Seeing with New Eyes - Part Three

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:10-12

“Against the power of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Imagine with me…
• An unseen world filled with spirit beings of all sizes and shapes.
• These spirit beings given power – even power to influence events in our world.
• And imagine that a large number of these spirit beings have evil intentions – it is their objective to do harm rather than good.
• These spirit beings live in a non-material realm that is just as real as the physical world we inhabit.
• And – we are told by God’s Word that these are the enemy and we must do battle with them in order to become the men and women we were created to be!

Scripture presents a very different world that we as members of the 20th and 21st century western world have come to expect and experience.

Scripture is filled with wonderful stories of…
• Angels and demons impacting human life!
• Miracles and healings working to improve people’s lives!
• Epic battles between good and evil!
• Prophets, seers – men and women with a special ability granted by God to see beyond the natural world!

In fact, the ultimate story in the Bible is that of a man being executed by the Roman government – and then, miraculously resurrecting from the dead just three days later! Furthermore, this story is the pivotal point in human history and what you do with this story determines your eternal destiny.

The Bible teaches us that we should anticipate, expect and experience an ongoing interplay between the realm of the spiritual world and the material world in which we live.

Yet, because of the predominant world-view of Western Rationalism, we are Christians struggle with believing that this is possible. We demand that everything is tested from a scientific, rationalistic world-view that says…

I must be able to… see it, touch it, taste it, smell it – or hear it – for it to be real!

If we are to be honest, we must admit that as Christians we are facing a dilemma:
• Our culture presents one world-view.
• Our Christ presents yet another.

Look again at verse 12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

God’s Word tells us that…
1. OUR ENEMY IS SPIRITUAL – NOT PHYSICAL! “not against flesh and blood… against the spiritual forces of evil…”

Apparently there are spirit beings who are out to do us harm.

Look at Isaiah 14:12-14…
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." Isaiah 14:12-14

And now Ezekiel 28:12, 15…
"‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." "You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you." Ezekiel 28:12, 15

Let lay this out simply: Satan – AKA “Lucifer” was a high ranking Angel in God’s service. But he rose up against God, becoming adversarial to all that is good, right and godly.

Rev. 12:4 tells us that… “His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth…” which many people believe means that when Satan rose up against God, he took a third of all the angels of heaven with him. These evil spirits are what we call “Demons”.

Until God puts an end to this evil age, Satan and his demons are active on earth.

Which brings us back to what Paul says in Eph. 6 – our enemy is spiritual, not physical!

Secondly,
2. OUR ENEMY HAS POWER OVER THE PHYSICAL WORLD! “against the spiritual forces of evil…”

The enemy and his demons are a force to be reckoned with. They have power. And that power is destructive.

Dr. Charles Kraft writes in his book: Defeating Dark Angels:
“Satanic beings are involved in every kind of disruptive human activity. They can hinder earthly endeavors, and even delay answer to prayer. They seem to have authority over place and territories such as buildings, cities, and temples. Additionally, they appear to have authority over social organizations, and groups, and influence sinful behavior such as homosexuality, drug addiction, lust, incest, rape, and murder.

We can assume demons primary concern is to disrupt and if possible cripple anything or anyone that might be a threat to Satan’s dominion over the world. Their guns are aimed at individual, groups and organizations that seek to advance God’s purposes. They produce strongholds in people’s minds and probably other places as well. They attack Christian ministries and are agents of doctrinal aberrations. They affect health, perhaps affect weather and even have power over death, though they have no power except that allowed them by God.”

The great news is that their power is a limited power. In fact, for some reason God allows them – temporarily – to have power. But their power is subject to His greater authority! Satan is not co-equal to God. And as Believers, we are told that we have the power and authority in Jesus Name to limit and control the power of the demons and of Satan.

Jesus said in Luke 9…
"When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." Luke 9:1, 2

And Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 2:11 that as Christians “we are not unaware of his schemes.”

Be assured – the enemy has power – and it is time we took him seriously!

Thirdly…
3. OUR ENEMY HAS EVIL INTENTIONS! “against the spiritual forces of evil…”

We’ve already seen that Satan and his forces are diabolically opposed to anything good, right or godly – but Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5 that Christians are to…
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” 1 Peter 5:8-9a

Why do we need to be self-controlled and alert? Because the enemy is watching for the Christian who has his defenses down – in order to pounce and to devour!

