Warfare Part 11

Dear beloved: Paul wraps up his discussion of the spiritual armor with an instruction, or statement of encouragement in Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petiton pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, v19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel v20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. We see from this statement that warfare is directly tied to prayer and petition, not only for ourself and our situation, but also for others that are in the battle. Paul tells us to pray at all times in the Spirit- what exactly does he mean by that? He uses that term in other places in the letters, primarily in 1 Corinthians 14:14, where he says, For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. v15 What is the outcome then? I shall pray with (in) the Spirit, and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with (in) the Spirit, I shall sing with the mind also. So we can see from this that praying and singing in the Spirit, or in other words praying and singing in tongues, is directly tied to spiritual warfare, it is the intercessors weapon to break through the demonic realm of interference. He goes on to say in verse 22 that tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers. Who could be considered more of an unbeliever than the demons and powers and principalities of the demonic kingdom? They are the ones who control the behavior of the unbelieving world, for Satan is the ruler of this world. When you pray in tongues, what exactly happens in the Spirit realm? Tongues are the language of the Holy Spirit, the voice of the living God. Psalm 29:3 the voice of the Lord is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, the Lord is over many waters. v4 the voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic, v5 the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. v7 the voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire. v8 the voice of the Lord shakes (causes to whirl) the wilderness. ...The demons flee when they hear the voice of the Lord, they cannot stand before it, because they know they are going to get broken like the cedars, struck with flames of fire, and shook like the wilderness. Hebrews 10:31 says it this way, It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The voice of the Lord is so terrifying that the children of Israel could not stand to hear it anymore. Deuteronomy 18:16 This is all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, "Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, lest I die." Jesus went among the multitudes casting out demons with a word. Luke 4:41 And demons also were coming out of many, crying out and saying, "you are the Son of God!" And rebuking them, he would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ. ... And again in Matthew 10:7 As you go preach, saying, "the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give." Beloved, this is spiritual warfare-go into the enemy territory and take back what he has stolen from you, your family, and nation. If you do not have the gift of tongues, pray to receive it; wait patiently and God will give you that which you desire. If you do have the gift, start utilizing it more in intercessory prayer for all the saints, and in every situation where you are in a battle with the demonic realm. We want to get to the point where the demons shudder when we walk into the room, or when we begin to pray, because they know the kingdom of God is among them. Mark 1:24 a man with an unclean spirit cried out, saying, "What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are- the Holy One of God!" Beloved, as warriors in the kingdom, that is our battle cry, to destroy the works of the devil. Prepare for battle! God bless you this day, in Christ, Jim