Introduction
We spoke on Sonship and the Supernatural, and then we spoke on Sonship and Heart Transformation - the necessity of heart transformation. Tonight, I want to speak on Sonship and Spiritual Warfare, and we're going to look at a verse in Ephesians 6.
Main Message
Now these come out of life experience. Sometimes I won, sometimes I failed. Sometimes I got the thrashing of my life and ended up hiding in a cave. Other times, I came out, and I didn't always win the fights. In fact, I had many, many hidings until I understood what the fight was about, and then I began to get the victory.
I began to consistently get the victory, and with every setback, I was able to turn it back, and overthrow what was there, because God gave me revelation of what really the battle was about, and how to fight the battle. There's a lot I could share, but I'll try to keep it condensed around the things that will give you understanding of the nature of the warfare that you're up against.
We must understand, you have no choice in this. Your only choice is whether you roll over and come under something; or whether you'll stand up, and persevere, and take hold of what Christ won for you. That's the decision you make. You don't get an intermediate decision, well look, I'll tell you what, I won't bother the devil if he doesn't bother me – that’s not going work!
You have an adversary (1 Peter), who walks about like a roaring lion - seeking or scheming or planning how he can devour your life. You are called to resist, to make a stand in your life; but if you can't locate the warfare, and don't know how to fight the warfare, you'll be beaten every time, and you'll have cycles of issues you can't seem to understand why it happens.
Ephesians 6:10 – “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might”.
One of my favourite declarations: I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. He wants to strengthen us.
Ephesians 6:11 – “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand the wiles (or the cunning plans) to overcome you”.
How many know that there are cunning plans in place to overcome you? A lot of people don't even recognise, that you're here by divine design, and purpose. He has an assignment for you to accomplish. It doesn't matter where you come from; whatever your background, God has an assignment for you. You also have an adversary, who plans: how can I defeat that person, and stop him from operating in a supernatural life, and hinder him in fulfilling his assignment? It doesn't matter what level of spiritual maturity you have, or your walk - we all have adversaries.
Every promotion of God brings another level of it, and a different engagement that you must face; but here is the interesting thing: with every engagement, beyond that engagement is a prize to be won. That's the thing; so, we should never be worried that there's a spiritual warfare, or a conflict, because it tells us that beyond that, there's something worthwhile for us to take hold of.
Before David slew Goliath, he said: what's in it for me? They said: you get to marry the king's daughter, and your whole family will be free of taxes. He said: that sounds good to me - I'll take him on! After he took on the giant, he was promoted. Every battle of David led to promotion, promotion, promotion. You don't have great victories without great battles.
You don't become an overcomer without a challenge to face, so it tells to:
Ephesians 6:10-12 - “Be strong in the Lord, and the power of His might… Put on the whole armour of God… for we wrestle not against flesh and blood”.
It's an important statement there - we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against invisible spirit beings, that are highly structured, and organised to replicate what God created in the angelic realm. God created an angelic realm, with angels of different levels and layers of authority, empowerment and assignment. The devil just looked at it, and copied it; so we have various layers and levels of demonic structure, and they all have their own assignment, and levels of authority that they work under.
It says: “we wrestle not against flesh and blood”. In other words, our conflict is not really with people; it's the invisible powers, that have access to their life, to manipulate them to do their will.
2 Timothy 2:26 – “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will”