This month's Series is on The Gospel According to Matthew. In January, we covered the first seven chapters of Matthew.
Before we continue with chapter 8, we are spending last week and this week covering background information. Last week we covered applications of Jesus Premiere Teaching and the Unaware Brain. This week are covering Spiritual Warfare because the next section of chapters that we will cover from Matthew deals with Spiritual Warfare. The previous post was an overview on HOW the Bible says we ought to defend ourselves against the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare. It is called The Whole Armor of God. Here is the conclusion:
Now we see that it makes sense that Truth, Faith, the Word of God, Gospel of Peace, and Prayer would DEFEND against the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare. The enemy's method supplies a Right WHAT with a Wrong (or no) HOW/WHY in hopes that we will accept it. Nothing is forced on us against our will. The Bible's method of DEFENSE against the enemy's method is to protect yourself by intentionally understanding the Right HOW/WHY...which involves Words.
"The Whole Armor of God" post is an excellent resource to understand specifically HOW/WHY each piece of armor is effective. I highly suggest reviewing that post for details. However, here is one implication relative to the post on the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare...
An effect of guarding your heart well is that ONLY God's influence makes it through, which is GRACE...and GRACE results in Righteousness...and ultimately Salvation. Remember, The Whole Armor of God spoke of "the breastplate of Righteousness"! This would "guard your heart"! Apparently, the ancient text written in another language DOES give the answer to how to do Defensive Spiritual Warfare!!!! (Would you prefer me to write the rest of the posts plainly or through "Becky and Marty"?)
We have covered "The Enemy's Method of Spiritual Warfare".
We have covered our response which is "Defensive Spiritual Warfare"
Today, we will look at the technique the Bible tells us to use to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare.
OVERVIEW OF OFFENSIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
What if I told you that not only can we do Defensive Spiritual Warfare, we can also do Offensive Spiritual Warfare?
Would you be more interested if this was real OR fantasy?
Would you be more interested if I told you everyone is able to do this OR that only those who were born with this ability are able to do this?
Actually, EVERYONE is able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare according to the enemy's method!
(Take a moment and reread that last sentence.)
EVERYONE can attempt to hinder God's Will by speaking WORDS and SENTENCES to others in an abstract manner in order to deceive. EVERYONE can state facts (Right WHAT) with NO HOW/WHY. I have seen a lot of people do this in the past three years. Here is an example...
The Deceiver will say to someone: If I was you, I would be careful when I talk to Ted.
Notice, they aren't giving a HOW/WHY...they are letting YOU supply a Wrong (OR NO) HOW/WHY which leads to you accepting the fact.
Let's say that you demonstrate Defensive Spiritual Warfare and resort to Truth...you ask for the HOW/WHY: WHY shouldn't I talk to Ted?
Most Deceivers don't give a HOW/WHY, they ACTUALLY give a SECOND Right WHAT: I'm not saying Ted is bad, I'm just saying that I've seen other people get hurt hanging out with the people Ted is hanging out with.
Their HOW/WHY for the FIRST fact is actually a SECOND Right WHAT...that has NO HOW/WHY attached to it!
Actually, EVERYONE does the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare whether they realize it or not. Few people do Defensive Spiritual Warfare (The Whole Armor of God). When these people do Defensive Spiritual Warfare, they stop doing the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare.
So, what I'm ACTUALLY presenting in in this post is the OTHER method of Spiritual Warfare that you can choose to do...because you are going to CHOOSE to do one of these methods: the enemy's or the following method...
OFFENSIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
1. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done with WORDS and SENTENCES.
This is NOT something that is done PHYSICALLY. This is something that is done as a statement of the will.
2. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is done according to the faith (Understanding and Experience) of the individual.
Both the person stating their will AND the person who is benefiting have to believe it will work.
3. The statement of the will has to be done over things that don't have a will
The weather, inanimate objects, and animals don't have a will. Also, beings that have been judged don't have a will. People have a will. However, if justice is against a person, they can be dealt with in RESPONSE to Justice. Offensive Spiritual Warfare does NOT work on people who are NOT willing AND/OR NOT deserving of losing a value through Justice.
4. Offensive Spiritual Warfare is initiated by the Holy Spirit
People don't initiate Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The goal of Spiritual Warfare is to bring about God's Will...to create, even if it requires equalling out Justice. The ONLY way to make sure Offensive Spiritual Warfare ALWAYS accomplishes its goal is for it to be initiated by God through the Holy Spirit. People who SCHEDULE sessions to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare are actually doing a work of the flesh...
EVERYONE is able to do Offensive Spiritual Warfare. This is not exclusive to a group of people who were born with this ability. This ability requires a statement of the will of the individual through their WORDS and ACTIONS. The enemy's method of Spritual Warfare and this method of Offensive Spiritual Warfare are COMPLETELY different.
Take a moment to let this sink in...before reading some powerful implications.
-The enemy does NOT do a different "flavor" of the Holy Spirit's version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. The enemy does NOT state a will over you.
-The Holy Spirit's version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare is NOT the response to the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare!
-Defensive Spiritual Warfare is the response to the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare.
-Defensive Spiritual Warfare is the response to PEOPLE who DO the enemy's version of Offensive Spiritual Warfare. (In fact, NOT answering the questions in this week's posts AND feeling like you did was YOU performing the enemy's method of Spiritual Warfare on YOURSELF!)
While you are thinking about those implications, here are some questions for you to answer out loud or in writing so your Unaware Brain knows what YOU believe:
1. Do you believe Offensive Spiritual Warfare initiated by the Holy Spirit is real?
2. Do you believe this topic is boring?
3. Are you embarrassed to discuss this topic?
4. Do you think the general public would want to seriously discuss this topic?
5. Do you think individuals in the general public would encourage their friends to talk about Offensive Spiritual Warfare?
Here is a bonus question to answer: Would you be more interested in Offensive Spiritual Warfare if it was real OR fantasy?
Tomorrow, we will look at applying this week's posts to Worldviews...
Next Post
Here are the links for background:
Introduction to Spiritual Warfare
Overview of Spiritual Warfare
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