Fresh Expressions must be undergirded by intercession and intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Here is a current facebook post written by Gray Swindell, explaining the nature of prayer, and how we can win the battle against Satan’s schemes. Click here to learn more about the Ananias Project.
The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of Christians. A right view of God and the world to come requires that we have a right view of the world in which we live and of our relationship to it. So much depends upon this that we cannot afford to be careless about it.
A.W.Tozer
The church is in a battle, every day, through the lives of every person who declares allegiance to the kingdom of heaven and to the King. There’s an enemy who hates that kingdom, and he wants to kill us. Here are 3 steps to being victorious.
1. Understanding the Enemy
Our enemy is ancient, ruthless, and diabolical.
We don’t need to fear him, but we should respect his power. That means we handle Satan with wariness. We must remember fellowship with God means war with the world.
We go to war every day and the enemy doesn’t fight fair. He is going to use the same tactics, over and over, until we seek God and stop it. I am at the winning end of my battle, simply because, I have kingdom warriors praying for me, encouraging me, and proclaiming the word of God.
2. Knowing Our Strength
Because of Jesus, each person is a David, a lion-hearted warrior, after God’s own heart. What is our weapon of choice? It’s prayer. Each prayer hits Satan like a hailstorm, resisting his prowl, forcing him to retreat.
Because of Jesus, each person is a David, a lion-hearted warrior.
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We must remember this is a battleground, but in holiness we must walk the line of grace and forgiveness while not yielding to sin and its consequences. Screaming and hollering at people, scaring them to repent is never the way to go. Neither is promising them to get rich simply by taking Jesus words out of context. These are strategies we employ when we forget our true weaponry.
Satan is after our marriages, our children, and our churches. He preys on our worst fears, our guilt and our insecurities. Satan often does this through influencing a culture away from truth. But what happens too often is that we see the problem and immediately lunge into combat with no strategy, no backup, and often, even if we feel like we won, we didn’t.
No matter how passionate we are for the sacred battle, we must always let God lead. That means we don’t fight with a tactic he wouldn’t have used. We fight our battle with kindness, love and respect. We don’t wish bad things on churches we used to go to. We don’t fight over money and we don’t conform to culture in our churches, instead conforming to the Word.
3. Recognizing attack
Remember, Satan’s most effective tool to fight against churches is to stir up conflict and dissent within them.
My greatest downfall back into sin is always comfort. Everything easy at the time. I begin to think it’s about my decisions and I don’t Honor God. Then I begin to make decisions without Him. I listen to the whisper of Satan which says, “God didn’t really say not to eat the fruit did He?”. Then I untangle myself, with God’s help, on decisions He didn’t have anything to do with.
Satan’s most effective tool to fight against churches is to stir up conflict and dissent within.
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Again, this is not a playground. It’s a battle, and we can’t remain pacifists in this war. Our loved ones are at stake. Our families and churches are at stake. Our cities are at stake. All around the world, people are having the kitchen sink thrown at them in a Satanic attempt to thwart God’s work and to cause harm and chaos.
When you recognize what a spiritual attack looks like, and you know what your weapon is to resist it, then power is available to the church again. Watch carefully, because the enemy is tactical and dangerous. But nothing is more powerful than the war we wage through prayer to an invincible God.
Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.
Oswald Chambers
