App. C - Sample Prayer for Alcoholism

Heavenly Father, I just want to praise and worship you. I praise you for all the mercies you have shown me and for all the times you have forgiven me. I worship you because you are the Creator of this beautiful world we live on and because you offered up your Son as a sacrifice for my sinfulness. Lord I repent of the sins I have committed, especially all the drinking I have been doing and I ask that you forgive me for my weaknesses. Lord, I pray that you’ll help me to stay sober, one day at a time and that every day you’ll help me to be an overcomer in this area. Father God, I ask for the Holy Spirit’s help and assistance as I wage a spiritual warfare against the demons that torment me. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and by the authority He has given me I come against and bind the spirits of alcoholism, drunkenness, and partying. I loose upon myself the blessings of soberness, peace and a sound mind. I rebuke these spirits and command them to never darken the door of my heart again for I have submitted myself unto God and I resist you demons in the name of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I command that you get out of my life and be cast into the places where the Lord Jesus sends you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the release from this habit and in faith I believe I am an overcomer of alcoholism. I thank you for the victories that have been brought forth this day and I thank you for the armor that you have provided to help me continue with the battles of sin in my life. Lord, I pray for boldness so that I may share all that you have done for me with others that have been suffering with this condition. Victory is mine and You, Jesus are the truth and by faith the truth has set me free. Amen!

App. B - Prayer of the Armor

I am to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. It is written, "greater is He that is in me then he that is in the world, I am more then a conqueror through Jesus Christ my Lord and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

I am to put on the belt of Truth. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the light, no one comes to the Father except by me. It is written, "I will know the truth and the truth will set me free."

I put on the breastplate of righteousness, for it is written that the prayers of a righteous man avails much and the righteous are as bold as lions and that I should be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

I put on the sandals of the gospel of peace as it is written how beautiful are the feet of him who brings the good news of the gospel and Jesus said to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,…Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. “

Above all I take the shield of faith as it is written the just shall live by faith and faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen and I am to live by faith, walk by faith, pray by faith, resist evil by faith, overcome the world by faith until I finally die in my faith.

Next I am to put on my helmet of salvation as it is written I am saved by grace not of works lest any man should boast. I am to work out my salvation and rejoice that I was appointed unto salvation and shall not suffer His wrath.

Finally, I take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. I am to stand in awe of His word, search the word, speak boldly the word, preach the word, glorify the word, obey the word and be willing to suffer for the word. Amen!

App. A - Specific Verses for Specific Problems - Part 2

Lust

1 John 2:15-17 - “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (KJV)

Matt 5:28 - “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (KJV)

1 Peter 1:14-16 - “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (KJV)

Titus 2:11-12 - “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” (KJV)

Rom 6:11-12 - “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (KJV)

Gal 5:16-17 - “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (KJV)

Gal 5:24 - “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” (KJV)

Prayer

Matt 21:22 - “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (KJV)

1 John 5:14-15 - “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” (KJV)

Isa 65:24 - “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (KJV)

James 5:16 - “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (KJV)

Matt 6:6 - “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (KJV)

Matt 7:11 - “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Jer 33:3 - “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (KJV)

Mark 11:24-25 - “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (NIV)

Righteousness

Matt 6:33 - “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (NIV)

Phil 3:9 - “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”

James 5:16 - “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

1 John 2:29 - “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” (KJV)

Temptation

1 Cor 10:13 - “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it “ (KJV)

2 Peter 2:9 - “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:” (KJV)

Matt 6:13 - “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:”… (KJV)

Matt 26:41 - “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (KJV)

James 1:13-15 - “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (KJV)

Wisdom

James 1:5 - “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (KJV)

Ps 32:8 - “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” (KJV)

Prov 2:6-10 - “For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair — every good path. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”

The Word of God

Heb 4:12 - “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (KJV)

2 Tim 3:15-16 - “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (KJV)

Rom 10:17 - “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (KJV)

Josh 1:8 - “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” (KJV)

Ps 119:11 - “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (KJV)

App. A - Specific Verses for Specific Problems - Part 1

The most important thing any Christian should do is to study and memorize as much of the bible as they can. The Word is our Sword and we are only as effective as our knowledge of His Word allows us to be. The bible probably has a verse or two about any possible situation the believer might encounter. The following is a list of scriptures that covers the most common situations and problems that face Christians today. This is certainly not an all-inclusive list and you may not find exactly the scripture you need, however, a little research with a Strong’s Concordance or an expanded book of topical verses will help you find the exact verse you are looking for. You’ll find I arranged the topics in alphabetical order.

Anger

James 1:19-20 - “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (NIV)

Ps 37:8 - “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”

Prov 15:1 - “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” (KJV)

Eph 4:26 - “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: “(KJV)

Eph 4:31-32 - “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” (KJV)

Col 3:8 - “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” (KJV)

Courage

Ps 27:14 - “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” (NIV)

Ps 31:24 - “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” (NIV)

Isa 40:29 - “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (NIV)

Ps 23:4 - “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (NIV)

Deliverance from Sin

Acts 10:43 - “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (NIV)

Rom 6:6-7 - “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (KJV)

Rom 6:11 - “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (KJV)

Rom 6:14 - “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (KJV)

Faith

Heb 11:1 - “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (NIV)

Eph 2:8-9 - “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (KJV)

1 Cor 16:13 - “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”

Gal 2:20 - “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (KJV)

2 Cor 5:7 - “We live by faith, not by sight.” (NIV)

Fear

Isa 41:13 - “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” (KJV)

Matt 10:28 - “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (KJV)

2 Tim 1:7 - “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (KJV)

1 Peter 3:12-14 - “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” (NIV)

Ps 27:1,3 - “The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?… 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”

Rom 8:37-39 - “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (KJV)

Forgiveness

Mark 11:25 - “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (NIV)

Matt 6:14-15 - “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (NIV)

1 John 1:7-9 - “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (KJV)

Guilt

Ps 103:12 - “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (KJV)

Heb 8:12 - “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (KJV)

Rom 8:1 - “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (KJV)

John 8:36 - “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (KJV)

Joy

Neh 8:10 - …“for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (KJV)

Ps 118:15 - “Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!” (NIV)

Ps 97:11-12 - “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name. “(NIV)

Ps 68:3 - “But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.” (KJV)

John 16:22 - …“but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (KJV)

The love of God

John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)

Hos 14:4 - "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.” (NIV)

Eph 2:4-5 - “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.” (NIV)

1 John 4:10 - “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin. “ (KJV)

John 16:27 - “No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” (NIV)

Cp. 10 A Final Exhortation - Part 2

There are five reasons that God uses His power to be the saints lifeguard.

