THE SPIRITUAL WAR ZONE:(The Three Battle Grounds)

The sights of exploding bombs, Army tanks, burnt down buildings, and gun shots, grimly remind people that they are in a War Zone. A group of academics and historians compiled this startling information: Since 3600 B.C., the world has known only 292 years of peace! During this period there have been 14,351 wars large and small, in which 3.64 billion people have been killed.

For many of us war is not a new concept. According to this article the world has been literally at war since 3600 B.C but another war has been going on since the creation of the world that is Spiritual warfare. The Argentinean Evangelist Ed Silvoso says, “The Church in the West today presents too easy a target for Satan. We do not believe we are at war. We do not know where the battleground is located, and, in spite of our weapons, they are neither loaded nor aimed at the right target. We are unaware of how vulnerable we are.”

Though we may not visibly see the exact location of where this Spiritual warfare is taking place, the fact is that we are indeed in a Spiritual War Zone. Paul compares Spiritual warfare to a wrestling match in Ephesians 6th chapter. Like wrestling, spiritual warfare is constant and the battle is absolutely constant. When I say the battle is constant, it does not mean that we must struggle to maintain which God has done. We don’t need to struggle to achieve salvation. The grace of God has placed us in that position. We stand, not for our salvation but because of it. Let’s look at the strength of the enemy, his impact in the world and his three battle grounds.

I. THE STRENGTH OF SATAN:
How often do we think about angels fighting? Until the publishing of Frank Peretti’s book, “This Present Darkness” in 1986 many did not consider the Biblical reality of angels and demons. Even now many Christians do not consider it at all. Daniel 10 gives us a peek into the cosmic unseen realm. Daniel fasted and prayed for twenty one days. Many of us would give up after praying for twenty minutes. As a result of his prayer God sent an angel, “Daniel 10:12-13 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel.” Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.” Later the angel says, “But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia.” Vs 20.

In the story of Daniel we see how evil forces can oppose God’s angels. Let’s not under estimate the power of Satan. Jesus often delivered people who were possessed by demons by a simple rebuke. The freeing of the demoniac gives us a glimpse into the power of Satan. Mark 5:1-5 “When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” The strength and the power of this man was unusual no wonder he was controlled by over 2000 demons. With one command Jesus freed the demoniac. Another hilarious incident explains the power of the evil spirit.

We read in Acts 19:14-16 “Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were driving out demons by using Jesus’ name. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” Pretty embarrassing’ right? That shows the power of the evil spirits. Don’t play with evil spirits.
The Bible refers to Satan and his power a lot does it mean it is giving too much prominence and publicity to the devil? I have been sharing for the past three weeks on this subject matter as well. Why do I do that? As I have mentioned earlier, most spiritual warfare is won in our awareness of the work of the enemy.

Let’s be aware of the enemy; but be impressed by our God and His power!

II. HOW IS SATAN AT WORK IN THE WORLD TODAY?
Think of the most grotesque and evil things people do to one another. Think of the 9/11 terrorist attacks where 2,976 innocent people were killed. In 2008 Mumbai attacks, nearly 200 people were killed and 300 were wounded. Think of all the violence, crime, and wars, the killing of innocent babies, broken marriages and families, and other devastations in the world. Does this make you wonder who could be behind all this tragedy? Dean Sherman the author of Spiritual warfare writes, “We recoil in horror from these terrible things that men do to one another. For the most part, we are sheltered from the terror of these realities. But these things have all been spawned by our enemy. Satan is far worse than anything real or imagined.”

Satan seems to be having the control over the world. He is publicly worshipped. Many are being deceived by listening to his lies, and blindly following him. There are Satanic Churches and there even is a Satanic Bible. How does one gets into the grip of Satan? It is through disobedience to God and willing exposure to satanic activities. Satan intends to destroy our minds, bodies, character, reputation and our relationships. The Bible warns us against certain evil practices. In Deut 18:10-12, “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead, For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.”

Why should Christians avoid these abominable practices? Because, when we consult a supernatural source for understanding we open up ourselves to the powers of darkness. God wants us to consult him when we need understanding. He wants us to ask him for wisdom. According to Dean Sherman,“the growth and widespread acceptance of the occult has been increased in the recent decades.” The other day I went to the RITE AIDE store to pick up some medicines while checking out, my eyes fell on a glittering gold color horoscope book titled “Know your future 2010 by reading your Stars” Hm! Here I’ve been fasting and praying to sense God’s direction for me, my family and the Church in 2010, how easy it would be to just flip through something like that?

Unfortunately every morning over coffee, millions flip to the horoscope section of the daily news paper to find out what their day will be like. If you have more money, you can even hire a personal psychic who could predict your future. Undoubtedly these days Satan is targeting Christian homes and families with an intention to destroy them. As parents we have an awesome responsibility to bring up our Children in the ways of God. Parents let’s be careful on what we let our children read, listen, watch and play with. For example, tarot cards, Ouija boards, Dungeons and Dragons games, certain comic books with demonic characters, palm reading, certain computer and video games, music and so on. Like any other sin all these, usually start out as innocent fun and exploration, but what people don’t realize is that they get caught in a web of evil powers that can ruin their lives. What are some of the prime targets of the enemy? Let’s look at the three battle grounds.

