February 28, 2011

It is this world system that the apostle Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6:12;

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.

Spiritual warfare occurs around us all the time and for the most part we are unaware of it.

Satan is not an all-powerful being because he is a created being. He is however, industrious, persistent, determined, and constantly at work. Satan’s agenda and number one goal is to keep you blind to the reality of God. If he fails then his secondary goal is to prevent you as a Christian from being real and authentic.  If he can he will let you be a carnal Christian. I need to warn you that while I do not believe there is a demon under every rock and behind every tree, I do believe that we also err when we think too little of Satan and his power.

While it is true that many who study spiritual warfare spend too much time discussing Satan and too little time focusing on God, I do not believe that will be the case for us during this study. I will strive to find balance and teach you the truth about spiritual warfare.

Remember that we have learned that the model prayer is the prayer he taught us to pray “when you pray he says pray like this. . .” The high priestly prayer, recorded in John is the prayer which Jesus prayed for us. This is  Jesus’ last will and testament. In his high priestly prayer found in John 17:6 Jesus prayed:

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

There are some wonderful lessons in this text.

First, you cannot know God unless he reveals himself to you. You cannot know Jesus unless he reveals himself to you. Notice what Jesus says in this verse “ I have revealed.” This revelation of God to individuals is what Satan fights against most.

If Satan can keep the proverbial “wool” pulled over your eyes long enough, and you get old enough, then Satan understands that the chances of your ever becoming a Christian decrease dramatically. It is a statistical fact that the odds of your ever becoming a Christian decrease dramatically with your increasing age. Satan does not have to blind you forever if he can just blind you into your adulthood he has dramatically increased his chances of keeping you from heaven. Children are much more tender hearted. Remember Jesus says that for you to come to God you must come as a little child.

This is why the habits of childhood are so critically important. The habits of youth will follow you all of your life.  Habits which you start as a child follow you into adulthood. If as a young person and you begin to look at pornography on the internet you’re going to have a problem in adulthood. You’re going to have a problem with lust that will follow you into your marital relationship. If as a teenager you have a problem with the truth, you tell lies, then you will have difficulty with the truth as an adult. If you begin as a teenager to steal that is going to follow you into adulthood. It is critically important that you begin to behave now as you wish to be then.