1. They are His own dear children.
2. The love He has for His children.
A. He loves the believer as the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.
B. He loves them as the purchase of His Son’s blood and
C. He loves them for the likeness to Himself He sees in them.
3. The covenant He has given them.
4. The dependence on and expectations that we the saints have of God.
5. Christ’s presence and the fact that Christ stands in the gap on our behalf before God.

We, the believers, must exercise our faith in the almighty power of God because our obedience and comfort are strong or weak according to the measure of faith we have that allows us to be strong in the Lord. Our Almighty is more then many mighties. You as a saint and believer must utilize God’s Almighty power to your best advantage. Use it for the agonies of conscience that arise from the realization of your sinfulness. Fly for refuge into the Almighty power of God. Use this power when you are beset by temptations, when you are overcome or about to be by the corruption in your heart. Use this power when you are oppressed by the weight of any duty or service which is part of your place or calling. If you are called to suffer anything, don’t be ashamed to be afraid. You could never bear up if God didn’t help you. Examine yourself and find all your weaknesses and wants and then put them before the Almighty.

If you are one of those disconsolate Christians who say, “but I have prayed and prayed again for strength against a particular corruption but I have received no answer!” Could it be that while you are looking for God to come through the front door and slay this sin or temptation with a mighty blow, that He sneaked a blessing in the back door that you might not be aware of? If before you were praying for deliverance might you not be praying more earnestly and with more zeal then before? If sin was overcoming you, wouldn’t it have weakened your spirit of prayer and not strengthened it? If it seems God continues to deny you, could it be that He might want you to guard more carefully that which you do have or it could be that He is holding back because He foresees an opportunity to express His love in a greater way? It could be that He might withhold some of His assisting strength so that He might be able to increase His supporting strength which is grace. It might also be that which hinders you is yourself. Do you go to God for the strength to perform your duties or do you try and do them on your own and only call on Him when it gets rough? Do you continuously thank God for the strength you do have? Are you humble in the assistance and strength God has given you or do you take pride in whatever you may have accomplished? Do you get so brave that you may lay your head in the lap of temptation, foolishly taking chances that a more humble Christian might not even dare attempt?

Perhaps, if you had always had a picture of God working for you and if you had a lengthy time of peace you might not come before God because you would feel you didn’t need to, that He was already there fixing things so why bother asking Him? If all these things don’t satisfy you then let it be your resolution to live and die waiting upon the Lord. If you persevere to wait on God it will be evidence of the strong grace that is within you.

Reassure yourself when you are in your greatest difficulty that strength shall come. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Thus you can say with Paul to God, “that your grace is sufficient for me” and agree with James 5:11 which says: “You have heard the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.”

It is not enough to just attain salvation because Satan will come like a thief in the night to steal your joy. We must arm ourselves for battle because it is in the midst of the battle that we can see ourselves growing spiritually. The Christian armor we wear is of divine institution and appointment. You can not use any old thing that works. You must be clothed as God tells you and fight as He tells you otherwise confusion might slip in and defeat you before you have begun the battle. Our weapons are only mighty through God. True grace when weakest is stronger than false grace when strongest. You must have on your complete armor for it only takes a small hole for one of Satan’s darts to enter in. Sin is an enemy that surrounds us. Satan divides his temptations into different squadrons. One to attack here, while another storms the back and a third feints to the side. You must have and use all the armor, weaponry and graces that God has provided. Martin Luther has said, “Faith fattens or strengthens on good works. To your faith, add virtue, to your virtue add knowledge, then add temperance, to temperance add patience, then add godliness, to godliness add brotherly-kindness and finally add love. We are stewards of these gifts from God. When we have achieved all these gifts, we are to add faith to faith, virtue to virtue, etc. thereby always growing greater in the Lord.”

You must constantly exercise your grace, gifts and weapons. Our armor and our garment of flesh should go off together at death. Keep your armor on at all times, at work, by day, while asleep, etc. This should be your daily exercise: pray without ceasing, rejoice evermore and giving thanks in everything. We do this in respect for others. One coward that turns and runs causes others to follow. Your Christian duties are burdensome only if you are infrequent in their use. If we do all this then it can ever be said that “the gates of hell did not prevail against us.”

Cp. 10 A Final exhortation - Part 1

The following is a paraphrased, condensed work of several exhortations found in Gurnall’s book, “The Christian in Complete Armor“. I pray that you’ll be as blessed by them as I was.

Vs. 10, “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” This is the word of encouragement to battle. The Christianity in all men needs courage and resolution. It requires more prowess and greatness of spirit to obey God faithfully then it does to command a great army of men. We must remember that while we are sinners saved by grace we have also enlisted as soldiers in the army of Almighty God. Def. 2 in the Webster’s Dictionary defines a soldier as an active, loyal and militant follower.

Instead of being weak, ineffective Christians we must be warriors for the cause of Christ, shining light into darkness and getting the victory over souls that are on their way to hell, putting them on the highway to heaven. Christ has told us that we would do greater things then He did through the power of the Holy Spirit that is in us. We are to proclaim and prosecute an irreconcilable war against the sins which we cherish in our heart. As Abraham was to take the son of promise that he loved and lay him upon the altar and stab him with a knife as God commanded, so are we to find the sins in our life that we long to cling to and in private, dig them out and bring them out into the light and slay them with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

Rom. 12:1-2 tells us “not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we might know the perfect will of God“. A Christian must be as strong as an oak against the winds of change in worldly morality. We must stand firm in our beliefs and principals. Shame is the major enemy here. If we are ashamed before men because of doing the foolish things of God then Christ will be ashamed of us before His Father in heaven.

In the midst of all the scandals that are cast upon the ways of God we must keep on our way to heaven and to have a holy resolution to bear up against discouragement as Joshua did when no man would stand with him and all of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt. Joshua stood up and said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The Christian must also trust in a withdrawing God. It takes a holy boldness of faith to keep trusting God when your prayers remain unanswered, the joy has left your heart and His promises seem long in coming. It takes the kind of spirit that the poor woman of Canaan had (Mark 7:27-28) who takes the bullets Christ shoots at her and with a humble boldness of faith sends them back again in her prayer.

The believers are to persevere in their Christian walk to the end of their lives. There are many who like to go into a battle against Satan and win a skirmish or two, but most of us don’t desire this battle as a constant trade. Persevering is a hard word, to take up your cross daily, praying always, watching night and day and never laying aside our clothes of armor and resisting temptation day after day after day. Yet this is the Christian’s duty. We don’t get a holiday that we can sin on, we don’t take a vacation from church and Christianity where it is ok to fulfill the desires of our flesh. This is why you need a determined resolve to stand fast in the rough times.

How many Christians when it comes to this crossroad, after the beginning joys of salvation has faded, leave the cause of Christ? This is where the body of Christ needs to come together, to pray for each other and exhort one another daily while we still can. Cowards never get to heaven, it is the violent and the valiant who take heaven by force, wresting it out of the hands of Satan, who is trying to block us every step of the way.

