Spiritual Warfare

It is very obvious from the Scriptures that there is something more than most people ever experience in their religion. Jesus made it clear that without Him we can do nothing. He told the disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is the most neglected part of the Gospel. Most people simply assume the Holy Spirit dwells w...

Spiritual warfare is that great battle that is being waged in the minds of people between good and evil. We must be able to recognize spiritual evil - spirits of devils, as they try to deceive us in our mind. But we can learn to do that and still be defeated by them. The most important thing in spiritual warfare is that we are truly led by the Spirit of God. This is what is missing in most profess...

The greatest danger to our soul, and to the souls of our children, is that we will be deceived. The devil is a liar and he is good at it. He is the father of lies and deceit is his main weapon, and his universal way of defeating and destroying a soul. Others are deceitful, sin is deceitful, Satan is deceitful, but our greatest danger is that we can deceive ourselves. We can actually lie to ourselv...

Charity is not a spiritual gift, but part of the fruit of the Spirit of God, and the "more excellent way" that the Scripture refers to here. Spiritual gifts are to be desired, but only from a motive of love toward God and others. Everyone seems to want to "DO" something, or "BE" something "for God." Sadly, many times it is from a motive of pride and self-interests. Charity will move you to "DO" th...

All spiritual gifts are for the manifestation of the Spirit of God. Spiritual gifts are what God uses through a person, or a person's life to edify and encourage other Christians. The Spiritual gifts are to the body of Christ what the contribution of each member of our physical body is to the life and wellbeing is to the whole. No member is the same, or has the same function and purpose. Christian...

Spiritual gifts are just that - SPIRITUAL gifts. Their operation is in the spiritual realm. They are meant to edify the soul, the spirit, and the church. Carnal matters are the opposite of spiritual matters, and yet almost all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible are misrepresented, misused, and misunderstood, and then applied to carnal concerns. It is very obvious that most people are far m...

The manifestation of the Spirit of God, what is it? It is when we see clear evidence of God's Spirit working in a real way in others. Spiritual gifts are for that purpose. They are never to exalt or edify, or make someone special of the one who exercises the gift. They are never for show, or for a spectacle, but for the manifestation of the Spirit of God. This is what unifies a church and bonds ou...

Ignorance in spiritual matters leads to superstition. To be ignorant is to be destitute of knowledge, uninstructed, or uninformed of the facts. If we are going to entertain spiritual thoughts and exercise spiritual gifts it must be according to knowledge and truth. otherwise, it is simply superstition and mysticism. There is much enthusiasm in those who conduct themselves in spiritual matters with...

A gift is something given, not learned, and not acquired through our own efforts, A skill is something we have acquired through learning. It literally means "to know." So to have a skill is to know how to do something, make something, repair something, etc. We know how because we have learned how. Now honestly, what do you think the churches are mostly operating with, spiritual gifts,, or skills?...

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us day and night before God, and he also accuses us day and night to one another. He is always inciting discord by making accusations through the minds of people. It is the number one way the devil is able to defeat the people of God. Our command from Jesus is not to police one another, but to love one another. We should be wise to this wile of the...

If you are a Christian you are involved in a war. It is a spiritual war of aggression by Satan and all his devils against you and they will attack anything or anyone in your life to get to you. Our orders from the Word of God are to STAND. The primary goal in any war is to take away the ability of the enemy to wage war The devil wants to make each of us unable to fight back or defend ourselves. He...

Lying is the first sin that we know of that was committed on this earth. It is the original sin in that sense, as well as it is the original sin that occurs before any other sin is committed. All sins of the flesh and the spirit begin with a lie. Lies lead to deception, which is a very effective snare for the mind. To be deceived is to believe a lie and then begin to form your views and opinions b...

The only way to have peace is for the heart to be yielded to the truth and in one accord with the mind. The struggle we all feel in life is the heart struggling against our mind concerning the truth. All the trouble we know in this life is felt in our mind as it constantly tries to some way reconcile good with all the evil around us. This is what we inherited from our ancestors - the knowledge of...

Why do so many start the Christian journey and fall by the wayside? The answer lies mainly in how they treat the truth. To belong to God is to belong to the truth, for the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth. Only those who cannot abide a lie in any form whatsoever have any real reason to think they possess eternal life. Satan is a liar and the father of it. He is relentless in trying to tur...

Satan is the father of all lies. Lying and deceiving is his his main tool and weapon against the kingdom of God and the souls of men. Every sin is preceded by a lie or many lies. A lie is what makes that which is forbidden desirable. Our greatest defense against this formidable foe is an intimate knowledge of the Word of God. Casual knowledge of the Word of God makes a person more susceptible to t...

Carnal wickedness is not the same as spiritual wickedness – there must be a difference or this phrase would not be in the Bible. There is a threshold where carnal wickedness becomes spiritual wickedness. When the carnal desire is driven by hatred and contempt for the moral authority of God and his Word it is no longer just carnal wickedness, but spiritual wickedness. Rebellion is as the sin of wit...

First, there is the Word of God, then there is faith. It is weak faith, it is struggling faith, it is unsure faith, but it is faith. Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Mark 9:24 "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." This is the kind of faith that opens the door of our spirit a...

Sorrow is a part of life, but life is not all about sorrow. It is a necessary part of life, but should not be the dominating part of life. Sorrow must be mixed with everything else or it becomes death to us, and to those around us. II. Sorrow has the power to take over our life if we do not keep and rule our own spirit. When it becomes bondage, we have forgotten God and Satan has been able to esta...

The basic definition of the word "carnal" is "pertaining to the flesh," "to be in the natural state; unregenerate." The great difference between true salvation and the many religions of the world is that true salvation is a spiritual birth that begins a spiritual life here in this present world. The true believer in Christ has the Spirit of God living inside of him and his view of the universe aro...

The devil will always begin his attack by questioning a moral issue in your mind. When you realize that there is a debate going on in your mind trying to justify something that you know is wrong, you can be sure that you are being influenced by a devil - an evil spirit. We can see Satan's step by step method of deceiving and ensnaring souls by his conversation with Eve in the garden. He has never...

Prayer has its foundation on the Word of God. Prayer is a spiritual exercise, it is not a religious duty or performance. It is communion with God and the Spirit of God must be involved. If we find ourselves bound and unable to really pray and know God hears us we can discern that we are being drawn away from God by other spirits that are not of God. If we are not experiencing the comfort, the guid...

God calls, prepares, and sends men with a message from God. The response to that message from God makes people better or it makes them worse. There is no neutral ground. The message is not from the man who is sent, but it is from God. There is a great difference between a message from another man's mind and heart that touches our intellect or emotions, and a spiritual message from God, sent throug...

The one thing that makes the war between good and evil so difficult is that those that are evil are not bound by any rules while the righteous are. Anything goes for the wicked; they can lie, cheat, steal, kill, fight dirty, and they do not hesitate to do all of these things in order to prevail. The righteous are bound by truth, justice, mercy, righteousness, and the fear of God to do what is righ...

To be afraid at times is part of how we are constituted. It must be so in a world such as this. The sin of man has made every creature a potential enemy, and there is danger all around us. But just as a spirit of infirmity is quite different than having an actual infirmity, the spirit of fear is quite different than simply being afraid when we should be afraid. A spirit of fear consumes our life b...

The woman in our Scripture apparently did not have anything really wrong with her body, but was oppressed by a spirit of infirmity. It is common for people to think themselves sick when they really are not. This is a spirit of infirmity. It is that voice that starts talking to you in your mind and striking fear in your heart when you have a pain, or when a doctor tells you there is something wrong...