The Essential Guide to Spiritual Warfare by Warner Timothy M. & Anderson Neil T

Author:Warner, Timothy M. & Anderson, Neil T. [Warner, Timothy M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

We use the term neutralize intentionally. Satan knows that he is not going to get many believers to renounce their faith and turn away from the Lord. But he also knows that he can deceive us to the extent that we will not live our Christian lives in a way that will bring glory to God, and we will not resist him “in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9). This has the effect of neutralizing us in the battle. We aren’t worshiping him, but we aren’t hurting him much either. It may be more comfortable sitting on the sidelines, but it is not the way to fight a war.

When a person begins to get really serious about serving the Lord, the attacks from the enemy can be expected to increase. We could say that the Christian is the devil’s target, but those actively involved in ministry are the bull’s-eye. Sometimes people ask, “Before I was really sold out to the Lord and seeking to serve him, I didn’t have the problems I have now. How come?” The answer is, “Welcome to the war. When you get up on the front lines of battle, you can expect to be shot at.”

Suppose that you are an infantryman on the front lines of a military battle and can see the enemy soldiers. There are some with stripes on their sleeves, but there is one with an eagle or even a star on his shoulder. At whom would you choose to shoot first? It only makes sense that if a leader can be taken out of the battle it is going to affect the enemy much more than if a foot soldier is taken out. Satan is not ignorant. He is stupid for rebelling against God, but he knows the strategic persons at whom to shoot in the camp of his enemy.

The problem often is that because of his deceptive tactics, Satan’s attacks are not recognized as such. We forget that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. As we noted in the discussion on the world, the flesh and the devil, it is not correct to see the devil behind every problem, but neither is it correct to not see his involvement in the problem. Many pastors have fallen sexually because they have believed the devil’s lie that they would not be tempted in that area. I have seen this happen to colleagues who were very close to me, and they have actually told me, “I never thought I could be tempted to do that.” This, of course, is folly. As long as we are in the flesh, we can be tempted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.