There is nothing fair, just or reasonable about him. All rules are irrelevant. He is a liar. A cheater. A thief. He deceives, distorts, confuses, sneaks, causes doubt – whatever it takes to fool you into buying his lies.

Why? Because he hates your guts. He hates your family. He hates your marriage. He hates your faith. He hates anything in you that if of God.

When evil happens – don’t blame God. That is one of the worst lies of the enemy. He tries to get you to believe that the car accident, the cancer, the loss of job – was God’s doing. Don’t believe it. Because if you buy his lies you’ll move away from your source of life and nothing could make Satan happier!

Fourthly – Paul write that the spiritual forces of evil are from “the heavenly realms.”

4. OUR ENEMY LIVES IN THE NON-PHYSICAL REALITY! “the heavenly realms.”

The Greek word for ‘heavenly realms’ is ‘epi-ouranious’ – which literally means “high place” and refers to the abode of God and angels – which of course would also be the dwelling place of Satan and demons.

Why is this important? For a couple of reasons:
1. Satan and demons do not have physical bodies.
2. Which makes it harder to do battle with them.

Ultimately, because our enemy lives in a non-physical reality – we have to learn to do battle with an unseen enemy.

You see, non-physical spirits can affect us for good and for evil.

Let me explain: When you pray to God – you are praying to a non-physical spirit and you pray anticipating at some level that although God is not physical, He can impact your life in a positive way. So we pray for healings, for jobs, for courage, for loved ones – anticipating that He will intervene and do something good for you.

But, isn’t it equally true that unseen spirits with evil intentions and powers can also impact you for evil? Given that the Bible makes it clear that Satan and demons have as their objective to destroy good – we need to become increasingly aware of how they work – so that we can fight effectively!

In the book of Exodus – God sends Moses before the King of Egypt to demand the release of the people of Israel. In order to demonstrate authority from God, Moses throws down his wooden staff to the ground – and through the power of God – it becomes a snake. Not to be outdone, the magicians in Pharoah’s courts replicate the exact same miracle. As they also do when God uses Moses to turn the river Nile into blood, and to create millions upon millions of frogs that invade the land.

How did Pharoah’s magicians do this? How did they reproduce these signs and wonders? By aligning themselves with demon spirits who gave them the power to do so!

In Acts 8:9-11 we read of Simon the Sorceror:
"Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic." Acts 8:9-11

How did Simon do these great works of power? He aligned himself with demon spirits.

Today, around the world there are Shamans, Witch Doctors, Psychics, mediums like John Edwards – who all have power – and what is the source of that power? Demon spirits seeking to deceive people from the truth!

In our arrogance – we tend to dismiss those who follow these types of people as ‘ignorant’ – but the reality is this: They are being deceived by demon spirits.

We shouldn’t be surpised by this: 2 Cor 11:4 tells us that Satan
‘…masquerades as an angel of light…’ 2 Cor. 11:4

Now – back to Moses and the Pharoah’s magicians – When Moses – under the power of the Holy Spirit – created an invasion of gnats in the land of Egypt – the magicians recognized that this demonstrated the ‘finger of God’ – and they could not reproduce this miracle. Nor could they reproduce any of the other plagues that hit and destroyed Egypt! This was the turning point in the battle that ultimately lead to the freedom of 2 million Jews!

Why couldn’t the magicians do these miracles? Because Satan’s power is finite – whereas the power of God has no limits!

Don’t think I’m making this stuff up. Even Jesus saw beyond the physical realm into the reality of the spirit world.

In Matthew 16 when Peter attempts to block the mission of Jesus – Jesus says:
"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Matthew 16:23

Jesus knows that while it was Peter’s mouth that spoke – it wasn’t Peter’s words. Those words came from the unseen enemy.

Spiritual warfare is a battle – not against flesh and blood – but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And step one in winning the battle is to see the true nature of it. It is a spiritual fight.

In C.S. Lewis’ amazing book Screwtape Letters – “Screwtape” posing as an older more experienced demon, writing to a young trainee demon named “Wormwood” says:

“The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that, he therefore cannot believe in you.”

I’ll put it this way: You cannot fight – let alone defeat – something you do not believe exists.

