Three weeks ago, we began by examining some theme around the subject of faith. We began by examining the Foundation of the Christian Faith, then we moved on to Understanding The Synergy Between the spirit of Faith and the Speaking of faith, then we examined Walking In The Realm of Faith. Today, we want to see how you can Engage Your Faith for Spiritual Warfare. We know as believers, the Bible called us Soldiers of Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). No one is qualified to be a soldier if there is no battle to fight. Believers are engaged in spiritual warfare and so, we want to see how we can engage our faith for spiritual warfare.

 

"Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. ⁹ But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.]"

1 Peter 5:8-9

 

 

Listen to Podcast: LEARNING TO ENGAGE YOUR FAITH FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE

 

Whether you accept it or not, you must come to this realization that there is a God who loves you and there is an enemy who hates you. There is a God who wants you to succeed in all that you do, as long as you put your trust in Him and believe Him, and there is a devil who wants you to fail completely and outrightly.

 

God's love for you is demonstrated in the way He has made you. How did I know this? Psalms 139:14 tells us: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." God didn't make you an animal or a plant or a tree, He took His time while putting you into shape and form. God was mindful of you while He was making you. He did not make you in a hurry. See what Psalms 8:4-8 tells us:

 

What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
⁷ All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
⁸ The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

 

God's love for you is also demonstrated in what He thinks about you. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Isn't it an interesting thing to know that God sits in heaven, yet He thinks about you all the time. In Isaiah 49:16, the Scripture says He has inscribed us on the palm of His hands and our walls are continually before Him. That shows how mindful and thoughtful God is to us.

 

Even when the man that God created in His own image and likeness went against His counsel and will for our lives through Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, God's love was demonstrated toward you in that He sent His only begotten Son to come redeem us back to Him. John 3:16 tells us: "For God so loved the world that He gave  His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

 

But there is a devil as well who hates you. It is important that we ask this question: Why did the devil hates you so much? Many people always have this notion that the devil starts hating them when they become born again. But the truth is this, whether you are born again or not, the devil hates you still. The only thing is that he hates you more when you become born again.

 

The devil hates you simply because you are accorded so much glory and dominion when you were created. The devil did not like the fact that the whole dominion was handed over to you and so, he is not happy with you. The devil didn't like the fact that you are going to share the dominion of this earth with him. Let me show you the Scriptures that corroborates this assertion. Isaiah 14:12-14 (NIV), the Bible says:

 

How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
¹³ You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”

 

Another reason the devil hates you so much is documented in the book of Ezekiel 28:13-17 (NIV). The Bible says:

 

You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
¹⁶ Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
¹⁷ Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.

 

But this is why the hatred the devil has towards you was so much. Let us go quickly to the book of Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 2:8. The Bible says:

 

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

 

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

 

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

 

"The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed."

 

The devil hates you because he believes you have come to compete with him and even dominate him in his own realm. He believes you have come to take over Eden, his former abode. If a man comes to you all of a sudden and says "the land upon which you build your house is his", I am not sure you would want to take such a statement lightly. You would want to go all out to prove the ownership of the land and the building upon it. The devil believes Eden is his and so, man has come to take over it. Although, God owns the earth, but he allows the devil to walk up and down in it.

 

Somebody may be saying in his heart right now: How come God allow the devil so much freedom on the earth? Why didn't He do something about Him? See what Revelation 12:12 says:

 

Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”

 

The devils time is short on the earth, and even the devil himself knows that his time is short. This is why he does not have peace, moving and working tirelessly to ensure that the children of God on the earth do not enjoy their God-given dominion. However, this is where you must rejoice. When God gave man dominion, He gave him dominion over everything that is on the earth, which includes the devil. Although, Adam and Eve lost that dominion to him in the garden of Eden as documented in Genesis, however, Christ came and restore that dominion back unto us. And this is how you would dominate the devil. 1 Peter 5:9 tells us:

 

⁹ But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.]"

 

You don't wage physical fight against the devil. It is not the kind of fight you engage in with your physical strength. Apostle Paul wrote that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. When the devil comes for your marriage, or he comes for your ministry, or he comes for your business or tries some funny stunts over your children, the Scripture says you should resist him in faith. Satan understands that faith is a powerful spiritual tool and so, he respects it.

 

The word "resist" in that verse connotes a number of things, but I just want to show us this two. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word "resist" to mean "to fight against (something): to try to stop or prevent (something). Another meaning that is crucial to what we are talking about here is "to remain strong against the force or effect of (something), to not be affected or harmed by (something). So, two things we can take away from those meanings as it relates to faith. The first one is that faith helps you to wage spiritual warfare against the devil  and faith helps you to mitigate any negative effects of the devil's antics against your life. Let us see this popular Scripture to back up this assertion. Ephesians 6:10-16

 

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (This was the final part of the letter of the apostle Paul to the folks at Ephesus and so, he admonished them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His strength, and not rely on their own strength). ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (The word "wiles" there talks about the trickery and the charm of the devil. He admonished them that by putting on the whole armor of God, they will be able to stand against those  tricks and charms when they come. The fact that you are born again, you have faith does not mean you are immune to the devil's antics and wiles. Jesus was in the wilderness, He had fasted forty days and nights. Yet, when He was about to step out to start fulfilling His earthly ministry after the fast, the first person that showed up to Him was the devil. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, He was faith personified, yet, the devil came around to tempt Him. So, that tells you that you are also not immune to the devil's antics.)

 

¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (as we have established from the beginning, flesh and blood are not your number one enemies, the devil is your number one enemy. Although he uses the medium of flesh and blood most times, but the devil is your enemy). ₁₃ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (He admonished them again to take up the whole armor of God as he did in verse 11. For this statement to have come twice, it means there is something significant about it and apostle Paul wants us to take note. So, why should they take the whole armor of God? He said so that they would be able to withstand in the evil day. Another word for that withstand is to "resist", and after all, they would be able to stand).

 

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one (The statement here is very important to what we are actually discussing in this meeting concerning spiritual warfare. It says above all of the things that he has been saying from verse 10, that we should take the shield of faith with which to quench every darts of the wicked one. That ministers something to me, and it is this: No matter what you have taken already, if you are yet to take faith along in this Christian race, then you have not taking anything)."

 

 

What To Do If We Are To Engage Our Faith In Spiritual Warfare

 

1) Your Obedience Must Be Full

There are many people that try so hard to put their faith to work but still fail at it? Why is it so? Because faith awaits obedience to other instructions. 2 Corinthians 10:6 says "and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." To engage your faith in spiritual warfare, your obedience must be full. 2 Timothy 2:4 tells us: "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." In other words, there is the need to please the one in whom you have repose your faith, which is Christ Jesus, our Lord and maker.

 

2) Don't Rely On Your Own Strength, Rely On His Strength

Ephesians 6:10 says: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." Anytime when God wants to pour into us, and we make Him feel like we are full, we don't need Him, He restrains Himself from pouring into us. When you try to show some strength to God, there won't be any need for Him to show up for you because in His eyes, you are saying you don't need His help. But when we rely on His strength and ability, He will show Himself mighty on our behalf. 2 Chronicles 16:9a says: "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him."

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!