Spiritual Warfare
OCTOBER 2024
"Spiritual Warfare"
Spiritual warfare is defined as a power confrontation or encounter in the invisible realm between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.
This November is going to be a crucial election month for our nation. Pastor Paul seeks to equip our church in understanding spiritual warfare and the importance of recognizing satan's tactics. Our enemy is not flesh and blood, it is not Democrats or Republicans. Our battle is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We need to be able to stand against the wiles, schemes, and devices of the devil whose very job description is to falsely accuse and to slander. We need to be able to discern satan's attacks on faith and relationships.
Week 1: War Strategies and Troubled Minds
The battleground of the mind is the primary location of spiritual warfare. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Christians and non-Christians alike struggle with mental peace despite material success.
Jesus warns of signs in the sky and men's hearts failing from fear. (Luke 21:25-28)
The causes of troubled minds, internal factors: spiritual struggles (sinfulness, failures, weaknesses) and external factors (wars, famines, earthquakes).
Focus on being rooted in your relationship with God, rather than material concerns. (Matthew 24:6-7)
Paul struggles with sin despite loving Jesus, and how he overcame it. (Romans 7:23-25, 8:1-11)
PRAYER POINTS:
The mind is the primary arena of where spiritual warfare takes place. The enemy tries to penetrate in the battleground of our minds to affect the way we think, if he can affect the mind, it then affects the way we believe, if he affects the way we believe, it then dominates our emotions, and if it dominates our emotions, then it affects the way you project yourself to others and all your relationships.
So therefore, pray to cast down and destroy every lofty philosophy, arguments, and opinions that rise against the truth of God and bringing every one of our thoughts into the captivity of Christ, for our battle is a spiritual one.
Pray that the peace of God transcends our understanding and guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).
Pray to have courage during these unprecedented times and to not lose heart no matter what we see or hear on the news because we are safe in God’s hands.
John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Pray to deepen our walk with God, to see and experience His glory, and experience great intimacy with Him.
Pray to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, no longer walking in the flesh.
Week 2: Biblical Wisdom and Warfare Strategies
Understanding your enemy: It is not flesh and blood, there is something behind what you can see with your natural eyes. (Ephesians 6:12)
Lack of knowledge / ignorance leading to destruction. (Hosea 4:6)
War against pride in natural or spiritual accomplishments.
The war in heaven between God and Lucifer will affect earthly worship. (Revelation 12:7)
Weapons of warfare: humility, unity, praise & worship, the Word (it is written), God’s presence, giving, forgiveness.
PRAYER POINTS:
The moment that we received Christ, we are automatically enlisted to Heaven’s army. Pray that we understand who we belong to so that we can engage in this spiritual warfare with great confidence for the battle belongs to God and we are on the winning side.
Pray for wisdom and the application of wisdom and that we are not destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
Pray for humility against our accomplishments, in the natural or in the spirit, for pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
Since God is Spirit (the Source of life, yet invisible to man) we pray that we worship Him in spirit and truth and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, transforming us into His image from glory to glory (John 4:24, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Pray that we use our weapons of warfare with skill and accuracy. To utilize praise & worship, the sword of the Spirit of the Word of God, our humility, our unity, our financial giving, to extend forgiveness, and that His presence permeates every fiber of our being.
Week 3: Strongholds, Spiritual Darkness, and Demonic Forces
Spiritual strongholds and the importance of forgiveness.
Understand the importance of submitting to God, and renewing our minds with God’s Word. (James 4:7, Romans 12:1-2)
Satan has permission to attack when we embrace carnal nature. (1 Corinthians 5:5)
Know the importance of living in the Spirit, not the flesh. (Romans 8:14)
Jesus warns of darkness in those who deny Him.
Satan seeks the unrepentant areas of our hearts.
PRAYER POINTS:
Pray for God to heal us and that we forgive those who have hurt us. Pray that God leads us into a lifestyle of forgiveness (Colossians 3:13).
Pray to submit to God and that our minds are renewed through God’s Word daily.
Since we are God’s children, we are to be led by the Holy Spirit, not by our sinful nature.
Romans 8:9: “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature (flesh). You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all).”
Pray and ask God to show us how to shut the doors and windows that allows for the enemy to gain entry and access into our hearts and lives and relationships.
Pray that we never deny Jesus no matter what.
Pray that Holy Spirit can identify and convict us from areas in our lives that displeases Him.
Week 4: Surrendering to God and Finding Restoration and Healing
Understand the importance of standing with God in the midst of opposition. (1 Kings 17–19)
Declare God's power and thank Him for the Word, Holy Spirit, and new life in Christ.
Surrendering to God and finding restoration and healing.
Get deliverance from troubled past. (Philippians 3:13-14)
Reconcile with God and change their course, emphasizing the importance of faith and prayer. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Pray for restoration, healing, and renewal, with a focus on personal transformation. (Romans 12:1-2)
PRAYER POINTS:
Pray that we have the bravery and audacity to be able to stand with God, even in the midst of great challenges or oppositions.
Joshua 1:9 (MSG): “Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
Make daily declarations of His power over our lives. Be grateful and thank Him for the blessing of our salvation, the power of Holy Spirit that lives within us, and the mighty Word of God that never returns void.
Pray and submit ourselves to God in all things, for when we submit, we can resist the enemy and he will flee from us (James 4:7).
Pray that when we surrender to God, He will restore all things and bring healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2).
Pray for deliverance over anything that continues to bind us.
Colossians 1:13-14: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Pray that we may abide in God. That we may remain, dwell, continue, endure, and be present with and in Him. When we abide, we become in tune with His presence drawn from the dedicated times of entering and encountering Him in His glory so that we grow into the ability to remain in existence with Him (John 15:7; Adapted from Rebecca Greenwood).
Pray for personal restoration, healing, renewal, with a focus on our own transformation.