Take heart, dear Christian, for we follow Christ who is called the Captain of our Salvation. He will lead us in courage and deliver us with honor. He lived and died for you and He will live and die with you. Knowing that all would come against Him, He went forth (John 18:14) and said, “Whom seek ye?” He never lost a battle even when He lost His life, for even then He conquered death in victory. We march in the midst of gallant spirits (the body of Christ). Every one the son or daughter of the King. For we have a great crowd in heaven watching us as we fight our battle. Every exploit of your faith against sin causes a mighty shout in heaven. How can we be anything other then joyfully optimistic with such ennobling thoughts? Two things are required to fix our principals.

1. An established belief in these truths of God.

If you don’t know for what or for Whom you fight you may be persuaded to change sides. We must know the God we serve and be grounded in our faith knowing what the bible has to say on any given issue.

2. A sincere aim at the right end in our profession of faith.

We mustn’t be like the soldiers who once they have won a victory and received great blessing are content to live on these blessings and not seek after more. We must always remember that the Christian’s strength lies in the Lord and not in himself. God is at the top and bottom of our ladder as He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

You will receive the strength to go on not from doing battle and winning but while you are in the battle itself, from God. When praying, you don’t pray yourself strong, God will strengthen you in your prayer (Ps. 138:3). God daily comes to our hearts pantry and sees where we have need, whether it be grace, love or encouragement, etc. and fills us up with our daily needs as He finds necessary.

To “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” implies two acts of faith.

1. A settled firm persuasion that the Lord is Almighty in power and

2. That the Almighty power of God is engaged for the defense of His kingdom and for those who belong to Him, the universal church of God on Earth.

This helps to bear us up under all our trials, tribulations and temptations. If you depend on your own strength to overcome the devil, you will lose.

God has used the heroes of the Old and New Testaments as an example of how closely you should guard your own faith because these “heroes” constantly slipped in their faith. These heroes are not really examples of how Christians should be but rather how you should see God working through people even as they are constantly failing in their faith to God.

In our daily prayers and meditations we should make more use of the word “all”. Men can be wise, merciful and mighty but only God can be All-wise, All-merciful and All-mighty. If we leave out the word “all” then we are bringing God down to our level and God will not listen for we have temporarily forgotten who we are talking to. We are giving Him human characteristics when we leave out the word, “all”.

Cp. 9 Understanding Our Relationship to the Law - Part 2

These two commandments are the only ones we as Christians need to concern ourselves with. The love we have for God and each other fulfills the requirements of the law as Paul explains in Rom 13:8-10: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (NIV)

If we obey the law of love for God and each other then we are fulfilling the requirements of the Sabbath rest and have no need of an additional day. To believe otherwise would be like telling God, “Ok, I followed you and obeyed you all week long but now because it’s the Sabbath day, I really mean it this time.” People who are Sabbath-keepers also fail to realize that our living bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We now have God residing within us. We are the 24/7 residence of He who dwelt in the inner sanctuary of the Holy of Holies. That makes us the temple so how can going to another building on a special day make us any more holier? What can a calendar day do for us that the Holy Spirit residing within us can’t do? My answer is…absolutely nothing!

The Law in general

Those Christians who insist that we have a God-given admonishment to obey the law usually quote these verses:

Matt 5:17-18: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (KJV)

Luke 16:17 - “It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.” (NIV)

Rom 7:12 - “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”

We as believers are no longer under the law but the law is still in effect. The purpose of the law is to let us know what sin is. Rom 3:20-21: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” (NIV)

Rom 5:20 - “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,” (NIV)

Rom 7:7 - “What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." (NIV)

1 Co. 15:56 - “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (NIV)

The following paragraphs are a summary of scriptural teachings about the law. Instead of listing several verses, I combined them into a smooth, easily read, albeit large, statement. I will list the references at the end of the paragraph.

“Through Christ, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. Where there is no law there is no transgression.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. Sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing. All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith and the law is not based on faith. The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. By abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”

( Acts 13:39, Rom. 3:28,31, 4:13-15, 5:12-14, 6:14, 7:4-6, 8:1-2, 10:4, Gal. 2:16,21, 3:10-13, 19-21, 24,25, 5:14,18, 6:2, Eph. 2:15, 1 Tim. 1:9, Heb. 7:18-19 )

The problem with Christians picking out some laws to obey is you can’t have it both ways. It has to be either faith and grace or the law. If you observe the Sabbath or pay tithes because you believe the law says to then James 2:10 is for you. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

If you fail to observe the Sabbath correctly or pay less then a tenth of your tithes or skip a week because of bills or whatever, there is no remedy for forgiveness because you put yourself under the law and not under faith.

Paying Tithes

The prosperity teachers who ask you for sacrificial offerings or the pastors who demand a tithe from the members of their congregations usually use this verse to justify their demands. Mal 3:8-10: "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse — the whole nation of you — because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (NIV)

This chastisement and promise of blessings are for the nation of Israel, not Christians. The New Testament really has little to say about tithing. I will list the verses for you. Matt 23:23 - “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (KJV)

Luke 18:11-12 - “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” (KJV)

There ia a verse in Luke 11 that references the same speech of Christ’s from Matt. 23so it can be said that the New Testament only speaks of tithing twice. There is another occurrence in Heb. 7:5-9 where the author is referring to Abraham paying a tithe to Melchizedek. All references to tithing are Old Testament law based references because the new covenant didn’t take effect until after the death of Christ. Does the New Testament have anything else to say on this topic? 2 Co. 9:6-7: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NIV)

We are free to give as much or as little as we decide but our rewards will echo our giving. God does not ask or demand a tithe from you and anyone who teaches otherwise is a false teacher or at least not a good student of the bible. Let’s be realistic, a church needs money to operate effectively in their community and to support their missionary efforts. It is perfectly acceptable to voluntarily give a percentage of your income to the church, but the percentage is solely between you and God. Sacrificial giving is also acceptable because God will bless you for giving generously. All I’m saying is that if a pastor or denomination insists upon a tithe as a condition of membership or in some cases threatens you with Ananias & Sapphira consequences should you fail to give what they expect of you, then you should find a new church. Let’s take a closer look at their story.

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for
himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. 3 Then Peter said,
"Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the
Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." 9 Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Acts 5:1-10 (NIV).

The lesson to be learned here is not that God will strike you dead if you don’t give all or pay your tithes but that if you pledge a certain amount you must pay it. They were free to hold part of the price back if they wanted, but by laying it at Peter’s feet they were signifying that they were giving all. They compounded their sin by lying about it. If Ananias had simply said up front that they received a certain price but were keeping part of it, this story would have had a happier ending.

