Week #4 part 2

WOW! I will try to continue with Dean Sherman on spiritual warfare. It has surely been a week full of information and some actual application of what was learned.
We left off discussing being in the spirit to fight a spiritual war.
The next section is on Balance. We get out of balance because we are human. God allows this so we will become dependant on Him. Some ways we become embalanced are. 1. Putting too much emphasis on Demons. ie. There is a demon in every closet. 2.Under emphasis on Demons. Not recognizing when there is a Demonic reason for someones actions.
Getting out of balance can cause us to get ou
t of the sunshine of victory. 3. Spiritual Pride, eletism or exclusiveness. 4. Fear. The Bible refers to "Fear Not" 360 times 5. Wrong focus, the right focus is to win the lost and to meet the need of Christians brothers and sisters.
It is important to "be aware of what the Devil is doing but never impressed".
Dean had a discussion on building walls and repairing gates that had become broken down.
One of the first things done in old testament times when rebuilding was to repair the walls and gates to prevent attack while in the rebuilding process.
Although we do not usually have physical walls around us anymore we do have walls of protection and gates to enter and leave through.
Gates are entry and exit points. They open and close at the desire of humans.
In Old testament days gates were where many important decisions were made. God functions toward gates. Gates are so important that Satan tries to influence them on a regular basis.
He tempte he decieves he destroys and kills.
We the church have influence on gates. We pray, God answers and we have power to bind and cut off the devil.
Shut Gates are an example of defensive warfare. Open gates on the other hand indicate offensive warfare. Defensive warfare would include prayer and fending off attacks by the enemy. Offensive warfare would include the Great Commission, preaching the Gospel and discipleing nations.
The thoughts of ones mind are an example of a Gate that should be kept closed. Our minds are responsible for much deciept by the evil one. Pride, Strife,contention fear are thoughts that can controll a person to the level of loosing victory.
Our attitudes and negative emotions are another gate that should be carefully guarded. We tend to watch sins of action but sins of emotion not so much. What come from the heart is what defiles a man.
The tongue and mouth are also gates that can cause us much trouble. Out of the same moth can come the Human spirit, the Holy Spirit, and Evil Spirits.
Relationships are another important Gate. We should be loving and forgiving just as our Father is. We should love one another with the same love we give ourselves.
We are just like a four door car and we have control over the doors. We decide wether or not they are open or shut ,locked or un-locked.
One of the best offensive warfare gates is our prayer life and it should be open all the time. The problem we face is in prayer we pray too much in a general mode. Specific prayer gets specific answers.
The more specific we pray the more faith we are exercising.
The following are some of the areas of our lives we need to build up the walls and repair the gates in. Marriage,family,school, church,cities,the nation,businesses, and professional organizations. Thes are not by any means all the places we need work on but some examples of places the devil is working hard to influence.
The Old Testament is the best spiritual warfare manual ever written. The principals of spiritual warefare have not changed at all.
Ungodly leaders in whatever area of life,neglect and rebellion against authority are ways we are loosing the battle in the spiritual realms.
Romans 13 says all authority is ordained by God. Therefore we should submitt to authority as long as it is not against our spiritual beliefs. We should perfor our works as if working for God.
1 Tim 2:1-3 says we should pray first for everyone then for Kings and authorities.
The battle we ae fighting is not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers.
The Devil has deployed his forces Geographically and according to people groups.
This is the reason there may be lots of Christians in one country and in an adjoining country none. Spirits are territorial they are not omni present.
So how are we doing at the great commission? 15 years ago there were 8 known countries with no Christians in them. Today there are no (0) countries with no Christians in them. This does not mean that we are making really great strides although we are doing well. It is a fact that there are many places yet to be reached with the Gospel.
The only reason these places exist is that we as Christians do not pray specifically enough to make inroads there.
We need to focus on the Devil's strongholds. To do this we mus assess the ststistics of a city or area. Check the living conditions of the people groups there. Study a history of the people.
Ask God to show us the problems.
When we find out don't just sit around and discuss the problems, avoid being influenced by them pray specifically for the situation( intersessory prayer) and most mportant live the opposite of the problem.
Religions and Philosophies are the two major forces of darkness. The best way to break them down is through specific answered prayer.
Pray specifically against darkness, preach the gospel. We can not get darkness out of the Earth unless we put light in.
We must be serious about missions and outreach.
That is about all I have time for on this post. I will attempt to finish this up next time.
I hope you are enjoying this blog as much as I am the original teachings.
Bob