S P I R I T U A L W A R F A R E L E S S O N T W O

Spiritual Warfare
Heart Chat Bible Study
w/Pastor Mike

The Weapons / Battlefield

Spiritual Warfare Bible Study Instructions and Schedule

A Heart For God Ministries

INSTRUCTIONS Chat takes place on Facebook for 1 hour every Sunday at 4 pm Pacific USA. Web address for chat -> http://www.tinyurl.com/HeartChat-Facebook If you are unable to attend at the chat time, feel free to check out and interact with the chat (via your comments and "likes") when it's convenient. I will check in throughout the week to make sure and respond to you. Study guide for each week will be posted on Facebook the Monday before chat. (For example, the guide for the Sept 30th chat will be posted on Monday, Sept 24.) Read through the study guide for the week and do the exercises to prepare for chat.

SCHEDULE (6 weeks) Sept 30 Introduction to Warfare Oct 7 Oct 14 Oct 21 Oct 28 Nov 4 The Weapons / Battlefield The Enemy The Full Armor of God War Stories Tips for the Trenches

David and Goliath picture in the public domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Osmar_Schindler_David_und_Goliath.jpg {{PD-US}} published in the US before 1923 and public domain in the US.

Spiritual Warfare eBook Study Guide Lesson 2

A Heart For God Ministries

THE WEAPONS / BATTLEFIELD

SCRIPTURAL FOUN DATION New American Standard For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) Living Bible It is true that I am an ordinary, weak human being, but I dont use human plans and methods to win my battles. I use Gods mighty weapons, not those made by men, to knock down the devils strongholds. These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God, and change them into men whose hearts desire is obedience to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE Not Natural, But Spiritual Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6b) Some ridiculous thoughts A hockey player equipped for his sport with stick and all trying to play basketball; a football player equipped for his sport with shoulder pads and all trying to swim the 100meter butterfly. These are equal to a believer in Jesus Christ trying to fight spiritual battles in his own strength. Peters example Peter was found sleeping in the garden and Jesus said, Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41) In essence, Jesus was saying, Peter, you cannot win this fight in your own

strength. You need to equip yourself with spiritual power that comes from spending time with God. And certainly, as we all know, shortly afterwards Peter not only tried to cut off the head of the high priests servant and got his ear, but he denied His Lord. Peter tried to do spiritual warfare with natural strength. The weapons we use must correspond to the nature of the war. (Spiritual Warfare by Prince, pg 31)

THE BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive (in others and in ourselves) to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4b-5) According to the verse above I believe that the primary battlefield where spiritual warfare takes place is the mind. (It can and does take place in the physical realm at times.) Repentance literally means to change ones mind or thinking. Terms Notice the word speculations (New American Standard). Other translations have: imaginations (King James); arguments (Williams & Beck); proud argument (Living Bible). All these terms have to do with the mind. Quote Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. It all starts with the mind. For as [a person] thinks within himself (reckons in his soul), so he is. (Proverbs 23:7) The way a person lives his or her life, the way they act, the choices that they make, etc., find their beginnings (they are conceived, if you will) in the mind of the particular individual. The whole issue of abortion is a good example. If one thinks that a fetus is not a human being at the moment of conception, then the action of terminating the pregnancy would be considered to not be killing a baby. But if one thinks that a fetus is a human being from the moment of conception, then the action of terminating the pregnancy would be

tantamount to murder in the first degree (the latter of the two being what right thinking ~ that is, thinking based on the truth of God ~ would agree with). Sow a thought, reap an act. Peoples actions are based on the way they think. The battlefield is the mind. Therefore, whoever controls the mind controls the people.

FORTRESSES AND STRONGHOLDS Satans Part No one knows this better than the devil. (Whoever controls the mind controls the people.) Therefore, he marshals all his forces and all his resources and directs his assaults with the supreme goal of capturing the way a person (individually) thinks or the way a people (corporately) think. The Devils Approach Satan sets up fortresses (NAS) and strongholds (KJV) in the minds of people. The devil puts these in place in the minds of people who buy into his lies. A fortress or stronghold in the literal sense of the word is a city that is fortified by a wall. Many times there was both an inner wall and an outer wall. The walls were built of brick and stone, and were many feet thick. Even before the Israelites entered Canaan, they were terrified by the reports of cities great and fortified up to heaven (Numbers 13; Deuteronomy 1:28). (Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary) The apostle Paul uses this metaphor to communicate what goes on in a persons mind once they have bought into the lies of the enemy. A fortress or stronghold is erected in a persons thinking when he embraces as truth ideas, opinions, mindsets, etc., that are in direct opposition to the truth of God. The Strongman Satan himself is referred to as the strongman by Jesus. (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21) The strongman reigns over the fortresses and strongholds in peoples minds. Jesus states that this strongman must be bound before one can plunder his goods (the minds and hearts of men). His power over the thinking patterns of people must be broken. Our supernatural weapons are able to do this. (The strongman was a major character in the book called: This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.) Consider the beginnings of various cults (Mormonism) and false religions (Islam). An assault was made on a particular individual (Joseph Smith, Mohammed) with the supreme goal of capturing his mind and the way he thought with tremendously devastating and far-reaching consequences the result.

I quoted a source in Lesson 1 that spoke of a primary strategy of Satan. He seeks to control the media, school curriculum, etc., because these mediums communicate directly to the minds of people.

