SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
Quotes from Rick Renner’s book: Dressed to Kill!
If we don’t have a biblical view of the devil—of our Christ-imparted authority over him and our divinely empowered weaponry to be used against him—we are left wide open to all kinds of wrong thinking, vain imaginations , fears and unfounded methods of opposing the enemy.
For instance some years ago, some so-called leading spiritual warfare specialists taught that since demon spirits lived in “high places” in the Old Testament and Satan is called the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), believers must find a way to get as high as possible in order to do serious damage to the devil. Some of these “specialists” in spiritual warfare even suggested that the fortieth, fiftieth, or sixtieth floors of tall skyscrapers were the best places to hold prayer meetings and wage spiritual warfare.
Should victory still elude a person after he had ascended to these particular “high places” to battle the enemy, these dame “specialist” often offered an additional suggestion: Perhaps that person needed to rent a plane or a helicopter to go up even higher—right up to the actual “high places” where demons dwell—so he could wage spiritual warfare even more effectively.
When I first hear this teaching years ago, I was dumbfounded by its stupidity. I wanted to ask these so-called specialists how the Lord Jesus Christ ever took authority over evil forces. After all, He has no 60-floor buildings in which to hold His meetings, and no planes or helicopters were available to Him so He could get up high enough to do the devil damage. Yet somehow, in some miraculous way, Jesus was still able to fully carry out His earthly ministry according to the will of the Father!
Ignorance of the Word of God always leaves the Body of Christ in a vulnerable position.
No evil force has ever prevailed over the power of God or the people of God, and none ever will!
BIBLICAL WARFARE
It is significant to note that of the five times the words “war” and “warfare” (taken from the Greek word stratos) are used in the New Testament, they are never once used in connection with the devil. For instance, both words are used in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 to denote mental bondages that must be “pulled down.”
In context, these verses are referring to a person making an immoveable decision to take charge of his mind and take the thoughts of his mind captive!
The word “war” is used in 1 Timothy 1:18 in connection with a prophetic utterance that was spoken over Timothy. Paul commanded Timothy to remember the prophecies that had been spoken over him so that by those prophecies, he might “war a good warfare.”
Once again the words “war” and “warfare” have nothing to do with the devil.
In 2 Timothy 2:4 Paul uses the word “warreth.” The word “warreth” has nothing to do with the devil either! Rather, Paul is exhorting Timothy to stay committed to the call of God on his life, regardless of the cost.
Then in James 4:1 the word “war” is used again—this time to describe the flesh, not the devil. According to James “spiritual warfare” is primarily concerned with fighting fleshly lusts that come to destroy spiritual growth and development.
Peter uses the word “war” in the same way o vividly describe “…... fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 1:21).
In light of this, it is abundantly clear the the New Testament usage of the words “war” and “warfare” primarily has to do with conquering the flesh and taking charge of our minds. Yes, the devil may attack the mind, and he may attempt to energize the flesh to work against us. However, if we will keep our flesh and our minds under the control of the Holy Spirit, most of the spiritual warfare we encounter in life will have already been settled!
