You Are Fighting MORE Than Just Demons (Why Its So Hard To Be A Bible Believing Christian)

Warfare looks very different today than it did in ancient times technology weaponry and war strategies have advanced and changed over the Millennia instead of marching lines there are Elite Tactical units instead of Cavalry there are tanks navies can strike from miles and miles away and battle occurs even in the air but for all the advances and changes one thing still Rings true battle requires preparation an untrained unprepared and unarmed Army is a defeated Army no Commander would send his troops into battle without their weapons whether those weapons are clubs swords or guns a soldier must

be armed and ready to have a Hope of Victory this obvious truth applies to more than the blood soaked battlefields of men it is also a spiritual truth Christians are fighting a war it is not a war like those we see on the news channels or in the movies it is not a war for land oil or resources and it isn't fought by conventional methods or with traditional weapons and yet we are at War and the battle we are engaged in is far more important than any War fought between various governments for our Warfare is

spiritual our enemy is not another Nation but the devil and his angels the kingdom we fight for is not a fragile corrupt government but the Kingdom of Heaven and the prize we are fighting for isn't power or wealth but Souls yes we are most definitely engaged in a raging war and like any War we must be armed and prepared to succeed if it sounds a bit dramatic to liken Christianity to Warfare then consider what scripture itself reveals Warfare isn't an imaginative metaphor of some overzealous preacher it is the description of the inspired writers of God's

holy word in 2 Corinthians 10: 3-6 the Apostle Paul says for though we walk in the flesh we are not Waging War according to the flesh for the weapons of our Warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ being ready to punish every Disobedience when your obedience is complete Paul says that we are Waging War not a fleshly carnal War but a war nonetheless a war that takes place in the

hearts and minds of men a war against the desires of the flesh a war for the glory of Christ where Victory is faithful obedience to the Lord our war is not to destroy bunkers or Supply Depot but to destroy false teachings and erroneous Notions about God in 2 Timothy 2: 3 and 4 Paul uses the example of a soldier to help Timothy understand what it means to be a faithful servant of Christ he had also written to Timothy and said fight the good fight of faith and was himself able to say I have fought the

good fight Paul wasn't a violent man or a brawler but he was a fighter for he was fighting the good fight of Faith as a Christian Soldier on multiple occasions Paul made spiritual applications of the armor and weaponry of soldiers most notably in Ephesians 6: 10-18 where he discusses the whole armor of God there Paul exhorts Christians to Dawn the belt of Truth the breastplate of righteousness shoes of Readiness of the gospel of peace The Shield of Faith the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God Paul explained

why this Spiritual armor was so necessary in verses 11 and 12 he wrote put on the whole Armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic Powers over this present Darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly places throughout history there have been some terrifying regimes and Empires but no human power has been as dangerous or deadly as the spiritual forces of evil and that's who we are fighting

every single day and to be victorious we must must be armed and ready Paul and other New Testament writers wrote about our spiritual battle with a sense of urgency and determination but sadly many Christians seem content to wade into daily battle unprepared and completely unarmed when Christians neglect Bible study and prayer they are disarming themselves no Soldier would March into battle without their weapon but how many Christians are going through life with little to no knowledge of God's word further soldiers don't just pick up their weapon on the day of battle they train with it

they spend countless hours practicing and learning how to wield their weapon how much time do we spend studying God's word how much time do we spend in prayer are we ready to wield the weapons God has given us also many Christians display their lack of Readiness by their friendship with the world opposing forces don't fraternize with one another and yet many Christians seek friendship with the world James calls this out for what it is he says do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God therefore whoever wishes to be a friend

of the world makes himself an enemy of God James is not calling us to hate other people on the contrary our spiritual warfare is designed to save Souls not destroy them but we can't get cozy with worldly and sinful ways in our battle to win souls but many Christians would rather befriend the enemy and their ways than contend for the faith that wins souls and glorifies God and in so doing they risk fighting for the wrong side make no mistake we are at War we have a powerful enemy who hates us and is determined to