So, I’ll pose these questions:
• Aren’t you tired of being beat up and defeated by this unseen enemy?
• Isn’t it time to look at the world through with a truly biblical world-view?

A New Way of Seeing - Part 1

Last week – we AFFIRMED what God is doing to mature us. We affirmed:
1. Christ has given me a new identity! I am a saint of God, chosen by Him, a royal priest, a full-fledged member of His holy people and I belong to God – and I’m going to live like it!
2. Christ has filled me with His Holy Spirit! Daily, I will welcome the power of the Holy Spirit to fill me and to overflow into every area of life, enabling me to do the impossible in Jesus Name!
3. Christ has given me a new responsibility! Everything I possess is a gift from Him, so I’ll use it all for His purposes and glory!
4. Christ has set me free! I’m no longer in bondage to my past, to Satan or to the religious regulations of man. Instead, I’ll live in outrageous freedom fulfilling every one of God’s plans for my life!
5. Christ has shown me the truth of the Gospel! I’m fully alive in Christ and I will live this life to worship Him!
6. Christ had given me a new family! Christ’s church provides me the support I need to carry out my journey, as I give others that same support in return!
7. Christ has called me to be mature! Putting aside lesser things, I’m getting into the fight and moving forward in the things of God’s kingdom with the goal of becoming like Jesus!

Now – because this is true – because God has us very clearly moving forward together as a church family – we can count on one thing:
Satan isn’t happy and He is going to do whatever he can to stop you and us from putting these affirmations into practice!

So, it seems appropriate that we learn God’s ways to do battle – so that not only can you stop him from harming you, but you can defeat him.

I want to teach you about spiritual warfare.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:10-12

The rest of the chapter is devoted to a detailed description of the armor of God – and we will get to that – just not today.

When you are faced with attacks against your true spiritual self – remember you belong to Christ – remember He has made your heart good – remember He has given you His Indwelling Holy Spirit – remember you aren’t who you used to be – and Paul tells us that the very first thing to do is…

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”

A huge key to spritual warfare is found here: When you are facing trials, troubles, temptation, struggles, discouragement, deception, distraction – the very first thing to do is to…

1. Take Your Eyes Off The Problem And LOOK to God for Solutions!

“Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” – the Greek text literally means: RECEIVE STRENGTH FROM THE LORD WHO POSSESSES SUPERIOR MIGHT AND POWER!

What do we usually do when facing these kinds of problems: We focus on them. BIG MISTAKE – because by focusing on the trails, the temptations and the testing – we give them MORE POWER than they really have and we DENY GOD the opportunity to bring HIS POWER into the situation.

But when we look to Christ for strength – He provides it. Every time. In fact, you don’t have to wonder if Christ will provide you with the strength in times of problems – you can CLAIM His strength because He has promised to provide it!

Psalms 50:15 says…
"…call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."" Psalms 50:15

We will honor Him because He will come through and prove Himself to be praiseworthy.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." 1 John 5:14

Now, it is clearly God’s will that you have victory over Satan – so approach God with confidence that He will give you exactly what you need to do so!

God’s power is sufficient for your problems. Marital problems. Financial problems. Physical problems. Job problems – they aren’t what matter – what matters is the source of your strength. Any of those problems can take you out – when you fight them in your own strength. But they become absolutely impotent against the superior strength of a person of faith!

That’s why Paul declared:
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13, NIV.

Most people have a terrible misunderstanding about Satan’s power. They think he is co-equal in power to God. WRONG. Satan is a created being – created by God. The Creator is always greater than the created.

So, given that God is greater than Satan and that He lives in you by faith – the very first thing to do when facing spiritual warfare is to LOOK TO GOD for the strength that only He can provide.

If I focus on my problems – all I’m going to see is my problems. But, when I willfully choose to focus on God in times of trouble – I will experience His power at work in my life – and I will have victory over the problems that come my way!

Now – look at Ephesians 6:11
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." Ephesians 6:11

Paul says –
2. If You Are Going To Go Into Battle – Get Dressed For Battle! Ephesians 6:11

“Put on…” – this is action. So many people say: “what am I to do?” when they are facing tough times. Here’s what you do – ‘put on’ what God gives. Look to Him in faith, and take what He gives you. It will be exactly what you need to do battle. Listen to His voice – and receive His word.