THE WAR ON UNBELIEVERS Scripture And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) And so we have the condition of the unbelievers minds in this war. Have you ever been in a completely dark room where there was no way you could even see two inches in front of your nose? Consider that for a moment. Think of how hard it would be to find the door out of the room. Can you picture yourself groping around? This is the state of unbelievers who are controlled in their minds by the enemy. A side note: The way you lead someone out of a dark room is not by pointing out to him that it is dark. You turn on the light. Spend more time pointing to the Savior rather than pointing to the sin. My (Pastor Mikes) Condition One question I had the moment I became a Christian was this: Why didnt anyone tell me this stuff before? I had been in church all my life and yet I didnt know the truth of God. I knew about Him, but I did not know Him. The enemy blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see (perceive) the things of God. Gift Exchange I remember a Christmas party at an old church of ours. We were playing a gift exchange game. One person chose a gift and started unwrapping it. The thing is there was another layer of wrapping paper under the first one. And so the person started unwrapping that layer of wrapping paper. The thing is there was yet another layer of wrapping paper under the second one. And so the person started unwrapping that second layer of wrapping paper. The thing is there was yet a third layer of wrapping paper under the second one. And so on and so forth it went on. There were upwards of 20 layers of wrapping paper to be unwrapped. No lie. It took like 20 minutes! I cant remember what the present was. The point is, whatever it was, it was very hard to get to (through all those layers).

And its even harder to open an unbelievers heart to the Gospel. (Pause to reflect) Without supernatural weapons, it is impossible. Why could we not cast it out? was the disciples question to Jesus concerning an encounter they had with a demon-controlled individual. Jesus said, This one does not come out except through prayer (and fasting). (Matthew 17:19; Mark 9:28) In essence Jesus was saying, You guys arent persistent enough in using your spiritual weaponry. When was the last time you fasted and prayed for a specific unsaved person?

THE WAR ON BELIEVERS Trusting Ourselves Satan is a master at filling our minds with thoughts that cause us to question the character of God. He seeks to undermine our trust of Him and His word. He (the devil) wants us to trust in ourselves instead because he knows that when we do, we are not far from his oppression and control. Adams Wife, Eve In the garden Eve was challenged in the realm of her mind in the area of her knowledge of God and what He had said. (Genesis 3) The serpent caused her to question God. Did God really say that? What He really meant was was Satans approach to deceiving Eve. It worked. Peter Rebuked And He (Jesus) began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him (Jesus) aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, and said, Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on Gods interests, but mans. And He (Jesus) summoned the multitude with His disciples, and said to them, If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospels shall save it. (Mark 8:31-35; Matthew 16:23) Peter was rebuked because his mind was on mans interests and not on Gods. He was allowing Satan to influence his thoughts and therefore, he not only stood against Gods plan, but he didnt understand it either. Peter needed a changed mind. Victorious spiritual warfare takes place when a persons way of thinking lines up with Gods way of thinking.

Questions Have you ever dealt with thoughts of doubt, guilt, inadequacy, fear (of the future, of a person, of a situation)? Have your ever dealt with thoughts like: God doesnt really love me because Im such a sinner or If God really loved me, I wouldnt be having such a hard time or Sure, God can do it for them, but I doubt if Hell come through for me? How did you (or do you) deal with those thoughts? OR How should a person deal with thoughts such as these? A Sound Mind Included in the blessing of salvation is a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) A sound mind is a mind that is completely in tune with the truth of God. A Bible teacher of mine offered this approach to dealing with our thought life. Say to your thoughts: Halt! Who goes there? Then, Do you belong here? What is your purpose? And if it is a wrong thought, dispel it. Replace the wrong thought with a right one. "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." (Philippians 4:8) The Battles of Timothy Scripture says that God has not given us (believers) a spirit of fear / timidity, but one of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) Paul was directed by the Holy Spirit to write this to Timothy, his disciple. Do you think that Timothy was in need of hearing this? Do you think that Timothy may have struggled in the area of fear and doubt? You better believe he did. Some preachers even refer to him as timid Timothy. I dont know what specific type of battles Timothy may have faced. I do know this ~ that Scripture implies Timothy was dealing with fear. And I believe it is safe to say that at times he dealt with that fear in his mind. I dont know about you, but Im glad that there was a timid Timothy. Why, you may ask? Ill tell you why. Because of Timothy and his having to deal with fear, I have been given a key word from the heart of God that can help me in my battles against the spirit of fear. And that key is found in verse 7 of the first chapter of Second Timothy. The Mind of Christ For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) (The context of this verse speaks also of the inability of the unbeliever to grasp anything of the Spirit of God.)

As believers, we have been given the mind of Christ. We are, therefore, able to understand the things of the Spirit of God. It is a new way of thinking, not as the world thinks and not as the enemy thinks. Though he tries to influence our thinking, we can choose to not allow him to.

TWO DIFFERENT MINDSETS The unbelievers mind is unsound because Satan is in control of it. The mind of the believer, on the other hand, is sound because God is in control. Struggling with Thought Life? If you find yourself struggling with your thoughts, then it is time for you to fight time for you to dust off your supernatural weaponry along with your armor and put the devil to flight. We will talk about this in an upcoming study. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 This passage in Second Corinthians tells us as believers that we not only can, but we should be the ones controlling the battlefield and therefore, the war. Lets not allow the devil to have ground that is rightfully ours!

REFLECTION TIME Exercise How do you know if youre fighting in the flesh (in ones own human strength apart from God) or in the Spirit? To determine this, ask yourself these two questions: (a) How much quality (note quality, not necessarily quantity) time do I give to the development of my relationship with God in prayer and in reading His Word? (b) Is my life characterized by obedience to Christs commands? Write down one or two specific areas. (Obedience to Gods commands is a supernatural weapon.) These two questions will help you determine whether you are living your Christian life and fighting your personal spiritual battles in your own strength or Gods. Let me applaud those of you who are doing well in this area. Along with that, let me encourage those of you that need to shore up this area. Begin by committing to it in a greater way in the days ahead. (Remember, Jesus yoke is easy and His burden is light.)