For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.~~2 Corinthians 10:4
We are warriors, fighting a spiritual battle. While sometimes it is good and/or necessary to simply stand, other times we are fighting off the enemies attacks and playing offense. I, by no means, am down playing or saying its wrong or sinful to STAND. There have been many times in my life where all I could do was stand and let others fight for me. Its not wrong to stand, but there are times where we stand there so long that we look down and we up to our calves in mud because we haven't moved in so long. Don't get stuck. See the problem with being in STAND mode is we sometimes get comfortable there. Its easier to leave the heavy fighting for our fellow soldiers, but eventually we have to come out of STAND mode and join the battle again. Actually in this scripture (Ephesians 6:13), stand meant still keeping your armor on, still watching and praying and still battle ready. We often times interpret it to me that for right now I get to just take a break. Even when standing we should be fighting off the devil.
As spiritual warriors we fight battles that we can't see, therefore we must use the correct weapons to win these battles. Paul was letting the church in Corinth know that our weapons aren't made by man, but that our weapons are only mighty through God~removing any doubt that God did it. The Corinthians prided themselves on their knowledge and philosophies. The word strong hold means a fortified place, a place of security. When are fighting battles, oft times we are spiritually coming against strongholds. Depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug addiction (or any addiction really) and many other things, can be a stronghold.
So what weapons do you use to fight battles and to tear down strongholds in our cities, our personal lives and the lives of those we love??
The Word~~enough said about that!!
Faith~~you can't pray something through without it!!
Prayer~~most battles are fought through our prayers. We plead the blood, binding and loosing, dispatching angels and praying the Word.
Praise~~nothing says "Satan shut up and get out of here", like praising God when the battle is hard, when it doesn't make sense. We are making a statement when we praise God through ALL things. Satan expects us to back into a corner and stop fighting, that makes his job (1 Peter 5:8) easier.
God gave us all an arsenal. What you do with your weapons is up to you. You can choose to sit the battle out and hope it passes soon or you can stand up and fight.
I've been in church my whole life. I know about spiritual warfare in and out. But for the last several months I've been under siege and a lot of the time it was all I could do to fend off the attack, let alone take new ground. I was fighting, fighting, fighting but not moving forward. I realized that I needed to increase me faith, that was step one and then I needed to pull my boots out of the mud and say "no more Satan, I'm taking new ground!" So my fight is now mobile.
My head is down, my shield in front, my sword is sharp. I am in battle stance and I am on the move.
~~I hope these posts can encourage someone. They were definitely not meant to make anyone feel bad.~~
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