Spiritual Warfare: Wisdom for the battle

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2 Cor. 10:4-5

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; …and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”
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A few things must be understood and clarified in the mind before we go into the nitty-gritty of this discourse, ‘Spiritual Warfare’ in order to be able to understand the whole essence of the topic.

So many people today are fully absorbed and are drowned in the abyss of spiritual warfare, not because they don’t believe in God but because they lack the approach to such problems unknown to them. Jesus said, ‘If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35).

Many believers today have built a relationship with God but have failed to use Him adequately, and not using Him is the reason why a large majority are tossed to and fro by the scheming and ploys of the devil.

A man who is able to live by God’s instructions will experience warfare but is provided with the strength to surmount them, as it is not the will of God for believers to die in warfare or to live ‘perpetually’ in them but to be strengthened by such problems and surmount eventually.

Spiritual warfare ranges across various degrees and dimensions; some types of warfare are meant to affect one’s finances, some to debar progress, some are meant to spiritually torment, whilst others are sent to distract or shift one’s emphasis away from God.

Apostle Paul said: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; …and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
Soldier's Armour
This assurance of a victorious life is open only to believers, but even if a believer does not tap into it, he will suffer like a sinner and will be trampled on by the devil. ‘In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).

The fall of Adam led to so many bedeviling circumstances that we experience today, but whoever has a place in Him will overcome all bad situations. Adam left his place before God, being the very first mistake he made. The devil, full of vices, is ready to ‘displace’ a believer who does not stand firm in the Lord. When Adam knew that he had transgressed the instructions of God, he shifted his ground.

‘And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself’ (Gen.3: 9-10).

King David of God who had learned from Cain did not hesitate to pray to God after he had sinned in the case of Uriah and Bathsheba. He said, ‘Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me’ (Psalm 51:11).

Your Source Matters

In whatever situation do not run from your source so that you are not stifled. A common statement that is used says: ‘A stream that forgets its source soon runs dry’. That is the case with whoever runs from the presence of the Lord because of fear. Commonly, fear is as a result of sin, but however stormy the situation, do not run from your source.

As much as believers congregate together for worship in churches, it does not imply that they have the same source and intentions. Some have other places and medium as a ‘shortcut’ that they consult when situations arise which they believe are more powerful or rather quicker than the Living God and as such cannot be trusted.

King David said, ‘Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God’ (Ps 20:7). A person that is displaced from his place can never remember his God. Therefore, the first stage in a battle is to know your source. It is your source that will tell you the type of battle you are engaged in and what approach to give to the battle. ‘The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant’ (Ps. 25:14).

Staying where God has placed you is the first assurance of a victorious battle in trial situations. The LORD said to Adam, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen.3:15).

It was the result of this that man lost dominion of what had been given unto him since the beginning. He was given dominion over five kingdoms but lost it after the fall of Adam (Gen.1:26-28). It should also be noted that all powers and principalities belong to either of the five kingdoms and men had been given the authority to subdue, but was then lost at Eden by sin.

A re-awakening of the consciousness of a spiritual man would make him act in consonance with the will of God for him. God has never failed in a battle, so why should we fail? The principle of God as touching battles is to be victorious. King David acted through the mind of God in all of his battles, but the emphasis would be laid on a few of the battles. The promise of God for members of the church is that Jesus is the Champion at battles. (Jesu lajagun segun ode orun).

Identity

Just as we witness physical battles on the surface of the earth, so also do the battles operate in the spiritual. One of the ploys of the devil, when he wages wars against us, is that we might lose our ‘identity’. The devil understands what identity is and uses it against believers. The bare-footed monarch, SBJ Oshoffa was made to understand the importance of identity at the inception of his call. (CCC Constitution, Section 2).

‘Lest satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices’ (2 Cor.2:11).

Instruction

The beauty of being a believer, therefore, is that there is nothing that happens that the LORD will not inform us. He said to Abraham, “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do” (Gen.18:17). If He intends to inform us of all battles, failure is not our portion.

As much as God relates to us as individuals, He does so with us corporately as well. A spiritual message came for the Celestial church in 1970 at Makoko, which was meant for the whole congregation of Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) as regards to an impending epidemic that was to strike the following year. The message was so specific that the Holy Spirit spoke through Prophetess Manuwa that an epidemic called ‘Cholera’ in English and ‘Onigba-Meji’ in Yoruba would strike in Nigeria, but anyone who ‘keys’ into the instructions of God as touching the prophecy would be free of the outbreak.

This is evidence that no matter how grievous a battle could be, an instruction is the key. Even when military personnel goes to war, they live by instructions. Scripturally, all battles won by the Israelites and the Beloved of God are as a result of faithfulness to instructions (Judges 7:1-25).

It is imperative that we are firmly established in God as our source before one could think of being victorious in a battle, and it should also be noted that instruction in time is also a key necessity to a victorious spiritual warfare. Victory in battle is one of the ten supernatural blessings mentioned in one of the books of Moses.

‘The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways’ (Deuteronomy 28:7).

When one considers the extent that the devil goes to destroy the lives of glorious people, one would deem it fit to going the extra mile in conquering him, and that ‘Extra-mile’ is God. Whatever operates in the physical on earth has its root in the spiritual. Hardly is there any success therefore that could be achieved without the influence of the spiritual world.

‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Eph.6:12).

However, it should also be noted that the devil being conscious of this, is distracting so many people because of their unawareness. As previously mentioned, every sphere of spiritual wickedness relates with any of the five kingdoms that Man initially made to have dominion over and since these kingdoms had been in existence before the creation of Man, wisdom is, therefore, the key to winning these spiritual forces. The devil operates with ‘devices’ but God operates with ‘wisdom’.

Author: Evang. Olukorede Ogunmola

Blogger and Contributor for Celestialweekly.com
Celestial Church of Christ
Apata-Iye Circuit Hqtrs., NNPC Pipeline Rd.,
Apata, Ibadan. Oyo State.

Source:Bro. Olukorede Ogunmola
Comments: 1

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  1. This was such a great read! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. All Christians/Celestians need to read & understand the above. If you are rooted in The Source, which is God, He will give you instructions & wisdom to fight the battle rather than you having to run to God after the plan of the enemy has already taken place. Run to God in the first instance.

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