As I’ve stated earlier, successful spiritual warfare depends greatly on your knowledge of scripture. The devil knows the bible better than most Christians and he continually distorts the scriptures or takes advantage of our ignorance of scripture to cause believers to doubt their significance to our daily lives. Satan also tries to destroy the church from within by hiding the truth or by using church leaders to erode the child-like faith of new believers by overwhelming them with law-like regulations that discredit God’s simple plan of salvation through faith and grace.

I encourage all that read this book to always find ways to be content with your lot in life. To persevere in your efforts to be spiritual warriors and to take control of your faith, utilize the armor that God has provided for us and try to find other like-minded Christians to share your struggle with. Christianity was never meant to be a one-on-one battle with the devil. Our strength is in our unity as the Body of Christ.

Cp. 9 Understanding Our Relationship to the Law - Part 1

Understanding our relationship to the law as believers can be one of the most complex issues facing us today. Many of our pastors and church leaders have inadvertently misinterpreted scripture thus creating added burdens upon Christians that God never intended. There are two areas that I want to focus on in this chapter and they are: Sabbath Keeping and Tithes Paying. There are more problems Christians face in the church setting than these two topics but I believe that if we understand these two then we will be able to “rightly divide the word of truth” when we encounter other similar situations.

When I speak of the “law” I am, of course, referring to the Mosaic law of the Old Testament. It’s important to understand what the bible has to say about the law. You can’t just pick out a couple of scriptures that speak about the law and expect to have a complete understanding of the issue. The bible teaches us to search the scriptures when we have questions regarding our faith and salvation. Knowing what the bible has to say on any given issue and properly understanding all that is taught is vital to our spiritual warfare.

For example, if we believe that God promises blessings based upon a certain action or obedience to an Old Testament law and we obey that action or law but receive no blessings then that opens the door for demons to tempt us to doubt God and His word. God does not lie; but if we expect Him to act a certain way because we erred in our understanding of scripture then we can be tempted to proclaim God a liar. Prosperity teachers are one group that are often guilty of this type of misinterpretation.

Sabbath Keeping

Seventh Day Adventists and Messianic Jews are two of the many denominations that erroneously teach that proper Sabbath Keeping is vital to ones’ salvation. They believe in observing the Sabbath the traditional Jewish way which begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday and restricts the amount and types of daily activities that they can do. They argue that the commandment to “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8) was one of the ten commandments and if we obey the other nine commandments then we should honor the Sabbath in the old way as well.

What was the original purpose of the Sabbath? It was to give man a day of rest from his labors as exampled by God when He rested on the seventh day of creation. When God told Moses to “keep it holy”, He was expanding it to include worship of God as well on that day of rest. Throughout the Old Testament years the Pharisees increasingly made keeping the Sabbath very restrictive, for example, by limiting the number of steps you could walk. Jesus, much to the consternation of the Pharisees, seemed to enjoy flaunting the Sabbath.

Matt 12:2-8: “When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." 3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." (NIV)

Matt 12:10-12: “and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." (NIV)

John 5:10-11: and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.” (NIV)

John 5:17-18: Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very
day, and I, too, am working." 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder
to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God
his own Father, making himself equal with God. (NIV)

We can see by this last verse that God and Jesus are always working. Apparently they do not take a Sabbath rest. It would be a sad thing indeed if God closed up shop on the seventh day and refused to hear and answer prayers because He was resting. According to Strong’s Concordance the word “holy” is defined as: “To be clean, to consecrate, dedicate, to keep, prepare, proclaim and to purify and sanctify oneself.”
Let’s take a look at what the bible has to say about these aspects of our holiness.

1. Clean - Jesus says, “John 15:3 - “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” (NIV)

2. Consecrate - Heb 10:20 - “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;” (KJV) Through His death we are consecrated unto God.

3. Dedicate - As Christians we dedicate our lives to His service.

4. Keep - Phil 4:7 - “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (KJV)

5. Prepare - Heb 10:8-10: “First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9 Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (NIV)

Jesus prepared the way for us! We have been made holy by His sacrifice. Nothing we do will make us any holier than what Christ has done for us. When we stand before God, he isn’t going to look at our works or whether we kept the law or not regarding our salvation. The only thing He will look for is whether or not we have the blood of His Son covering us, for our righteousness (our efforts to be law keepers) are as filthy rags before Him.

6. Proclaim - By our living testimony we proclaim to the world our faith in Christ and every time we witness we are proclaiming the gospel.

7. Purify - Titus 2:14 - “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (KJV)

8. Sanctify - Heb 13:12 - “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.” (KJV)

Christ has accomplished all that was necessary to make us holy. Observing a day set aside for His honor can bring about nothing that hasn’t already been done for us.
The problem many people have is in not recognizing that in Heb 4:1-10: God redefined the Sabbath.

1 “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful
that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the
gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no
value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” (NIV)

As verse 10 points out we enter that Sabbath rest automatically when we believe in Him and make Him Lord of our life. Jesus, through His life and death did everything for us spiritually that the Sabbath was supposed to do. That is why He continually stated that “the Son of Man was Lord of the Sabbath.” It is in and through Him that we rest and keep the Sabbath. Those who make a big deal about setting aside a certain day for worship are proclaiming that what Christ did for us wasn’t good enough. They are saying that the Sabbath becomes holy through our observance of it and physically observing it the way the law originally intended. They have not yet realized that the New Covenant did away with all the past observances. Christ gave us two laws to obey: Matt 22:36-40:

36 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shall 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 shall love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (KJV)

Cp. 8 Praying and the War Within

When praying for any purpose it is important to remember to utilize the Word of God. Follow Christ’s example when at the end of His wilderness experience, He answered every temptation of Satan’s with these three words, “It is written”. When quoting the words of Christ it is acceptable to say, “Jesus said“. Our sword is the words of God that we speak. The devil has no defense against them. When entering into spiritual warfare it’s also important to remember not to have faith in the armor of God but to have faith in the God of the armor.

A prayer of spiritual warfare should always be spoken out loud. While God can hear our inner thoughts, Satan can’t. When we exercise our authority over him and his minions it is important to speak with a voice of authority. We are not begging and pleading with him to leave us alone, we are commanding him to get out of our lives. Here are some scriptures outlining the authority we as believers have:

Luke 9:1 - “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” (KJV) Whenever Jesus spoke to the twelve disciples, He was speaking to them as the founding fathers of Christianity, not as Jews as is commonly believed.

Matt 18:18 - “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (NIV) The binding of demons and the loosing of blessings is a vital part of spiritual warfare. We can not overcome them until we bind them in the name of Christ. That is always the first step.

2 Cor. 10:3-5 - “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (NIV) The strongholds are those places in our hearts and lives that we have allowed Satan control over. We all have an area or two we are reluctant to surrender to Christ and Satan takes advantage of that reluctance and tries to invade other areas that we have surrendered to the will of God and tries to deceive us into giving him back control over those things.