Paul says: “put on the armor of God” – the KJV says: “put on the whole armor…” – better translation. You will need everything God has to give you.

During the Los Angeles Riots that followed the Rodney King trial, they send the National Guard into the streets to try to restore order – without providing them with bullets for their guns. How stupid is that!?

Yet, if you are going to win in your battle against satan – you’d better have everything that God gives you in order to fight!

Read verses 13-18 and you’ll see the list of the armor pieces…
• Belt of truth
• Breastplate of righteousness
• Feet fitted with readiness
• Shield of faith
• Helmet of salvation
• Sword of the Spirit
• Prayer in the Spirit

Each one of these pieces point to a vital truth and reality about Christ being present in your life! This is vital because it is Christ who fights for us! Try to fight the devil in your own strength and you’ll be toast – but fight in the power of Christ and you’ll win – every time!

Now notice what Paul says about fighting:
‘…so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…”

“YOU CAN” in the Greek speaks to CAPABILITY. You and I need the armor of God so that we become capable to fight. The negative side of that is that without the armor we stand naked and vulnerable. But the positive side is this: As I put on the whole armor of God – God enables me to do exactly what is needed in order to have victory!

In fact – Paul says… “you can TAKE YOUR STAND…” – He is saying: In Christ you will be ESTABLISHED and MADE ROCK SOLID against the attacks of the enemy!

Aren’t you tired of being a spiritual pushover – falling prey to anything and everything that the devil dishes out? Wouldn’t you prefer to be ESTABLISHED AND ROCK SOLID in the battle?

Put on the whole armor of God.

3. Get To Know The Enemy’s Tactics. Ephesians 6:11

Now Paul says what we are standing against is the DEVIL’S SCHEMES. The Greek says: ‘diabolos methodeia’ – The methods of the devil. Satan is methodical and repetitive in his attacks. He’s not very original and he’s not very bright.

Haven’t you seen him use the same old tricks over and over and over and over again to set you up for a fall? And the tragic thing is that we get tripped up over and over and over again.

• Why does an advertisement for a sale at the mall trip up some of you and not others?
• Why does a scantily clad woman on TV create lust in some of you and not in others?
• Why do some of you lie in times of stress when others tell the truth?
• Why does BUFFET mean overeating to some and selective eating to others?

Because Satan has tactics that are custom designed to mess you up.

They are called STRONGHOLDS. Places in our lives where the enemy has set up camp. Strongholds are the result of some weakness in our life – whether current or past – that has yet to be brought under the authority of the Lord.

Fortunately there is hope. God’s Word says:
"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." 2 Corinthians 10:4

As we grow in our ability to fight with the weapons of God, the strongholds in our lives will be revealed and uprooted!

You don’t have to stay stuck. I don’t either. We must not attempt to fight with the weapons of the world – we need the power of the Holy Spirit to invade this territory and reclaim it for Christ!

Doctors, Psychologists, counselors, 12-step groups have a place. But unless we take a truly spiritual approach to this – we will only be trimming the weeds. We need the Holy Spirit to uproot the roots of strongholds and replace them with the fullness of Christ’s power.

How do we do this? We begin to explore the deeper things of life with the Holy Spirit as our guide. The Bible says that…
"…the Spirit of truth… will guide you into all truth..." John 16:13, KJV.

It’s seems like wisdom would suggest that we ask the Holy Spirit to recognize the methods of the devil so that we can take our stand against them.

CONCLUSION:
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:10-12

Christ is teaching you a new way of living. In order to become genuinely Spirit-filled people – we must embrace what He is teaching. And as we embrace Him, we must have our eyes opened to things as they really are.

There’s a fascinating story in 2 Kings 6 about Elisha and his servant:

"When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don’t be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha. As the enemy came down towards him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked." 2 Kings 6:15-18

The enemy looks strong to the eyes of man. This creates fear and terror. But – there is more to the story than what we can see. We need spiritual revelation. We need our eyes opened to what is really going on.

Elisha prays: “Open his eyes that he may see…”
And God gives revelation.
The servant sees things as they really are: “he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha…” God spiritual forces abound!

Today – if you are going to learn to fight the enemy of your soul – look to Christ and ask Him to open your eyes to things as they really are.