Spiritual Warfare (How To Fight Back)

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we're going to talk about spiritual warfare.

And just before we do, I'm going to just say a prayer.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for your love and your mercies. I thank you for your grace.

I pray, God, that you will open the eyes of your people and to people who are,

not understanding how the spiritual realm works and that you will give them

the grace and the strength to live in victory.

I pray that you'll give me divine utterance and unction that people will be

edified. In Jesus' name, amen. Praise God.

So spiritual warfare is one of the most important things a Christian has to learn from the get-go.

From the get-go, as soon as you decide to follow Jesus, you are going to be attacked by the devil.

He only has one agenda. The Bible says, the thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

So it's warfare from the get-go. So I'm going to teach you how spiritual warfare

works and the simplicity of it.

It's not no deep, deep thing, although there is deeper levels of spiritual warfare.

But right off the bat, we're going to deal with the basics. So praise God.

We're going to go to 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3 to 6.

2 Corinthians 10:3–6

And it reads, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the

pulling down of strongholds.

Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the

knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

So where does spiritual warfare start with? It starts with your mind.

We serve God with our mind, according to Romans 7, verse 25.

Romans 7:25

So if we serve God with our mind, The Bible says, as a man thinketh, so is he.

So, that's Proverbs 23, verse 7. So, as a man thinketh, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7

We just read that, look at verse 5 in 2 Corinthians. It says,

casting down what? Imaginations?

Every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing

into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

So people today, especially Christians, which shouldn't be suffering,

no Christian should be suffering with depression.

No Christian should be struggling with anxiety or fear or doubt.

These things are direct attacks from the devil So when you get evil thoughts

You need to learn how to deal with them They're attacks Demons jump on you Demons,

they put thoughts They inject thoughts into you They can't control you They

can only inject a thought And that is, what do you do with that thought?

So even if you get a thought of lust Whatever the thought comes We have the

ability to control it That's why we just read The weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal.

They're mighty to God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down what

the imaginations, the foolish thoughts that come into the mind.

We need to cast them down because they don't line up with the word of God. That's what it says.

The thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So fear is not of

God. The Bible says, God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

So these are direct attacks. So how do we deal with them?

So once you receive a thought, and once you know that it's a negative thought,

that thought's from the devil.

So you don't have to keep thinking about it. You see, that's why the Bible says

we're supposed to meditate upon his law. How often? Night and day.

So I'm going to read a scripture for you, actually, to teach you.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 8.

Philippians 4:8

Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Verse 8, it says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things

are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good rapport,

if there be any virtue and if there be any praise.

Think on these things.

Why is God saying this? Because he understands we serve him with our mind.

And if our mind is not stayed upon God, then you're going to fall into temptation.

You're going to fall into sin. You're going to fall into anxiety.

You're going to fall into depression.

So we need to realize, okay, so when I get thoughts of, oh, I'm nothing.

Oh, I'm nobody. Oh, I'm never going to make it. Or doubt, fear,

any of those things are from the devil.

So when, as soon as you receive it, the Bible says we should not be ignorant of the enemy's devices.

So as soon as you receive a thought like that, you should recognize that as

an attack. That's not just a thought.

It's an attack on your mind because we serve God with our mind.

So if we don't look at it as an attack, guess what? We won't treat it like one.

And if we don't treat it like one, then how can you overcome it?

You have to get rid of it. You have to rebuke it. You have to do something to address the attack.

So this is what you can do. The Bible says, as a man thinketh, so is he.

So, once you receive an evil thought, there's several things we can do.

One, the best thing to do is...

If you can immediately replace that thought, if it's a thought of negativity

like you're nobody or you're nothing or nobody loves you, those are all lies from the pit of hell.

So as soon as you receive something like that, you need to just rebuke it.

You say, in the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke these wicked,

evil thoughts. And then you speak life.

That's the key. The Bible says there's power in the tongue, the power of life and death.

So brethren, we have to know how to speak life into our life and for others.

But this is spiritual warfare that we have to deal with on a daily basis.

Every day I get attacks. Every day I've dealt with demons because they're always

trying to attack me, trying to doubt what he said to me, doubt what I'm called

to be, doubt many things.

So we have to understand that those are attacks and if they're attacks then

we're going to get beat up if we don't fight back.

