Week 5 – Spiritual Warfare Devotional by Pastor Mark Cowart
Let’s focus now on some of the weapons of our warfare. These include keeping a heart clear of offense and unforgiveness, as well as maintaining a thankful attitude. These work to combat the forces coming against us, because they keep closed the doors to demonic occupation. This is actually basic training for believers. You must be informed and attentive to anything that potentially opens the door to the adversary.
“Spiritual combat’ is [an] element of life which needs to be taught anew and proposed once more to all Christians today. It is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which (we) engage every day…” Pope John Paul II
It is what goes on inside of you that really makes your spiritual warfare effective (or not). You’ve been given incredible weaponry to fight this internal battle to take and hold the ground within your own heart.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. II Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:14-17
Then, we need to remember to be thankful. This too is a weapon. We take it up when we decide to walk in thanksgiving. This attitude of gratefulness frustrates the enemy and protects the believer. It pushes back the darkness, because it is walking in light, walking in obedience.
In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV
We live in a fallen world. The god of this world rules on the planet, except in the lives of believers who are born again, Spirit filled and walking in the Spirit. This is where he has no jurisdiction. So, what is the opposite of thanksgiving that the world promotes? Taking unthankfulness a step further, that would be murmuring, complaining, criticism and such.
…nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. I Corinthians 10:10 NKJV
Murmuring and complaining loose the destroyer! Don’t be a party to it. You work against yourself by indulging in ungrateful negativity. The attitude of thankfulness is developed over time by putting to death the flesh. We naturally want more, and especially in Western culture. We are constantly bombarded with messages that we don’t have enough, that we need this and we need that. The greatest sin in America is thanklessness.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Romans 1:20-23 NKJV
Look at this. The lack of thanksgiving caused these people to be plunged into utter darkness and perversion and immorality. And notice it wasn’t that they didn’t know God. They are without excuse.
The quickest cure for thanklessness typically is loss. You know, if you’ve ever had a brush with death, that can be a reset for you. You realize that a lot of what you focus on is not that important. All of a sudden, you are more thankful for the little things in life. For example, we take for granted just feeling well, until we don’t.
Americans should daily be thankful for simply living in this prosperous, orderly nation. Since I have been to third-world countries, I am continually reminded to be grateful for conditions we enjoy every day like traffic control. Likewise, our abundant choices in the grocery store are evidence of our blessedness, in contrast to less successful nations. So much to appreciate. Choosing a thankful attitude, obeying the scriptural command to give thanks in everything, is part of your armor in spiritual warfare. It protects you by displacing complaining which would make you more vulnerable to the enemy and certainly less effective in driving back the darkness.
Lack of a thankful attitude brings a person into a dark place in their life. To get your light shining bright again, practice gratitude. Choose an attitude of gratitude. Remember, the attitude (also called pitch) of an aircraft determines whether it is moving upward or downward. The pilot controls this, and it is critical to getting over obstacles and arriving at the intended destination.
In Christ, we have been given all that we could possibly need to move through spiritual warfare. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, the whole armor of God, the power of the name and the blood of Jesus, and the power of praise and thanksgiving.
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Ephesians 3:8-12 NKJV
The ”unsearchable riches of Christ” and “the manifold wisdom of God” are ours right now. We are in Christ, and He is in us.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
II Corinthians 4:7 KJV
There is treasure inside you. That makes you a treasurer, responsible to inventory and understand, to be able to give an account. I want to encourage you to be diligent in assessing what God has put in you. To strengthen your spirit to guide you to discover the extent of those riches, you must read, study and meditate the Word of God. Then you will begin to comprehend this great deposit of grace in your life, and you will rise up in a new level of your walk with the Lord.
Back to the analogy of a plane flying either upward or downward, depending on attitude. The choice is yours. As believers, we have absolutely no excuse for how we respond to the “lemons” we are dealt in this life. You have to look in your heart and make sure it is clear of wrong attitudes, lining up with the Word of God. No one else can do this for you, and it is critical to your effectively engaging in spiritual warfare.
Father, in the name of Jesus I ask for your anointing, your yoke-destroying power to correct my attitude as needed. I choose to be thankful in all circumstances, for you are with me. Thank you for the grace to do that today. Amen.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS, SIGN UP FOR MY