III. THE THREE BATTLE GROUNDS:
Coming back to my war analogy in the beginning, in any war strategic areas such as Bridges, Roads, Airfields, Television, Radio Station, and Telecommunication are highly protected from the enemy. There will be intense and heightened security around these targets. Whoever will hold these key places can eventually win the battle. In the same way in spiritual warfare the enemy likes to target three main areas in a believer’s life. 1. The mind 2. The heart. 3. The mouth. If he could get hold of these three areas he can destroy your life.

A. THE MIND: THE FIRST STRATEGIC AREA
Every thought that enters our mind has three possible sources. Firstly, God has created us with a unique ability to think our own thoughts independent of any other source, these are our thoughts. Secondly God can speak into our minds, while praying, reading the scriptures or listening to a sermon or listening to wise council. Thirdly, the forces of darkness also speak to us. Unfortunately, many Christians listen to the enemy, are influenced by him and suffer the consequences. Why is the mind the first strategic target? Because everything begins in our minds. Most spiritual warfare takes place in our minds. The more we listen, and believe the lies of the enemy in our minds the more we behave like. What we think is often what we tend to believe.

There were times I needed to catch myself from thinking negative and critical thoughts of other leaders and ministries. Satan is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10). He takes delight in filling our minds with accusations against our husbands or wives, our leaders, our friends, or people from a particular country or city or against God himself. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”(NASB).

Two mental strongholds are extremely common today among Christians and non Christians a like: thoughts of inferiority and thoughts of condemnation. Inferiority thoughts constantly tell us, “you are not tall enough” “you are not beautiful” “you are not smart enough” “you are not really making it in life” “No body loves you” In my own life I struggled with these thoughts and also ministered to many people who have entertained such thoughts. For some Satan brings thoughts of condemnation saying, “You are not pleasing to God, you are not spiritual enough, you are not reading your Bible enough, not praying enough, you are not close to God. These thoughts make us feel like we could never experience God’s fullness in our lives.

Some Christians live constantly with thoughts of inferiority and condemnation. Through spiritual warfare we must pull down these two strongholds. How can we do that? It is possible by renewing our minds or replacing the lies of the enemy with the truth from the scriptures. The truth of the matter is “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”(Romans 8:1)
B. THE HEART: THE SECOND STRATEGIC BATTLE GROUND:
We are called to watch our hearts with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23). When the Bible refers to “the heart” it may mean many things. In regards to spiritual warfare, I am taking two of the Bible meanings – the attitudes and the emotions. We know the utmost importance of the head and the heart in our body. In a battle if a soldier looses a leg or a hand can still survive but a wound to the head or heart can bring fatal.

We Christians are good at dealing with sins of actions but we seldom pay attention to what goes on in our heart, our attitude and emotions. Great many number of books out there in the market dealing with the subject “Attitude” Jeff Keller wrote a book titled “Attitude is everything: “Change your attitude and Change your life” secular people understand the importance of having the right attitudes. We can do and say the right thing but if our attitude is bad nothing we do or say pleases God. We should be just as responsible when it comes to dealing with wrong attitudes. Putting on the old self and putting on the new self (Eph 4:22-24) means taking daily responsibility to deal with our wrong attitudes.

How about dealing with our emotions like anger, harboring bitterness in our hearts. Ephesians 4:26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give a foot hold to the devil. Why is it important to check our anger quickly, when we remain angry for a long time we will give entry to the devil; If we give him one foot he will come in ten feet into our hearts. Bitterness is another thing that can destroy lives. Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” It is our responsibility to get rid off anger and bitterness, Ephesians 4:31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Please don’t remain angry and bitter and miss out on God’s grace.

C. THE MOUTH: THE THIRD STRATEGIC TARGET
So often we who are supposed to be encouragers of the brethren and proclaimers of truth allow our mouths to become tools of destruction in the hands of the devil. In the name of freedom of speech we talk any and everything that comes to our mind; we justify it saying “this is my opinion.” Even Christians at times let unwholesome talk come out of their mouths without blinking an eye. What does the bible say about our words and our tongue?
Ephesians 4:29-31 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Much can be said on our speech; I will keep that for another time.

How could we have the victory over our mouth? Firstly, by repenting of our loose talk, secondly, by asking God to give his fear over our mouth thirdly, asking God to shut our mouths like David did, Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. So far we have learned that we are in a spiritual warfare, the warfare is consistent, our enemy is indeed strong and powerful, he is causing havoc in the world, he attacks us in our mind, heart and mouth. Let’s guard these three crucial battle grounds of the enemy.