The second step is to rebuke the evil spirits. Matt 17:18 - “And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. (KJV)

Rebuking means to order them to be silent and forbid them access to your spirit, heart and mind. It is important to try and use all the names and synonyms you can think of in your particular arena of conflict. For example, say you have a problem with theft. You would come against the demons of: theft, stealing, robbery, dishonesty, coveting and greed, etc. and also the root causes which might be: poverty, unemployment, selfishness, etc. Demons and evil spirits are usually known by the names of the sin they try to tempt you with or the negative emotions they want you to feel.

We are weak but are made strong by God while still in our weakness. In some of our darkest times we must bear witness with Paul that while: 2 Cor. 4:8-9 - “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (NIV) Trials, tribulations and sorrows are the Christian’s training ground for faith. For everyone who believes that Christianity is a place of rest, sunshine and lollipops I offer these verses:

John 16:33 - “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (KJV)

Rom 5:3-4 - “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:” (KJV)

Luke 12:51-53 - “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (KJV)

When you are just beginning to exercise your spiritual muscles it might be a good idea to make notes about what you want to pray for, the problems you wish solved and the sins you want to overcome, etc. Some people believe that reading a prayer isn’t being realistic enough with God and that is true for some of the more ritualistic prayer books out there, but in spiritual warfare as long as what you are praying agrees with your spirit and mind it is perfectly fine.

An often neglected but important part of spiritual warfare is singing. In your prayer closet, if possible, find music that deals with the areas you’re praying for. Utilize music even if it’s just praise and worship music, as an aid to get your heart and mind attuned to an atmosphere suitable for spiritual warfare. Many times I find that when I’m driving a long distance alone good, celebratory praise music helps jump start my periods of warfare. (Just don’t get carried away and close your eyes and lift your hands in praise, unfortunate results may occur).

Every believer is forced to confront the war within. The continuous battle of good and evil, our old man against our new man, our new nature conflicting with our old sin nature. Paul describes this war that is raging within quite accurately.

Rom 7:14-25 - “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do,
but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (NIV)

As you can see, even the great Apostle Paul struggled with the very things you and I struggle with on a daily basis. You are not alone! Our victory is found in Christ but we must wage the battles to receive it.

I developed a couple of acronyms to use as a memory aid when instigating spiritual warfare. The first one is simply called PRAISE.


Praise God.
Repent of sin and seek forgiveness.
Ask for daily needs.
Invoke the help of the Holy Spirit for your spiritual warfare.
Start spiritual warfare.
End with exhortations and blessings.

The next one is a little more involved, SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
Praise and worship God.
Invoke aid of the Holy Spirit.
Repent of sin and seek forgiveness.
Instigate warfare.
Take authority.
Unmask demons and call them by name.
After you bind them in Christ’s name.
Loose the blessings they were blocking.

Wait upon the Lord.
Ask for God’s blessings on others.
Receive in faith the promises.
Faithfully believe victory is yours.
Ask for boldness in your witness.
Rejoice in faith for victory received.
End with praise and thanksgiving.



Another good method to use in learning how to pray effectually is to read the prayers that are in the bible. You can’t go wrong if you follow the patterns like the aforementioned Lord’s Prayer. Did you know that Jesus prayed a prayer especially for you? There are three prayers in John 17. The first part, vs. 1-5 is His prayer for Himself. The second part vs. 6-19 is His prayer for the disciples, which we are and the last part is His prayer for all believers, vs. 20-26. I will end this chapter with His last two prayers that He prayed to God for us.

6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed
that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your Name - the name you gave me - so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They
are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them
into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." (NIV)

Cp. 7 Understanding the Types of Warfare - Part 2

5). Rev. 3:1-6: The Problem: the church at Sardis was spiritually dead. They were no longer alert and watchful. They had fallen asleep and God exhorts them to Wake up! They had allowed their faith to weaken and were in a state almost as bad as the church at Laodicea.
The Promise: those who overcome will be dressed in white and their name would never be blotted out of the Book of Life.
Battle Arena: Spirit & Psychological.
Type of Attack: unbelief, doubt, despair, loss of faith
Armor Protection: the Shield of Faith.

6). Rev. 3:16 - The Problem: the church at Laodicea was lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. They are an example of those believers who are Christians in name only never taking seriously the price Christ paid for their salvation. They are those spoken of in Matt 7:22-23 - “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (KJV) They never thoroughly washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, they kind of just rinsed them to have an appearance of godliness. They were “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of Christ“.
The Promise: overcomers are given the right to sit with Christ on His throne.
Battle Arena: The Psychological
Type of Attack: Worldly Contentedness, They don’t partake in spiritual warfare. They have a truce with the devil when the devil tells them, “if you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone”. These believers live an easy, lazy life just existing. They are spiritually stagnate, not going forth to do battle.
Armor Protection: the Sandals of the Gospel of Peace

There is a type of contentedness that every Christian should strive for. Phil 4:11-12 “… for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (NIV) This example of being content is found in surrendering our will to God, knowing that “…all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). We need to align ourselves with Job who declared, “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

There are other arenas in which Satan tries to stifle our Christian walk. One of his most popular is through our children. Usually children of preachers and missionaries fall into two categories. Either they are totally sold out to God and following in their parents footsteps or they are overly zealous in their rebellion against God and parental authority. It’s been my experience that the majority fall into the latter category. If Satan can distract our pastors, teachers and missionaries through rebellious children then they aren’t as effective in their ministries as they were before this distraction.

We all love our children and want what is best for them but sometimes we need to exercise a little tough love, especially when they have reached maturity. If we continue to give them money that we know will be spent on undesirable things and if we always take them back in after they have lied to us for a variety of reasons then we are only enabling their behavior and not allowing them the responsibility to grow into the mature, spiritual adult we want them to be. We need to learn to say “No“! The prodigal son came back with a repentant spirit. If our children don’t exhibit that kind of repentance then we do not welcome them back with open arms. We feed them, give them some clean clothes and a place to sleep for the night and then we show them the door. This toughness is only for those who are totally into the world of sex, drugs, drunkenness and may have fallen under the influence of a cult.

This tough love does not apply to those who simply have exercised their free will and choose to live a non-Christian life. In both cases we are to put their fate into God’s hands, pray for them and then treat them lovingly but firmly as our children. Continually arguing over their life choices only widens a gulf and creates an atmosphere of anger and bitterness that may be difficult to overcome if they do come to Christ in their later years.
Here are some other methods Satan uses to try and bring defeat into your life.

1. He will point out some faults and defects within your local body. This usually occurs after the first excitement of being born again fades and the realities of the Christian’s duty begins to dawn on you. He’ll try to get you to become disillusioned in the area of church politics or by suffering hurt caused by another member of the body and perhaps even through the human frailty of a pastor or church leader.

