The Battle is Real!
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12 NASB.
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Diane: “Join us for this special seven-week summer post of Contagious Joy’s blog posts. We will be publishing podcasts on this subject on Coffee Chats with Diane Nix and Leighann McCoy’s podcast, Prayer Clinic, and last but not least, Jacque Garner of the Pastorswifelifepodcast!”
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Leighann: “Spiritual warfare is the ongoing struggle between God and Satan. But don’t for one minute think that it is a desperate struggle between two equal but opposing forces.
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Unlike God, who is the Creator of the universe, Satan is a created being. And unlike God, who is head over all authority, power, dominion, and title that can be given (Ephesians 1:20–23), Satan has jurisdiction only over the earth. Satan is not equal to God in power, in rule, or in authority. He is subject to God, and his destiny is already determined.
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Isaiah 54:16–17 points to this truth:
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See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.
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The war began in the garden of Eden when the serpent (Satan) convinced Eve to eat the fruit off the forbidden tree. The war started in the garden, and it ended when Jesus died on the cross. Don’t miss this important truth. The war ended at the cross. Jesus’ death restored what Adam’s sin destroyed.
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Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. Romans 5:18–19 The Message
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The prince of this world was defeated once and for all when Jesus reconciled men to himself through the perfect sacrifice of His perfect life.
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“WHY DO WE FIGHT TODAY?
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So, you might ask, if the Enemy is defeated, why are we still fighting the good fight today? The battle continues today because the Prince of Darkness remains in charge of our sin-stained world (see Ephesians 2:1–2).
Satan expects to rule and reign over the mess he ordained until Jesus returns and God puts it all to rest. When Adam and Eve yielded to the temptation of Satan, they took the world God gave them—a perfect dwelling place declared “very good” by God, full of good pleasure, tasty delight, and pure joy—and they handed it over to Satan. The deceiver stole creation from the Creator. This world today is only a shadow of what would have been. It’s a distorted, sin-stained shadow at that.[su_spacer]
When you accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you were targeted for attack. With that declaration of allegiance to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you gave up your allegiance to the prince of this world. You broke ties with the Prince of Darkness. “Therefore, you no longer belong to this world, and the world hates you as a result. Jesus explained it like this: “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:19
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And then Jesus prayed for us,
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
John 17:15–16
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We fight spiritual warfare today because we dare to live in the strength and power, and faithful promises of God. We fight because we take God at His Word and invite Him to penetrate our darkness with His glorious light.”
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Diane writes: “Lydia Maria Child, an American author (1802-1880) wrote, “It is right and noble to fight with wickedness and wrong; the mistake is in supposing that spiritual evil can be overcome by physical means.” Think about this sentence written sometime between her birth and death in 1880. What powerful words for us today! Many of us would rather not talk about Spiritual warfare, but we should! And so we shall.
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In his book entitled, Angels, Billy Graham wrote, “We live in a perpetual battlefield. . . The wars among the nations on earth are mere popgun affairs compared to the fierceness of battle in the spiritual unseen world. This invisible spiritual conflict is waged around us incessantly and unremittingly. Where the Lord works, Satan’s forces hinder [God’s work]; where angel beings carry out divine directives, the devils rage. All this comes about because the powers of darkness press their counterattack to recapture the ground held for the glory of God.”
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For the next several weeks, Leighann, Jacque, and I discuss this very real battle and the weapons we have to fight. Our hope and prayer is that you will join us. The battle is real. But we have some weapons we can use to fight! So armor up (Ephesians 6:10-20)! We will meet you in our podcasts and learn how to stand together!
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We are praying for you![su_spacer]
Diane Nix is the director and founder of Contagious Joy 4 Him, a network of encouragement to ministry wives around the globe. Offering “Free Refresh Retreats” and a safe place for ministry wives to share their hearts with other like-minded women. Thirty-seven years ago, she married her husband, pastor/professor, Dr. Preston Nix. He is a professor of evangelism and evangelistic preaching at NOBTS. They have two biological daughters, two spiritual-grown daughters, two special grands, and two son’s in-laws.Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @nixheart and on her ministry Facebook: contagiousjoy4him.com, Instagram & Twitter: @contagiousjoy4him or cj4h.org
I think we give too much credit for Satan at times. In the book of James, there’s actually no mention of Satan when we are tempted. We are tempted by our own lusts. We can be having these desires that can us into sinning against God. Satan can just leave us alone cause we can be too sinful.
That’s my 2 cents feedback.
Thanks.
Toronto