Category: Be Aware of Spiritual Warfare

⁶ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. ~ Joshua 7:6

When the men went up to fight AI, they were deceived into thinking they had it covered, not realizing they had a breach in their armor. AI represents Adultery and Idolatry. The other important point to make is this. When Joshua sent the men up to fight, it never said he also sent the Ark of the Covenant.

What’s so important about the Ark? It represented the person, the presence, and the promises of God. It pointed to the fact that as the people of Israel set out to cross the Jordan, to invade, and possess the land, they must do so not in their own strength, but in God’s strength, for it was God Himself who was going before them as their source of victory. But in the case of AI, they wanted to fight that battle in their own strength. I tell you, it’s a losing battle.

So, what was the battle tactic that defeated AI? The first thing Joshua did was to seek the LORD. Therefore, that is the first thing we must do. When we run up against AI, we must immediately flee, then find a place of prayer and rebuke the enemy in the Name of Jesus.

They submitted themselves to God. If indeed you have fallen at AI, there is forgiveness in Jesus, yes, even at AI. The tearing of the clothes was associated with mourning, grief, and loss. It is a sign of true repentance. The only thing is, now it is no longer rending our garments, but rather, we rend our hearts, not our garments (Joel 2:13).

Therefore, let us put on the full armor of God so that in the day of adversity, we will be able to stand. Why? Because AI isn’t a battle, we can ever win on our own. It’s a battle that we can only overcome through the LORD Jesus Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Only Battle With Christ.

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:14-19

I want us to fully understand what Paul is writing here because it is very important. Paul said, for this reason, I kneel before the Father. But for what reason? The reason is, the Ephesians were becoming a little discouraged because of Paul’s suffering for the Gospel. And if Paul, a mighty man of God, would go through such suffering, is it not worth it? So, it is for that reason, so that the Ephesians would not be discouraged about serving God because of Paul’s sufferings basically for them.

He wrote, “I want you to understand this.” Understand what? Understand the love that God has for us. Because if you can understand that love, and understand the width, the height, the depth of Jesus’ love that surpasses all knowledge, then you will be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

If you don’t understand the love of God, then you will think that God is always out to get you. He is up there just waiting in the wings of heaven waiting for you to mess up, and splat, He has you. But that is not how the love of God works.

God actually looks for someone doing what is right so that He can bless them. And those who are doing wrong? Well, He looks for an intercessor who will pray and intercede for the people who are doing wrong so that He will not have to carry out His swift and terrible judgment on them.

God never interferes with what is going on on earth, unless we ask Him to. He said the Heavens are His, but He has given earth to mankind. It’s our job to take care of the earth and those who dwell on it, and when we cannot get the job done, we call on Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Call On Jesus.

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¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15

If you will not search for the truth and believe the truth, you are destined to believe the lie. So, how do we overcome deception?

Be thankful to God, be sanctified by the Spirit, and believe in the Truth. God’s Word is truth. It is not nullified by science; science is nullified by God’s Word. Jesus is the Word that became flesh. Truth is the only antidote for lies, and lies cannot flourish where free speech prospers.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Truth Flourish.

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2 Corinthians 11:14
[14] And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Chapter 18 of 2 Kings tells of some of the events in King Hezekiah’s reign. More specifically, in the fourteenth year of his reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them (2 Kings 18:13).

But before that, he had taken Samaria, which was the capital of the Northern kingdom and dispersed the Israelites out of the land and into captivity.
Now, he has turned his greedy little eyes Southward with a strong desire to take Jerusalem. So, he sends his high-ranking officials up to Jerusalem, since he was now fighting in Lachish, with a message for the people of Judah.

Surrender to me, and I will spare your lives, was basically the message. He was trying to do was to intimidate both the people and the soldiers sitting on the wall.
He tried to intimidate them into surrendering by telling them that their lives would be spared, if they surrendered, in hopes that they would surrender without him having to fight another war.
He tells them to make peace with him. In other words, they were to surrender and sign a peace treaty with him. And then, Judah was to stay in the city and enjoy their food, and drink, and water until he came and took them to another place, just like their own homeland.

The enemy works the same way today. The entire land of Israel (including the kingdom of Judah) was the heritage, the promise of the Israelites. A land following with milk and honey. A land filled with all that they could ever need. A good land. King Sennacherib wanted to conquer them and remove them from that land, and take over the land permanently. He promised them another land like it so that they wouldn’t miss their God-promised land.