2. He’ll constantly try and get you to feel emotional about your spirituality. As an example, he’ll try and distract you into wondering why you don’t feel forgiven instead of accepting by faith the fact that you are forgiven.

3. As humans sometimes our minds wander and if we’re not careful we will stray into the devil’s territory. He’ll program your mind with sinful images or by conjuring up fears and replaying over and over some past unhappy memory until you have reached a spiritual low point. When you pray, he’ll try to prevent you from praying to your actual God by having you pray to your preconceived, romantic ideals of God.

4. Another tactic is to make you doubt the fact of the existence of demons. If they can keep society picturing demons as little red imps with pitchforks or some sci-fi movie creature then their disbelief in those attributes causes them to deny their existence at all.

5. He may bring new friends or acquaintances into your life that belittle the Christian faith thus causing you to hide what should be worn as a badge of honor and to become ashamed of all that you hold dear. We all want to be liked and validated for who we are but sometimes the price we pay for that validation can lose us our spiritual graces as we stifle down our faith and desire to be accepted by those who have no faith at all.

6. One of the problems we will encounter is that he will try and get us to believe that we are possessors of time. We tend to very closely guard our concept of time and feel quite good about ourselves when we use some of our time to attend church or church functions. The truth is that all of our time belongs to God and He graciously allows us time to accomplish what we desire but all of us waste far too much time that can never be recovered on silly, frivolous things. Compare your “church time” to the amount of time spent watching television or playing computer games. I know that when we all stand before God at Judgment Day we will all be appalled by the hours and in what manner we wasted our time.

Other arenas in which Satan works can include an oppressive spirit in a particular place, with a particular item or in extreme situations possessing a person to the extent that an exorcism is needed. When dealing with a specific place or item the cause is usually the same. The house, building or geographical area has been the dwelling or workplace of someone involved in the spirit world. People like fortunetellers, mediums, palm readers and psychics. Another cause could be a seemingly innocent involvement with Tarot cards, Ouija boards, séances and table-tipping, etc. Anything that could possibly involve something in the spirit realm and not associated with the Holy Spirit of God should be left alone and not attempted by anyone claiming the name of Christ.

When a person becomes possessed of a demon only those strong in their faith should deal with them. Sometimes, as Christ taught, they can only be overcome with much prayer and fasting. I won’t go into detail on this issue as it is too dangerous of a subject to be dealt with lightly and it should be left to those spiritually mature enough to handle it. The Christian journey is full of peaks and valleys. The valleys are our spiritual lows and the peaks are our spiritual highs. We grow more in the valleys. The peaks are the celebrations of our valley growth. We all desire to experience the peaks but shudder at the classroom of the valley, but it is in the valley that we echo David’s immortal 23rd psalm:

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou
art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” (KJV)

Cp. 7 Understanding the Types of Warfare - Part 1

When we were unbelievers the devils paid us little heed except to try and thwart any attempt of our hearing the gospel message. Why mess with humans when they are already under their sphere of influence? Upon salvation, however, it seems like we are all appointed a small army of demons to plague and distract us from growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.

They are masters of deception in their attempts to have us view Christianity critically and unrealistically. They will try to show you the unattractiveness of piety and the beauty and freedom of sin. They do their job well. The tactics they use seem to be innumerable and they never let up. They batter their way into our hearts and minds then cackle with an hellish glee when they succeed in tempting us to sin but then wail and moan and shriek in horror when we repent and ask forgiveness from God. They have yet to realize that any obstacle put in our path to hinder us only gives us an opportunity to be overcomers and every time we overcome we get greater strength to overcome the next obstacle. When they try to get us to fail, they are in fact enabling us to prevail in our Christian journey.

To be an effective Christian warrior it’s important to understand the methodology of satanic attacks and the different arenas of battle where he deploys his forces. There are five major battle arenas where Satan likes to attack. They are:

The Physical: James 5:14-15: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (NKJV)
If you’re too ill to do God’s work then you are too ill to bother Satan.

The Moral: 1 Co. 10:13 - “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (NIV)
The heart can conceive of every possible sin under the sun.

The Theological: Gal 1:6-8: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (NIV)
Satan will consistently attack our intellect and our knowledge or lack thereof of the Word of God.

The Psychological: 2 Cor. 10:5 - “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;” (KJV)
2 Tim 1:7 - “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear ; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (KJV)
The devil likes us to believe and imagine the worst. Pessimism is one of his favorite demons. Christians more than anyone else in the world should be optimists.

The Spirit: 1 John 4:1-3 - “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” (NIV)
Evil spirits are real and they just love to terrorize the believer however we are overcomers who see through his vain attempts to cause us fear and we learn to lean and trust in God’s loving arms.
Within these arenas are several kinds of skirmishes that we need our armor to defend against. Many of these battles are spoken of in God’s letters to the churches found in Rev. 2 & 3. With every trial comes a promise.

1). Rev. 2:4-7: The Problem: the church at Ephesus has forsaken their first love.
The Promise: those who overcome receive the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
The Battle Arena: Theological - they have become satisfied with their walk and are getting weary of persevering.
Type of Attack: Spiritual laziness and apathy.
Armor Protection: Sandals of the gospel of peace. Their old shoes have gotten worn and if replaced they will receive a spirit of revival and renewal that will help them to overcome the apathy and remember and yearn for their first love.

2). Rev. 2:8-11 & Rev. 3:7-13: The churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia are having the same type of experience. In these two churches God does not find them lacking but encourages them to continue in their struggles against evil.
The Problem: tested by Satan, suffering persecution, enduring patiently the trials and sufferings.
The Promise: those who overcome receive the crown of life and will not be hurt by the second death and will be made a pillar in the temple of God and will have written on them a new name and the name of the city of God which is New Jerusalem.
Battle Arenas: Theological, Physical & Psychological.
Types of Attack: Calamities, accidents, persecutions and suffering. When the devil fails in his attempts to tempt you to sin then he steps it up a notch to make your Christian walk as unpleasant as he can in an attempt to cause you to believe that the price of salvation is too high.
Armor Protection: Helmet of Salvation and Shield of Faith

3.) Rev. 2:12-17: The Problem: the church at Pergamum allows false teaching in their midst.
The Promise: those who overcome receive hidden manna and a white stone with a new name written on it.
Battle Arena: Theological, the importance of being well grounded in the Word as a protection against false teachings can not be overstated.
Type of Attack: Lies and errors of doctrine
Armor Protection: The Belt of Truth

4). Rev. 2:18-29: The Problem: the church at Thyatira was falling into sexual immorality.
The Promise: those who overcome will receive authority over nations and the morning star.
Battle Arena: Moral & Spiritual
Type of Attack: evil and sinful desires
Armor Protection: the Breastplate of Righteousness.