destroy us but we have a king who will one day destroy that enemy until then our King calls upon us to fight the good fight of faith God has provided all we need to be equipped ready and Victorious against the enemy but are we willing to fight are we willing to serve Jesus with all of our heart mind soul and strength are we ready to put on the whole armor of God to arm ourselves with the word of God and to wage spiritual warfare now I'm going to say something that will really capture your attention

and this statement should really stir you up to seek the truth the Bible is the word of God the Bible reveals Jesus Christ the Bible is a resource for every believer who seeks to know God the Bible is what every believer should meditate on day and night because it brings faith faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ when someone takes God's word and internalizes it when when they study it and follow it it can transform your heart and Destroy sinful patterns of thinking with that being said there are many who use

the Bible for evil they use it for monetary gain they use it as a means of manipulation and what often happens is that a lie is told with just a little bit of Truth the goal of Satan is to take harmful beliefs with just a little bit of Truth and get people to believe in them however the true message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ saves and it is this knowledge that leads to change and repentance 2 Timothy 4: 1:4 says I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is

to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths Paul is writing to check in on his good friend Timothy as he pastors the church in Ephesus Paul was more of a mentor and

Father Figure to Timothy he remind Rems Timothy to keep preaching the word of God despite his preaching there will be people who do not want to hear the word but only things that make them happy in doing so they will make up false gospels the Gospel of Jesus Christ never changes the gospel teaches us that we are sinners who deserve the Judgment of God however God made a way to save us from that judgment He sent Jesus who was perfect where we had sin in our life Jesus had no sin but despite being blameless and

without sin Jesus was put on the cross the Judgment that we deserve for our sin Jesus Took from God on the cross he died yet rose again 3 days later to show that he had power over sin death and Satan now those who by grace through faith trust in Jesus will receive the reward of eternal life with God another false gospel that Satan often pushes is the Prosperity Gospel this gospel teaches us that if we accept Jesus into our life then everything will go well for us if we just believe hard enough we'll get rich

never get sick and live the life of our dreams there's a bit of Truth in that in the sense that we will receive a blessing from God when we accept Jesus however that blessing is not physical but spiritual we get the very presence of God in our lives and we'll get to be with him forever in heaven when looking at Jesus who was perfect his life was nothing but hard he was homeless hated and even killed the Gospel of Jesus Christ also promises us that suffering and persecution will come to those that follow him however

the preaching of the prosperity gospel tickles the ears of those who are listening it does not call to Heart transformation but calls the hearer to a more appealing Life One Last false gospel that tickles the ears is the gospel of moralism this gospel teaches that all God wants is for us to be good people there is some truth in that as well God does call us to be good people however our goodness does not come from ourselves but Christ The Gospel of moralism teaches us that to get God's favor we must be good the Gospel

of Jesus Christ teaches us that we get God's favor which leads to a life Changed by the Holy Spirit In The Gospel of moralism there is no Grace in The Gospel of Jesus Christ Grace leads to a changed heart now it is human nature to not want to be told we need to change something about our life we feel guilty guilt and shame when we know that we're not good enough that is why Satan uses false gospels these false gospels often don't center around our own sinful nature needing to be changed because there is no

call to change that's why people's itching ears are attracted to this kind of false Doctrine now the Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that there is none righteous on this Earth and that sin in our hearts has polluted our life however God does not leave us there He sent Jesus Christ to fix our sinful hearts and thus change our actions but you see Satan wants to deceive us so that we think we do not need change yet Jesus came to show us that we need change and that change comes through him so I encourage you

to seek truth the truth that is in God's word the truth that is Jesus Christ things are changing in this world and we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to see clearly there are two Spirits in operation in this world the spirit of truth and the spirit of era 1 John 4:6 says we are from God whoever knows God listens to us whoever is not from God does not listen to us by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error so we absolutely need to pray for discernment and perhaps if