We all have a promised land from God. We all have a heritage and inheritance that God has promised us, but the enemy doesn’t want us dwelling in the promises of God. Why? Because when we are a problem for him. If we are dwelling on the promises of God, then we are building the Kingdom of God. So what does he do? He comes in not as a threatening enemy but as a smooth negotiator. Look, I’ll give you something of equal or greater value. All you have to do is make the deal with me.

So many take the backhanded deal, thinking that they are making a deal with a friend, not realizing that the enemy has just deceitfully transformed himself into an angel of light just so you could trust him. Don’t let the enemy fool you. Don’t give up your God-given promises for the temporary pleasures of the world. They won’t last, and they aren’t worth it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Dwell In Your God-Given Promise.

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⁵ Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. ~ Matthew 10:5-8

Jesus had given His twelve disciples authority over demonic spirits; therefore, it would be safe to assume that they used their authority to cast out demons as well as heal the sick. The sons of Sceva were operating at this level of faith, but they did not know Jesus as LORD and Savior. Therefore, the demon said, “… Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15)

Demons recognize a child of God as they did in Acts 16:17 with Paul and his companions. They also readily recognized Jesus and ran up to Him and fell down at His feet proclaiming, “You are the Holy One of God (Luke 4:34).” Something that the religious leaders of the day struggled to do. They neither recognized Him as the Holy One of God, nor did they proclaim Him to be.

When you are a Christian, you are under the protection of Jesus Himself. Demonic spirits cannot jump on you and beat you senseless as they did to the seven sons of Sceva, the high priest. They recognize the spiritual mark that God places on us, His children, and they certainly did not see one on Sceva’s seven sons. That is why they were like, “Who are you?” The Seven Sons of Sceva didn’t have God’s mark on them, His shield of protection around them.

This is the importance of your relationship with Christ Jesus. Our power and authority are only found in Him. Without Him, we are nothing. That is what the sons of Sceva learned the hard way. The unclean spirit wasn’t asking who they were, as in he had no idea who they were, but in the sense of “who do you think you are?” “Who are you to me?” “Why should I obey you? Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. But you? Who are you to me?”

We are in a spiritual war. Each and every one of us. It may not be the same experience as the sons of Sceva, but it’s just as life and death, if not more. Each day we get up, we battle unclean spirits that desire to overtake us and make us a slave to them. Anger, hate, lust, sexual immorality, addiction, etc., all of these unclean spirits try to consume us and turn us into their slaves. The only way we can overcome, is through Christ Jesus. I want to ask you a very important question, “Does the Kingdom of Darkness know who you are?”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Make Sure They Know Who You Are.

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¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the LORD Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ~ Acts 19:13-16

The seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were not Christians; they were, in fact, followers of Judaism like their father, a Jewish high priest. Even though they weren’t following Christ, they saw the power of His name and began imitating Paul and successfully casting out unclean and evil spirits. How is this possible? Because when someone combines ο pistis (the faith) with the name of Jesus, evil and unclean spirits must evacuate their stronghold on that person or that particular place.

The problem here, however, with the sons of Sceva, was that they may have had the faith, but they didn’t have the authority. See, they did not know Jesus. They knew of Him. They knew of Paul. And they knew of the power of His name, but that was it. They had no relationship with Christ. The other problem was that they didn’t realize that some spirits are stronger than others. So, while they were successfully casting out weaker, unclean, and evil spirits when they faced a stronger spirit, they couldn’t cast out the spirit because they didn’t have the authority.

See, faith can only take you so far. Faith is the foundation, but you can’t live on just a foundation, you need walls and a roof as well in order to keep you safe and secure from the elements. Therefore, you also need a relationship with Christ, which leads to spiritual authority and covering. If you live on just the initial faith that gets you salvation, you’ll never grow. If you don’t grow, you’ll be stagnant. If you’re stagnant, you’re doing nothing with the faith given to you, and you’ll be cut off. Why? Because every branch that does not produce good fruit is cut off from the vine.

Therefore, keep growing. Build on your faith. Build on your relationship with God. Don’t remain stagnant, but instead be like a stream of flowing water. The more you grow in your relationship with Christ Jesus, the more your faith will grow. The more your faith will grow, the more your authority and protection in Christ will grow. These are all intertwined in one another and can’t truly be separated. Therefore, grow each one so that you may be able to stand strong against any spiritual attack by the enemy.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Flow.

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² Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” ⁴ So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵ and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. ~ Joshua 7:2-5

The battle of AI is one that must be fought, sometimes every day. It is the first one after Jericho that we must win if we are to succeed in our spiritual walk. If we want to collect the spoils, we must defeat AI.

What is AI? AI is a type of spiritual battle that we will all have to fight on one level or another. The battle of AI is “A” Adultery and “I” Idolatry, which is Spiritual Adultery.