Cp. 6 Understanding our Weapons of Warfare - Part 2

Let’s take a look at the last part of the armor passage: Eph 6:18 - “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; “(KJV)
To begin with we are to “pray always“, 2 Th. says to “pray without ceasing”. When we pray: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.” (Rom 8:16 - NIV) and Jesus says: - “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matt 7:11 - NIV). Our purpose of being is to be as much like Christ as we can because, after all, that is what the word Christian means: to be Christ-like.

Satan does not want you to pray! He fears the prayers of righteous believers. Gurnall states that there are three ways Satan tries to attack our prayers.

1. He will seek to keep you from praying: by bringing distractions into your prayer time. He’ll call you a hypocrite for trying to pray and he’ll put stumbling blocks to prevent you from reaching your time of prayer and try to convince you that you are unworthy of being heard by God.

2. He will try to interrupt your prayer time: by telling you that God won’t hear your prayers or he’ll send evil thoughts and distracting temptations. He will also make you weary of praying and cause the same type of sleepiness to hit you as the disciples experienced when Christ asked them to pray with Him in the garden. He might try to convince you to put it off until a later time, maybe when you’re “feeling” a little more spiritual.

3. He will try to hinder the answer: An angel gives Daniel an example of the devil doing just that: Dan 10:13 - “But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.” (NIV)

We are to pray, “with all prayers and supplications.” Let’s take a look at the Lord’s Prayer as this is the model He gave us to go by: Matt 6:9-13 -
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.” Amen! (KJV)


There are nine important parts to this prayer.

1. It starts with the word “Our”. It implies a unity between believers. We are to strive for unity one with another. No Christian can successfully be an island of one. First we all belong to the church universal which encompasses all the believers around the world, living and dead. Secondly, we should all be part of a local body of believers to encourage us and aid each other in our spiritual battles.

2. “hallowed be thy name”: we should start with praise and thanksgiving for all that He has already done for us.

3. “Thy kingdom come “: we pray for his return and that He won’t come and catch us sleeping.

4. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”: Above all we pray that His will be accomplished in our life. As believers we have surrendered our will and right of self-determination to Him.

5. “Give us this day our daily bread”: We are not to be concerned with the future. The last verse of this chapter says to: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (KJV)

6. “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”: we need to repent and ask forgiveness for anything that may stand between us and God and ask His help in forgiving those who have wronged us, which we must do if we want forgiveness.

7. “lead us not into temptation”: this is a pre-emptive strike in our spiritual warfare.

8. “But deliver us from evil”: this is part of the believer’s prayer that we use in our warfare.

9. The prayer ends with another time of praise and worship to God, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Let’s get back to our original study. The next part of Eph. 6:18 says we are to be “watching thereunto”. To be watchful means to be alert and sober-minded. The strong man can be as easily overcome as a child while he is sleeping. We watch for opportunities to serve and to speak with holy boldness at the correct time. We also watch for tempta-tions and snares that the devil may use to entrap us. We don’t want to be caught unaware: Luke 21:34 - "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap” (NIV). The phrase “and that day.” is the same day spoken of in Eph. 6:13 and what Chapter 3 explained in more depth.

“In all perseverance”, means that we need to be diligent about fulfilling our Christian duties and do what He commands whether we feel like it or not. “We are not to be weary of well-doing.”

“For all saints”, takes us back to the community of believers we spoke about when we examined the Lord’s prayer.

Cp. 6 Understanding our Weapons of Warfare - Part 1

“And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” The sword is the word of God in the mouth of His saints. Our sword is both a defensive and an offensive weapon. Rev 12:11 - “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (NIV)

Christ is the Word: John 1:1 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NIV) Rev 19:13-15 - “He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God… 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword…”(NIV)

The sword comes last, having put on our armor as we mature in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, we come to the point where it is vital that we “rightly divide the word of truth.” If we use the word without the understanding that comes with spiritual maturity then we may say the wrong things, speak false doctrines and err in our interpretation of scripture. 2 Co. 10:4-5 - “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (NIV) Our spiritual sword was forged by the hands and mouth of Christ. It is the sword of the Spirit because only with the guidance of the Holy Spirit can His word be rightly divided and understood. It is the Holy Spirit residing in us that gives the sword its power. The sword is not only used against the enemy but it judges us as well: Heb 4:12 - “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (NIV) The sword is as powerful as the faith we have in its creator. The Word can take down great persecutors of the church, like Saul, (who became Paul) and turn them into great ministers of the gospel. Rightly dividing the word can silence the heretic with their false doctrines and keep at bay the seducing spirits who twist the scriptures to their own ends. These seducing spirits are the types that tempted Jesus after His wilderness experience. The heretic and seducer might quote the word but only those who are holy will have the mind of Christ.

Our desire when we stand before God should equal that of Paul who said that “We have run the race, we have fought a good fight and have kept the faith”. The importance of knowing the word and hiding in your heart can be found with this prophecy: Amos 8:11 - "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.” (NIV)

As the latter days approach us it will get more difficult to hear solid gospel preaching and it’s not impossible that publication of the bible be halted as, in the eyes of the “politically correct” it may contain “hate speech.” Satan will no longer be held back and his wrath will be against the church. Rev 12:17 - “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (NIV)

The results of Satan’s war against the church can be found in: Rev 13:7, 10 - “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them…10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. (NIV)
When sincerely seeking the truth of scripture don’t begin with foregone conclusions then search for scriptures that “back up” your previously held belief, instead enter your search with an open mind and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you unto the truth.
John 16:13 - “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak…” (KJV) We need to pray along with David: “Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. 34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart” (Ps 119:33-34 - NIV).

When we enter into spiritual warfare we are battling not only for the honor and glory of Christ but also for our very life and being. This can truly be called “a holy war” and it doesn’t last for a short duration but it is to be our life’s work. Part of our warfare is knowing and claiming the promises of God. 2 Peter 1:4 - “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (KJV) Here’s an example: Ps 34:19 - “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (NIV). I’ll provide a lot more in a later chapter.
The scriptures have a cure for every affliction. Meditate upon and memorize the promises, then pray the promises and once you have prayed the promise start behaving as if you have received the promise already. In your acting on faith of having received them, they will become a reality. Don’t let sense, reason or doubt cloud your faith. The bible tells us a little about our attitude towards the enemy and spiritual warfare in general.

Matt 10:28 - “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (NIV).

Rev 2:7 - “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (NIV)

We are to be overcomers in everything we do and every trial and temptation we face. Matt 16:18 - …“and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (KJV) Pr. 3:5 - “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” (NIV). God will help prepare us for battle: “Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. 2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge…”(Ps 144:1-2 - NIV).