I put it this way my message will really seep into your heart the devil has been deceiving people for thousands of years meaning that he has experience he has the knowhow he has been working to deceive the children of God since Adam and Eve I say this not to praise him in any way but instead I'm saying this so that you might be realistic and recognize that if you try and stand on your own you will fall if you try and fight the devil's deception on your own you will fail we need Jesus we need

to be filled with his word and we most definitely need an outpouring of the holy spirit so that we can have this discernment that I'm talking about Saints we need spiritual discernment as a people who are called to be separate from the evil of this world we need to always have Jesus Christ at the center of our hearts we need him at the center of our minds and forever on our lips walk with discernment s Saints there's no doubt that we live in a time in which it's very difficult to know whether what we face

in day to-day circumstances is just life happening or if it's something Beyond this world that we need to address as spiritual warfare without the discernment of God working in our lives we have absolutely no hope of recognizing the difference between just life and the spiritual attack of the enemy of our soul the Bible teaches us that the Devil comes to steal to kill to destroy but Jesus came to give us an Abundant Life the word also tells us to be sober minded Be watchful your adversary the devil prows around like a roaring lion seeking someone

to devour but James 47 said submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you in every area of Our Lives that the enemy may try and attack us spiritually God has made a way of Escape but it does take discernment to know the difference between just life and spiritual battles the carnal man has no hope of knowing the difference but the person Who Walks With God will be given what he needs to both see the battle and win the battle because he is victorious in Jesus Christ we cannot receive the

things of God without spiritual discernment and we cannot have spiritual discernment if we are living as a natural man giving into the desires of our carnal flesh the writers of Hebrews in chapter 5:14 eloquently stated but solid food belongs to those who are of full age that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil in other words it takes a lot of practice to become mature but it takes maturity to be able to discern good from Evil there are many other questions that can be addressed to

help us understand whether we are living in a carnal state or a spiritual one do we love God and people more than we love ourselves do we seek pleasure more than we seek God are we content with where we are and with what we have or do we always want more are we always willing to forgive other people when they do things that hurt us do we spend time with God in prayer for others even those we believe to be be our enemies the truth is that we must first make sure we are living a

life of spiritual maturity denying our carnal nature in his letter to the Philippians the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2: 3- 4 do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others carnally minded people seem to always be more troubled about the issues they have rather than the problems or circumstances of other people spiritually minded people understand that when they help the people around them through their difficulties God will always make a

way to get through the complications that arise in their own personal lives in order to protect your spirit in order to protect your salvation and even your peace of mind you and I need the spirit of discernment we need guidance from the Holy Spirit on how to navigate this life while protecting our faith our joy our mind State even everyone you come across is not good for you they may smile at you but not everyone has is your best interest at heart there are some people who come to only take your peace there are other

people who are sent by the devil so that they can drain you of your joy and leave you tired and discouraged some are sent to distract you so we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit when it comes to the people we should allow in our lives we need discernment when it comes to those we allow close to us even when it comes to the types of atmosphere we enter spiritual discernment is something provided by the spirit of God to lead and guide you to his will it is an intentional process by God that allows

us to filter the deception of the devil and the truth of God first John 4 verse 1 beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world this is discernment with the guidance of the Holy Spirit you can tell who is really speaking from God's word and who is speaking from a place of Doctrine mixed with deception and I believe saints that we need the Holy Spirit to speak and tug at our hearts my prayer is that the Holy Spirit would

open my eyes to every hidden stronghold in my life and within my family may he shine a light on every corner that the enemy is hiding with the aim to take me down when someone truly believes the message of the Gospel it should radically change your heart let's say you're planning on coming over to my house you're running 15 minutes late but finally come in through the front door I ask you while you're late and you tell me that a semi Tru was traveling at 80 mph you accidentally step in front of the semi and

