Friday – January 15, 2016
Praise the Lord for another day to love the Lord, another day to do the will of the Father. Please be reminded to pray for the Church in America, for that matter the Church around the world. There is the old Church, the organized Church and there is the new Church which is a growing body of believers who are not only awake but in the process of tearing down the wicked thoughts/ideas that have come to dominate the organized Church. The Church pictured is St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Bath, North Carolina. The Church was established in 1696 and this building was built in 1734. Picture and information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
So far in our discussion of Spiritual Warfare I have presented the idea that this is a faith fight. Our enemies want to corrupt the Word of God with their words which is the doctrine of demons.
1 Timothy 6:12 (KJV)
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
It is vital that we say what He says and not what Joe Blow (factious name) says or even what our Denominations says. Remember that is what the words ‘professed’ and ‘profession’ mean in the preceding verse. Now let us move forward.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The Apostle Paul is instructing the people in the church at Corinth about Spiritual Warfare and this is a selected passage. He says, yes, I know that you are walking around in flesh body and the challenges frequently come from other people (flesh) as well as the lusts of our own flesh but that is not the real war or where the battle is waged. Like some religions we do not flagellate our bodies for sin nor do we physically attack other people. I know it can seem like the attack is coming from people but no it is the enemy (spiritual) who has planted wrong and contrary ideas and he is using other people to express the idea. Sometimes it is an idea that is obvious and is at the onset infuriating like watching the news or listening to the political left in America. In this state we may be tempted to do physical things, think things contrary to our Heavenly Father, or perhaps worst of all express things in words that are contrary to the will of God and the Word of God. We may say things that demean a person but does nothing to confront and emasculate our spiritual enemy.
Verse four from our text tells us: 2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) We have weapons but those weapons are not physical (carnal). Not long ago I taught on our spiritual dress and armor and it may be worthwhile to go back and review that information. Paul then tells them and us that we do indeed have weapons and these weapons are “mighty through God”. The word weapon in our text is a part of the root word of armor from the description of the whole armor of God from Ephesians six. Another aspect of this word ‘weapons’ is that even though it is talking of particular instrument or weapon at its base is the idea of us ‘being busy about’. Busy about what? Our mission from God in the earth and the world systems. The word ‘mighty’ in our text is translated as possible 13 times, able 10 times, mighty 6 times, and strong 3 times (Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary). The text makes it clear that there is no question that these demonic strongholds are coming down but only “through God”. Not in our anger and not in our own strength. Remember we walk by faith (believing God without wavering), our faith is powered by love (obedience to God), based on Scripture (hope), and facilitated as instructed and led of the Holy Spirit.
By Pastor David R. Wood