Some may say, “I don’t have a problem with Adultery,” but I want you to understand that when you make something an idol, be it your career, money, video games, social media, or even family. Anything that takes the place of God is an idol, and it is spiritual adultery. Do not deceive yourself into thinking that since you are saved, you have no more problems with such things.

The truth is, when you are saved, that is when the enemy attacks you even more so that he can conquer you and win you back. His desire is to destroy you spiritually. Therefore, be on guard. Don’t allow the enemy to defeat you in the battle of AI. Stand strong in the LORD and His might. Flee sexual immorality and stand strong against idolatry by staying in the Word of God and meditating on it daily.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Battle To Victory.

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⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. ⁴⁸ But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. ~ Luke 12:47-48

Jesus said that the servant who knew his master’s will but refused to get ready or refused to act appropriately as per His master’s will would receive a severe beating. And that’s why you need to build your relationship with Him. It is not just what you know or who you know but what you have done with what you know.

There are three things that will keep you from operating in the supernatural, because they block the intimacy. The word intimacy speaks of closeness, familiarity, and great affection. Intimacy builds the confidence to be vulnerable, honest, and open. It expects a mutual commitment to the relationship free of secrets and free of deceit.

The three main blockers of spiritual intimacy with Christ are lack of prayer, lack of faith/trust, and division. Without prayer, we cannot grow close to God. Prayer is how we communicate with our LORD; if we remove prayer from our lives, we no longer have communication with God and, therefore, do not have a relationship with Him, period. Faith/trust is the foundation of our salvation. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to be saved.

Therefore, faithlessness severs the connection between man and God. Lastly, division is the opposite of unity. Jesus made it very clear that united we stand, but divided we fall. If we are not united with Christ, then we are divided from Him. In other words, if we separate ourselves from the things of God and cling to the things of the world, then we will never be one with God. We will always be separated from Him. And if we choose separation from Him in this life, we will be separated from Him in eternity as well.

Each of these three blockers are intertwined with each other. Each needs the other in order to grow spiritually. You can’t have one without the other. All three are needed in order to grow spiritually in the LORD. Once you grow spiritually in Him, you will begin to see Him move in your life. His Holy Spirit will guide you and break down strongholds in your life in the name of Jesus. The spiritual war you are in will no longer be one-sided; with Christ, the victory is yours.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Defeat The Three.

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¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the LORD Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ~ Acts 19:13-14

The seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish high priest, were not Christians; they were, in fact, followers of Judaism like their father, a high priest. Now, when someone combines ο pistis (the faith) with the Name of Jesus, demonic spirits must evacuate and release their stronghold on that person or that particular place. This, however, didn’t happen with the sons of Sceva this time around. Why?

The problem here, with the sons of Sceva, was that they did not know Jesus. They had only known of Him because they had witnessed the power of the name of Jesus through Paul. Now, the Scriptures say they were Jewish exorcists. This means that they were going throughout the land, casting out evil spirits in the name of Jesus. Here’s the problem, however, some spirits are stronger than others.

The seven sons of Sceva didn’t realize or understand that anyone could use the name of Jesus to cast out evil spirits because that name is so powerful, but not everyone has a right to do so. They were regularly casting out evil spirits, so much so that the Scripture refers to them as Jewish exorcists, but when they came against a strong evil spirit, things changed very quickly. Today is no different.

So, many people overcome little strongholds that it seems like they don’t actually have to follow Christ; they can just use His name. This, however, is an illusion sent by the enemy to confuse and trick people. Oftentimes, when we see little breakthroughs, we’ll sacrifice the big, important breakthroughs for our flesh. Why?

Because when we see those little breakthroughs, we believe the lie of the enemy that we’re good with God and we don’t need to change. We don’t need to fully follow Him. God is love. Therefore, God just wants me to be happy. No. God doesn’t just want us to be happy. God wants us to turn away from evil and follow Him. He wants us to seek Him and His righteousness so that when we face an evil spirit that is very strong, we can overcome it in the name of Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be With The Strongest.

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¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:16

In the movie The Little Mermaid, Prince Eric drives his ship into Ursula and kills her. After they defeated Ursula, King Triton was released from his imprisonment, but he wasn’t the only one. All who had been deceived and held captive by Ursula were freed. This is a beautiful and touching scene to watch. They didn’t intend to free all those people, but they did. Imagine, their efforts to save themselves for Ursula led to the freedom of all captives.

This is the same in our lives. When we strive to overcome, defeat, and remove a stronghold, burden, etc., from our lives, it will positively affect those around us; how? One of my favorite quotes is,

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

When you change, it affects everyone around you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and See Change.

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