it hits you square on you were late because this semi-truck hit you I would call you a liar you would be dead if you were truly hit by a semi going at 80 M an hour it would have changed you now God is much more powerful than a moving truck if there is a genuine collision between you and Jesus Christ then you will not be the same it should change you it will change you the message of the Gospel changes our hearts which leads to a change in action Satan will often push forward a false

gospel with a hint of Truth it smells good but lacks taste and substance this type of gospel usually has no conviction of sin or change tied to it one example of this false gospel is the gospel of belief ISM belief ism is M teaches that if you simply just believe in God you're good to go to Heaven There is never a need for people to see their sin or a call to change there's a little bit of Truth in this gospel we are to believe that Jesus died for our sin however that belief should lead

to a transformed life it should lead to repentance many do not want to hear that so instead of coming to the true gospel they find a gospel that will tickle their ears one way the enemy attacks a believer's life is through despair depression and discouragement when Paul wrote his second letter to the Church of Corinth he had endured horrific events three shipwrecks he survived a stoning endured five lashings frequent imprisonments and three beatings all of this was enough for Paul to fall into depression and despair this was enough for Paul to be left discouraged under

such pressure many Christians would have fallen into a pit of despair but I want you to see what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:8 to9 we are hard pressed on every side but not crushed perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not abandoned struck down but not destroy we may face battles and attacks in this world but we can trust in our Mighty God to be our shelter through it all in these times when we're tossed to and fro through the waves of adversity this is when we should gear ourselves up to fight this

is the time that we have to pray fast and study God's word in order to find peace in the midst of it so during those seasons in those moments when we feel overwhelmingly discouraged and without any strength to keep going this is the time that we must call out to God this is the time that we must seek strength from the Lord this is the time that we must cling on to the power of the Holy Ghost second Corinthians 10: 3-5 says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the

flesh for the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal But Mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments and every High thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to The Obedience of Christ this is one of those passages of scripture that really puts things into perspective the Bible is telling us here that although we live in this world we do not and we should not fight our battles like the world in fact the weapons that we have available to us aren't physical weapons but note how the

Bible says for the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal But Mighty in God the weapons we can access as children of God have divine power they are weapons unlike anything in this world because they are Heavenly weapons and At The Mention of the word weapons people usually think of the physical weapons in this world like a bat or gun however the Bible says in Hebrews 4:12 for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of Soul and Spirit and of joints and Marrow and

as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the word of God is one of the weapons that we have as children of God it's a weapon that is powerful and sharper than any two-edged soul the word of God is a weapon that you can use against the devil it's an effective weapon against the devil in fact so what does the bible mean when it says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh as a Believer you're not fighting people you're not just fighting circumstances no you're

fighting the spirit behind the person the devil behind behind the situation for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against Powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the Heavenly places this is what the Bible says in Ephesians 6:12 so here's what I am encouraging you to do today pray for victory in all areas of your life declare God's promises in all areas of your life believe that there's power in the name of Jesus Christ there is power in God's word and through his

Spirit when we pray we can be confident that the Lord is always near to those who seek and call on him believe that God will break every plan of the enemy trust that the Lord Lord will have the final say in all matters concerning you the conflicts you face the battles you face the Lord has the final say over all of that so I encourage you people of God to trust God trust in the word of the Lord trust in his promises and you will have the victory for what is normal to the world tends

to go hand in hand with what is sin the Amplified translation of Romans 12:2 gives a detailed account of what we need as the children of God the Bible says and do not be conformed to this world any longer with its superficial values and Customs but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind focusing on on Godly values and ethical attitudes so that you may prove for yourselves what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect in his plan and purpose for you in

other words stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you don't allow the world to mold you in its own image the key for us as believers is that we are to be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit and it's when you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you to transform your mind and how you think it's only then that you will discern God's will the key is the Holy Spirit the holy spirit will help you to eliminate Disobedience it's the Holy Spirit who will bring a total Reformation of how you think and

once this happens once you allow the Holy Ghost to move within you righteousness will be what you pursue Jesus Christ is who you will desire and the kingdom of God is what you'll become passionate about