearts and is always attempting to lead us astray. He is well versed in Scripture and will often quote it in order to misapply it; he will use one part to fill us with terror, another to lead us to make light of sin. He is always planning how he shall injure us, and is incessantly trying to draw us from God.
C.H. Spurgeon
As soon as you are washed in Christ's blood and clothed in His righteousness, you must begin to hew your way through a lane of enemies, right up to the eternal throne. Every foot of the way will be disputed; not an inch will Satan yield to you.
We shall not be surprised if Satan should roar; it will be the decisive token that good is being done.
"Young Man! A Prayer for You"
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/young-man-a-prayer-for-you/#flipbook/
If we had to meet the devil, and knew him to be what he is, we might far more easily conquer him; but we have to deal with him disguised as an angel of light, and here is the need of an hundred eyes, each one of them opened by God, that we may see. (2 Corinthians 11:14, 2 Thessalonians 2:9)
G. Campbell Morgan “The Problems of the Religious Life: The Opposing Forces of the Religious Life – The Devil”
A.W. Pink, Satan and His Gospel, “The Gospel of Satan”, 1917
https://gracegems.org/Pink/satan_and_his_gospel.htm
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God
The assaults of the adversary contribute not a little to the sense of weariness which often prostrates a child of God. To be set up as a mark for Satan; the enemy smiting where sensibility is the keenest; assailing where weakness is the greatest; taking advantage of every new position and circumstance, especially of a season of trial or of a time of sickness—distorting God's character, diverting the eye from Christ, and turning it in upon self—are among Satan's devices for casting down the soul of a dear believer.
A.B. Simpson
Most persons after a step of faith are looking for sunny skies, and when they meet a storm and tempest they are filled with astonishment and perplexity. But this is just what we must expect to meet if we have received anything of the Lord. The best token of His presence is the adversary's defiance. The more real our blessing, the more certainly it will be challenged. It is a good thing to go out (prepared) for the worst, and if it comes we are not surprised.
Perils as well as privileges attend the higher Christian life. The nearer we come to God, the thicker the hosts of darkness in heavenly places. The safe place lies in obedience to God's Word, singleness of heart and holy vigilance. Let us walk in intimate and holy confidence, yet with holy, humble watchfulness, and He will keep the feet of his saints (1 Samuel 2:9).
A.W. Tozer That Incredible Christian
A sweet but sobering memory of our past guilt and a knowledge of our present imperfections are not incompatible with the joy of the Lord; and they are of inestimable aid in resisting the enemy.
C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Christian Reflections
Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.
Francis Schaeffer A Christian View of the Church
We are locked in a battle. This is not a friendly, gentleman's discussion. It is a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those who claim the name of Christ.
Jessie Penn Lewis War On The Saints
http://articles.ochristian.com/book1665.shtml
To many the adversary is merely a tempter, whilst they little dream of his power as a deceiver (Rev. 12:9), hinderer (1 Thess. 2:18), murderer (John 8:44), liar (John 8:44), accuser (Rev. 12:10), and a false angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14); and still less of the hosts of spirits under his command, constantly besetting their path, bent upon deceiving, hindering, and prompting to sin. A vast host wholly given up to wickedness (Matt. 12:43-45), delighting to do evil, to slay (Mark 5:2-5), to deceive, to destroy (Mark 9:20); and having access to men of every grade, prompting them to all kinds of wickedness, and satisfied only when success accompanies their wicked plans to ruin the children of men (Matt. 27:3-5).
The believer is called to triumph over all the powers of darkness, but to reach the goal he must put on the whole armour of God, and lay hold of Divine strength, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, the mighty sword of the Scriptures, watchfulness and prayer. This armour, and the weapons belonging to it, will enable him to "stand against all" the wiles of Satan. If he stands, all heaven sees it; if he is defeated, all hell knows it. If he triumphs, the hosts of darkness are not only conquered, but discouraged, and rendered less effective in their schemes. The believer who would overcome such a disciplined and pertinacious foe, will never dare put his armour by, or give himself to careless work, for he finds that the foe is as tenacious and desirous to conquer as he himself is.
J.C. Ryle Holiness
"The Fight"
http://www.gracegems.org/Ryle/holiness5.htm
"The Church Which Christ Builds"
http://www.gracegems.org/Ryle/holiness14.htm
Be patient under the enmity of Satan and the gates of Hell.
It is all working together for your good.
It tends to sanctify.
It will keep you awake.
It will make you humble.
It will drive you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It will wean you from the world.
It will help to make you pray more.
Above all, it will make you long for Heaven.
It will teach you to say with heart as well as lips, "Come, Lord Jesus. May Your kingdom come." (Revelation 22:20, Matthew 5:10)
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13
I am certain that one of the main causes of the ill state of the Church today is the fact that the devil is being forgotten. All is attributed to us; we have all become so psychological in our attitude and thinking. We are ignorant of this great objective fact, the being, the existence of the devil, the adversary, the accuser, and his “fiery darts.”
"Physical; Psychological; Spiritual"
https://opentheo.org/i/6710363444782057263/physical-psychological-spiritual
"Morale"
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book-of-ephesians/morale/
"The Call To Battle"
http://articles.ochristian.com/article536.shtml
“Body, Mind and Spirit”, presented at the Rendle Short Memorial Lecture of the Bristol Library for Biblical Research, 1974 and published in Healing and the Scriptures, 1982
(Some evangelical Christians take the view) that spiritual gifts and similar manifestations – miracles and speaking in “tongues” – came to an end in the apostolic era and so demon possession came to an end at the same time. This seems to me not only dangerous, but to be completely unscriptural. They have no warrant for saying that baptism with the Spirit, or the giving of spiritual gifts, ended with the apostolic era. In the same way, there is no scriptural evidence for saying that the manifestations of demon activity – the activity of evil spirits – ended at that time.
The moment you begin to say that, then the question I would ask you is – “How much of the New Testament do you believe? How much do you believe is relevant to us today?” When Paul says, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.”(Ephesians 6:12), was this only for Christians of the first century? Has it nothing to say to us?
Still more important and serious is the fact that, in my experience, what appears to me to be the results of demonic activity is a very, very common cause of people’s coming to see the minister.
The Sovereign Spirit, a collection of sermons from the 1960s
We are not only confronted by materialism, worldliness, indifference, hardness, and callousness — but we are also hearing more and more . . . about certain manifestations of the powers of evil and the reality of evil spirits. It is not merely sin that is constituting a problem in this country today. There is also a recrudescence of black magic and devil worship and the powers of darkness as well as drug taking and some of the things it leads to. This is why I believe we are in urgent need of some manifestation, some demonstration, of the power of the Holy Spirit.
"The Christian and the Devil"
https://opentheo.org/i/8673932882315755758/the-christian-and-the-devil
"Spiritism and the Christian"
https://opentheo.org/i/189151184349628130/spiritism-and-the-christian
https://opentheo.org/i/8511803295730372956/spiritism
"Demon Possession"
https://opentheo.org/i/4908923593834004996/demon-possession
"The Wiles of the Devil"
https://opentheo.org/i/1747396655419833111/the-wiles-of-the-devil
John Piper "What Are We Up Against", 1990
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/what-are-we-up-against
Pastor Brad Small, Embark Ministries https://embarkmen.com/
Breaking Strongholds - YouTube
The Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley
"In time of war it is the worst mistake to underrate your enemy, and try to make a little war."
REMEMBER: Spiritual Warfare starts in our mind/thoughts/beliefs - about ourselves and about God.
2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments/paradigms/models and every pretension (asserting as truth that which is false) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.