by
Pastor Sharron I Scott
February
26, 2014
My
Christian brothers and sisters often refer to life as a battlefield,
where we fight the enemy as warriors and “warrior princesses”.
Although this paints a picture of strength, courage and a
“Braveheart”- like spirit, I personally feel that it is an
over-dramatization of the truth. It definitely pumps us up, and gets
us excited, helping us to feel effective in the kingdom. But does
that give God the glory?
It
is true, we must fight. But, we must fight from a place of victory; a
victory that has already been obtained for us. Our territory is the
Kingdom here, now. We do not fear losing a battle, ever.
Mark
1:15
… and saying, “The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand
Luke 17:21
For indeed, the kingdom
of God is within you.
The
kingdom is at hand. We don't fight things of the earth, we fight
principalities, powers and authorities. Those authorities have
already lost the battle, but we must get rid of them.
We
can't do that in an offensive way, we must do it by resisting—which
is different from battling or fighting:
Resist:
- to withstand the force or effect of
- to exert oneself to counteract or defeat
- to exert force in opposition
Fight/battle:
- a combat or hostile encounter
- a boxing match
- a verbal disagreement
- a struggle for a goal or an objective
James
4:7
Therefore
submit to God. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.
That
means whatever territory we have, evil must flee from. Wherever we
are, he can't be (unless we allow it)! So what we must do is realize
that the the kingdom of God is within US. And we have control
over what happens spiritually (and physically, as well) here on
earth. God said to Adam and Eve:
Genesis
1:28
(God blessed them and
said to them), “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue
it”
Jesus
obtained the keys of heaven and hell--
Revelation
1:18
I am the Living One; I
was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the
keys of death and Hades.
---and
gave the keys of heaven to us.
Matthew
16:19
And I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven
Therefore
we need to realize we have been given the authority and we have the
responsibility to protectively surround The Body, arming ourselves
with the armor of God:
-
Ephesians
6:10-13
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
And what is the “Armor of God”?
Ephesians
6:14-18
14Stand
firm then, with the belt of TRUTH, buckled around your waist, with
the BREASTPLATE of righteousness in place,15and
with your feet fitted with the READINESS that comes from the gospel
of PEACE. 16In addition to all this, take up the
SHIELD OF FAITH, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the evil one. 17Take the HELMET OF SALVATION and the
SWORD OF THE SPIRIT which is the WORD OF GOD. 18 And pray
in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests. With this in mind, BE ALERT and always keep on praying for
all the saints.
Notice
it makes no mention of being angry (even righteously), yelling,
gesturing, pacing, saying the same thing over and over again.
Instead, it teaches us to know the TRUTH (maintain integrity), be
RIGHTEOUS, know the GOSPEL OF PEACE, have FAITH, be SAVED, and
again, KNOW THE WORD OF GOD.
Peace I leave
with you; my peace I give you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts
be troubled and do not be afraid.
Romans 12:21
And
instead of moving forward trying to gain ground for Christ, realize
that we already own that ground; the Kingdom is at hand. It is here
with us, wherever we are. So we must always wear the armor of God,
which looks just like Jesus, but that is not what we fight with. It
is WHO WE ARE. That is our protection.
We
need to go through and filter out all of the efforts and presence of
the enemy within us, and we need to say “NO”, resisting the
enemy. How do we “filter out” the enemy? First, we need to look
within our own lives, asking the Spirit to reveal any areas where we
are agreeing or partnering with the enemy. We then need to ask for
help to repent, or change our thinking and heart on those issues. And
when we do, our actions will follow suit. With that comes the ability
to “resist” the enemy. When you resist something you say “no”.
And it will flee. It will flee.
Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you.
So,
when the presence of God is strong (and it always is), and here, and
now, the enemy cannot survive. If we stand up, and we stand for the
truth that we know Jesus gave us, and who He is, the enemy cannot
survive. It's a very simple battle. All we have to do is search out,
find the evil, and PERSISTANTLY AND CONSISTANTLY say “no”,
maintaining our faith and integrity.
We
don't have to fight from a place of fear, looking out and asking “Are
we going to lose ground?” We don't have to wonder how many of our
people will die. We don't have to look out, wondering how much of
that territory can we “gain”. This isn't a civil war battle. The
territory has already been gained...it's already been established,
through Christ's death and resurrection.
But
IF we have not received our authority, power does no good. Power is
useless without authority. You can have all the power in the world
but unless you obtain the authority to use it, it's useless.
When
the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God,
who had given such authority to man.
[ Jesus
Sends Out the Twelve ] Jesus called his twelve disciples to
him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and
to heal every disease and sickness.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So
what we need to do is receive authority from a place of victory. And
that victory was won by Jesus Christ for us. And now that victory
must be established and acknowledged and reinforced through us, by
the power of the Holy Spirit as given to us by Jesus.
Fight
from victory, not for death.
“Where,
O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
You
see, there is no room for fear in faith or victory. We simply need to
teach the enemy that we are in charge. His efforts are futile.
Our
greatest efforts begin with ourselves, but then must be aimed toward
our loved ones; our families. Our churches. Our towns, counties,
states, our country. If we do not resist the enemy, then he gains
ground in government, in destroying families, and creating division.
All
of these things are death. We have the power and authority to forbid
them. But we must fight from victory, knowing that we have already
won. So fight with a smile on your face, calmly saying “talk to the
hand, satan.” Contending may feel necessary, but I challenge you
that with total submission and surrender to Christ it is not. If we
feel we need to contend and battle, I believe we have yet to totally
let go.
Will
you repent (change your way of thinking, your heart) and begin to
live with the attitude of victory? I submit that this is only
possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Ask. Seek. Knock.
God's
greatest weapons are His perfect characteristics or attributes, which
are most powerful against evil:
Goodness,
kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, etc.:
And
he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord,
the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,
abounding in love and faithfulness
This
is our protection. Our weapon is the goodness of God. If our identity
is not solid, our armor is faulty, and can be penetrated. STAND.
The
kingdom of God is at hand. Victory is ours, because Christ loved us
just that much. Have you thanked Him today? Thank you, Lord! Amen.
“Put
your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for
all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
