“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” -Ephesians 6:11,12. Bold type was added.
These verses can be difficult for Christians to embrace, but the Lord wants us to know the nature of WHO we’re really fighting against, and the weapons He gave us for facing them in Ephesians 6:11-18; God doesn’t want us to be unprepared, and in I Corinthians 10:13 even promises that,
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Knowing the real power behind the problems helps us to be more forgiving in conflicts with others, and so does remembering the shortfalls of our own sinful flesh that the enemy has taken advantage of in the past;
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:” -Romans 7:18A.
“...to be ready to every good work, To speak evil of no man…For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” -from Titus 3:1-3.
Yet there is a reality in dealing with these evil spirits which God may allow us to see, according to the strength He gives us. This will manifest many times through the unexplained behavior of either man or beast, and most times comes to hinder our Christian witness or activities. God holds back these fallen angels (Matthew 25:41) but we’re visible to them, and they well know best how to tempt us, or irritate.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” -I Peter 5:8.
We’re no match for the devil’s wiles in ourselves, but knowing & applying God’s Word will help us withstand them; Hebrews 4:12 says His Word discerns even the thoughts and intents of the heart, and by applying it we can withstand the strongest of spiritual storms;
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” -Matthew 7:24,25.
But before looking at some examples, it’s helpful to remember the nature of our enemy, for as a lying deceiver (John 8:44) the devil will never appear as he truly is; for then we would resist him, and he’d have to leave. James 4:7 tells us to;
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception;” and it’s the same with our spiritual adversary, who will pose as something ordinary, or even good, like we see in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15;
“13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
Examples with people involve illogical contradictions, which today are so numerous they seem normal. One time in a drunken outburst a neighbor yelled at me, saying, “I don’t have to live to your standards; I’m a Christian, my dad is a pastor;” even though I’d yet said nothing about Jesus, or his behavior.
Yet it was only 2 months afterward that he raged at me again, saying, “Your God is a lie, your God is a Jewish idol.” The contradiction is obvious, isn’t it? A person won’t go from declaring themselves a Christian to calling God a Jewish idol, will they? These lying devils were exposed by blurting out through his drunkenness.
Animal behavior is another way devils may work, though I’ve only known it mildly; this is a case I recently shared by video on YouTube, word for word;
“Once I faced a very agitated FLY which wouldn’t land so I could swat him, and this was delaying a time of devotions; moved by the Lord, I bound Satan from working on the fly in Jesus’ name, and he immediately landed for me to swat.
Most wouldn’t think this to be anything but FLY behavior, yet scripture says we’re not really wrestling what we can see, but against the unseen forces of spiritual darkness.” This same kind of thing also happened with devils influencing a bee, a chicken, and sometimes dogs; these times mostly coincide with devotions.
Remember that our enemy tries to cover his work by making it look like something ordinary, lest he be exposed as the real culprit. And what we’ve seen is that he’ll also use small children, especially infants who can’t yet talk. If you’re a Christian parent praying for them, this will limit what evil spirits can do.
Explanation: infants will naturally cry to express their needs, and the devil knows this; so at times he may agitate them further (which irritates us!), because most adults will write it off as something natural. When your child seems upset without a clear cause, BIND & REBUKE the devil(s) in Jesus’ name, ordering them to leave him/her alone, and to go where Jesus sends them!
We saw this occasionally at a church we attended, where the infants stayed with the adults in the main service. Every so often a din of noise would arise from these little ones, and my wife & I would then bind the devils from working on them in Jesus’ name, and the din stopped within a few seconds. This binding in Jesus’ name must be done audibly, so we’d whisper to not further disturb the service. Please note that we only prayed against any direct cause by evil spirits, for we wouldn’t want silence if there was a real problem.
Jesus reminded us that we need every Word of God to live successfully for Him (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4), so we dare not diminish any part of it even if it’s uncomfortable, for it’s the key in quenching all of Satan’s fiery darts.
Brethren, we shouldn’t be alarmed by any of these things, but God wants us to know the truth of what we’re up against; Jesus warned that in the world we are bound to have trouble, yet we’ll have PEACE in Him (John 16:33), and nothing the enemy does can separate us from God’s love through Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).
“BLESSED be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:” -Psalm 144:1.
“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” -Luke 10:17.
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” -Romans 8:37.
Here is a link to the short YouTube video that I also did titled Spiritually Defensive.
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