We have to fight back and that's why people struggle with anxiety.

That's why people struggle with depression and lust and different spirits.

Why? Because you're not fighting.

Listen, Jesus already died and gave us the victory. We're supposed to go from

victory to victory, from faith to faith. There's no losing in God.

So we have to, but we have to apply. So there's a way to deal with these things.

So one, you replace the thought with something that's positive.

So if you don't, you know, if he says you're nothing to say, no, I'm a child of God.

I've been called by his grace. I've been baptized in his name.

I've been filled with this spirit. Speak life to your situation.

That's spiritual warfare because the devil wants you to, you know,

he wants you to basically commit suicide. He wants you to.

Get to a place of darkness so that you want to self-destruct.

So we got to combat that. So you can use the word of God. It says that we are

more than conquerors to Christ Jesus.

We are, all things are possible through Christ Jesus. So there's many scriptures.

Romans 8.28 says, all things work together for good to them that love God,

to them who are the called according to his purpose.

So these are scriptures of faith because we can't serve God in doubt. We have to have faith.

It's impossible to please God without faith. So by faith, we speak life.

So when you get these evil thoughts, you have to counteract them.

It's like the devil's fighting you. He's throwing a jab at you.

You have to throw one back. Otherwise, you're just going to get beat up in a

corner. And then this is why people will notice every time when the devil really

attacks you, what happens?

You isolate yourself every time.

You don't talk to nobody You end up in your room You end up in some dark space Why?

Because the devil is attacking you And you're not doing anything about it,

So this is why you have to understand when you get negative thoughts,

you have to deal with them. If you don't deal with them, they're going to eat you up.

So do what the scripture says. I'm going to read it again for you.

Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. This is a commandment. This is what we need to do, brethren.

Philippians 4:8

It says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true. So not lies, true.

The things of Jesus. Whatsoever things are honest.

Whatsoever things are just. The things of integrity. The things of God.

Whatsoever things that are pure and that are holy.

Whatsoever things are lovely. Whatsoever things of good report.

If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

So the Bible says that he gives perfect peace to the mind that is stayed upon

him. So we have to be stayed.

If we don't apply that to our lives, how do we expect to live in victory?

So praise God. The other thing we can do is we can, you know,

if it's really attacking you, you can start reading your Bible.

Because what you have to do is you have to take your mind off of the evil.

Take your mind off of the negativity.

So if you start reading your Bible, you can start praying.

Or you can start worshiping God. If you know how to just worship God because

of who He is. You know how to worship God because of the salvation that He's given unto you.

You can do that every time the enemy does it He can't stay So,

you can't be depressed while you're worshiping God It doesn't work So

if you know how to worship These are all things that you can do And then another

thing you can do If you're still struggling Then you call someone Notice every

time, like I said The devil isolates us And then we don't want to talk to nobody

We don't call nobody But brethren, this is our helpline

This is what, you know That's why.

The body of Christ Is not meant to be a one-man show It's not to mean to be,

you know, you can't be an island by yourself.

We were meant to be joined together.

We're meant to be working together in unity. We are one body. So we help one another.

So this is why we can't be all whatever. We have to have someone that we can

call and that we can pray with.

And I know because every time I've done any of the things that I'm telling you, it works.

I know it works. I've experienced it. I live it. So I just want to encourage

you, if you're going through anything, learn to trust in God.

Learn to go in His Word. Learn to cast out negative thoughts.

Learn to call upon a friend.

This is your soul at stake. This is your salvation at stake.

Don't believe the devil's lies. They're lies. That's what they are.

And that's what he wants you to believe. He wants to believe that you can't

make it. He wants to believe that you're nobody. He wants to believe that you can't overcome sin.

He wants you to believe they're all lies.

So you only fall into the trap if you believe them. That's what happened to

Eve. She chose to believe the devil over God.

So don't fall. You don't need to fall. You need to prepare your mind,

prepare your heart. When you receive

these evil things, you need to combat them. It's time to fight back.

So God bless you. I hope this helps you. And if you have any questions or comments,

put them in the comments and I will address them.

As there's much more to this, but this is just an introduction that you need

to combat the evil, the negative thoughts that come into your mind because you

should never suffer with depression and anxiety. God bless you.