We need to listen and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in understanding His word. Gurnall says, “Prayer is the key that unlocks the mystery of the word.” Always pray for help from God before you begin a period of spiritual warfare. Prayer is the oil that prevents the rest of the armor from getting rusty. Prayer has been called the spear of the Christian warrior because when used effectively by thrusting into the spiritual realm we keep the demons at bay and prevent them from drawing near to us.

Cp. 5 Understanding our Armor - Part 2B

Faith comes by hearing: Rom 10:17 - “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (KJV) and what we need to listen to is God’s word, the bible. David shares in: Ps 119:11 - “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (KJV). When we memorize verses to use in our times of testing and temptations these become the effectiveness of our sword. Familiarize yourself with God’s promises given to us in His word. Doing this will help you to preserve your faith. Exercise your faith, “use it or lose it” to keep your faith strong. The longer we wait for our prayers to be answered, if we don’t grow weary, the stronger our faith grows.
There are times in every believer’s life when we doubt the sincerity of our faith. Remember that your inward peace that doesn’t necessarily express itself in outward joy. You can be mad, sad, disappointed, disillusioned, weary and disheartened momentarily and still maintain your inner peace. We are emotional beings and having faith doesn’t mean that life suddenly becomes all sunshine and lollipops. Momentary doubts are normal and acceptable, but lingering doubt leads to the grievous sin of unbelief.
The fiery darts of the wicked come swiftly and silently from afar. They are our daily temptations. Keep in mind that God promises us in 1 Co. 10:13 - “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (KJV)
The problem is that we don’t always look for that way to escape. We sometimes get willful and we want to sin at that moment in time. Later after the fiery burning dart hits our conscience then we repent and ask forgiveness. Many of us set ourselves up for failure because we don’t heed the wisdom in this verse, “Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.” Remember and be assured that “there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” So recognize that the continuing guilt we feel after we repent and ask for and receive forgiveness is just another fiery dart to make you feel unworthy. Rest assured that God will forgive you no matter what you’ve done and He doesn’t just forgive - He forgives you perfectly because He promises that: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Ps 103:12 (NIV)
There are three main darts that Satan uses and they are summarized in this passage: 1 John 2:16 - “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (KJV) Lust of the flesh is all our earthly desires, hunger, sex, and other physical or emotional cravings that we have. Lust of the eyes is all the greed, coveting, adultery, etc. all those things which we are absolutely certain that we can’t live without. Pride of Life is usually motivated by self. We don’t need any help, we don’t want any help, we can do it on our own, who needs God, I’m my own boss, etc. all these attitudes are the opposite of how we should be after we surrender our will and self-determination to God.
If you find your prayers aren’t being answered then this verse might hold the solution. James 4:2-3: “You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (NIV) Whatever problem, difficulty or circumstance we find ourselves in, God has the solution and answer to our prayers up in heaven but they will stay there until we ask for it.
The last part of our armor is the helmet of salvation. The purpose of the helmet is to protect our head which is the seat of our mind and when secured with the hope of eternal life, which is salvation, our minds will not receive false doctrine or give way to Satan’s temptations.
The parts of our armor are intended for defensive actions against sin, not suffering. As Christians we are to daily take up our crosses and burdens and more often than not that means undergoing periods of suffering. We suffer when we fail to resist temptations. We also suffer through pain, loss, poverty, injustice, sadness, sickness, heartache and the myriad of other afflictions that affect us as human beings.
The bible calls us believers a peculiar people and it is right. Only peculiar people when faced with all these different aspects of suffering would try to live up to this scripture. James 1:2-4 - “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (NIV) Peculiar people look for joy in suffering. It’s not that we’re masochistic, but we know who is in control and that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28, KJV) We must resolve that we will endure all the trials and sufferings that are appointed to us.
God has given us a treasure trove of graces and fruits of the spirit. Satan wants to plunder our treasure so that we would live defeated lives and thus become ineffectual in spreading the good news of salvation. It has been said that when we engage in spiritual warfare we are defending the “castle of our soul“ which is our faith in Christ. It is the foolish warrior who leaves the confines and safety of their castle walls (faith in Christ), to challenge the enemy and dare the devil to tempt him in a misguided effort to prove he can be an overcomer through his own righteousness and good works, outside of Christ.
There is no weapon for self-revenge as we are wearing the sandals of the gospel of peace. 1 Peter 3:9 - “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (NIV) We must always have a heart of forgiveness so that when we pray the Lord’s prayer and say, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” we know we actually mean it. Forgiving others that have wronged us is not easy but it is an imperative part of the Christian life style. As Christ warns us in Mark 11:26 - “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” (KJV)
Proper maintenance of our armor is another vital aspect of our responsibilities. If we neglect one part of our armor, the rest of the armor suffers and if we strengthen one part of our armor than all the rest of it gets strengthened as well.
In 1 Thess 5:8 - …“let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” (NIV) it tells us that our helmet is called, “the hope of salvation”. Let’s take a look at a few other verses about hope:
Rom 15:13 - “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV) Our God is a God of hope.
Acts 24:15 - “and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” (NIV) We have a hope of a resurrection and eternal life.
Ps 119:81 - “My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.” (NIV) We have hope in the truth of His word.
Rom 8:24-25 - “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (NIV) We hope by faith and we are saved by this faith of hope. We also have the “blessed hope.” Titus 2:13 - “while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (NIV) Let me add that this hope is not based on the timing of His return, just the fact of it. Our hope is Christ. He is also called the Hope of Israel and the hope of glory.
Faith speaks in the present tense, hope in the future tense. Faith recognizes both good and evil, hope only foresees the good. No one hopes for poverty, sickness or despair. When we are in the act of hoping we are counting on the promises of God to be fulfilled in our lives. The best picture of this hope is found in Luke 21:26-28 - “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (NIV) Fear and shame are two things that make a man’s head hang low, but in this passage when the rest of the world’s hearts are failing for fear, we are told to lift up our heads in faith and hope.
We are to keep our helmet on until Christ Himself removes it to replace it with our crowns of glory and at that time we will trade in our armor for robes of righteousness that have been washed white by the blood of the Lamb.
As Gurnall has pointed out: “Hope enables the believer to do great exploits. Hope enables the believer to be diligent in the lowliest of service. Hope helps us to be patient in suffering and hope comforts our spirits as we await the promises.” 1 John 3:3 - “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” (NIV) 2 Co. 4:16-17 - “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” (KJV) Rom 8:17 - Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (NIV)
Hope waits for the good that will come from evil. It is our duty to wait upon the answers to our prayers and while some may not be answered in our lifetime we are to still wait expectantly and earnestly for their fulfillment. No matter what circumstances surrounds us, we are to thank and praise God unceasingly for the hope of the promises that await us. As has been said, “Let your hope of heaven master your fear of death.”