Spiritual Warfare 101

If you gave your life to Jesus, you stepped into war. Whether you know it or not, the moment you said yes to Jesus, you declared war on hell and hell declared war on you. I always say this, Jesus Christ died on the cross for our forgiveness. His blood was shed so we can be forgiven. He sacrificed himself. He gave himself in, but he resurrected from the dead on the third day and he ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the father and sent the Holy Spirit so we can have resurrection power to overcome the works of Satan. So the minute you were filled with the Holy Spirit, you became an enemy to Satan. You now switched from one side to the other. That's why some of you got hit with anxiety right after baptism. Temptation came even stronger right after deliverance. Old friends called that never hit you up. Weird dreams. Depression tried to creep back in and you're wondering what the heck? I just got saved. It's not random, it's resistance. Ephesians 6, 12 says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age.

That means the battle you're in isn't just natural, it's spiritual. But here's the good news. You don't fight for victory, you fight again from victory. Jesus already defeated the devil. The Bible says he disarmed every principality and power on the cross. When he said it's finished, nailed to the cross, when he died and he gave up the ghost and the spirit of Jesus left his body, every demon screamed because they realized we were trying to kill him and we didn't realize that by killing him was actually what was gonna save the world. They didn't understand who Jesus was. When he came, they knew that he was the Messiah. They knew that he's the son of God. They knew that he was God walking in a body, but they didn't understand what he was doing. This is why the legion of demons, they screamed. When Jesus came to cast them out, he said, they said, it's not our time yet because they thought that Jesus was sending them to the lake of fire to judgment, but he didn't come for judgment. He's coming back for judgment. He came to set the captives free and they didn't know that that's what he was doing. They thought, oh, he's sending us to the lake.

It's not even our time, but I guess he's coming early. And they were like, cast us anywhere. And then they said, cast us into the pigs because they thought that Jesus was gonna send them to the lake and they would have rather went in a pig and lived their life in a pig. But what did Jesus say? That when spirits come out, they go to waterless places, seeking rest, coming back to the home to find it clean and swept and trying to enter back in. But when you're filled with the spirit, these demons can't enter back in, but they can try to tempt you back to your vomit. So when a demon leaves a body, when it's casted out of you, it goes and gets seven more wicked spirits than itself to try to come back into his home. Should we fear this? Zero, because God will never tempt you or allow. How about this? Because he doesn't tempt, the devil does. He'll never allow temptation to come against you. That's too powerful for what you're able to fight. He knows exactly what level you're at in faith and glory in the spirit, exactly what grade you're at in the school of the spirit. So God knows exactly what you can overcome through his spirit, through surrendering to Jesus.

So Jesus, again, already defeated the devil, but now you have to enforce that victory in your life, your mind, your house, and your generation. Let's talk strategy. Again, Ephesians 6, 11 says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That word wiles means schemes, tricks, and setups. He's a liar. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. And he's very, very smart. We cannot overcome Satan in our own might and strength. We have to rely on intimacy with God. This is why prayer, the word, all these things are so important because what you're reading, the prayer life that you're cultivating, all these things are what's gonna help you get through every season. It's like a test. Before you take it, you gotta study. And the Holy Spirit's the tutor. So as you're learning and you're reading and you're growing in intimacy with God, God's allowing the tests. And the devil tempts you. He thinks he's gonna destroy you and bring you back. And so many people actually do go back and get destroyed and end up in the lake of fire

or end up in hell going to the lake of fire. It's unfortunate. But in Christ, God gives us all the opportunities we need. He gives us grace. With sin abounds, grace abounds even more. So even if we fall, he's right there to pick us back up. His blood washes us clean. There's no condemnation. But if the devil can get you out of relationship with God by telling you about your past, reminding you about patterns that your family members had, oh, you're gonna be a drunk, you didn't get delivered. That wasn't real deliverance. The devil likes to do this too. After you receive your deliverance. I knew that you didn't receive deliverance and that is not real. I've seen that happen. I've seen people healed of a disease and two days later getting attacked. Did it come back? Did it come back? It's the devil. If you put your faith in his lies, he wins. He's strategic. He isn't creative, but he's strategic. Again, he knows your past. He knows your old patterns. He knows and watches your weaknesses and he plans to attack based on what he worked before.

So it's your job to surrender these things to God and let the Holy Spirit empower it so it's no longer even an area where the devil can even tempt you anymore. I remember before in the world, I was addicted again to lust, sex, porn, all these things. The devil don't even really come at me with that stuff anymore because I overcame it. In the beginning though, he did. It was hard. But I remember getting through by the grace of God and now it's not something that he really focuses on. It's other things, intricate, detailed things as you grow. God gave you the armor of God for a reason. Let's break it down. The belt of truth. This holds everything together. If you don't know what's true, the enemy will lie and you will believe it. This is why we need to stand on the word, on truth, the scripture. That's how you fight, by reading the breastplate of righteousness. This protects your heart. You are righteous because of Jesus, not your performance. So when the devil tries to lie to you, oh, you're not doing enough for God. You're not righteous. You're not saved, it's lies. Or how about when you do things for God

and it doesn't work out the way you planned, you'll think you're a failure. No, you're not. You're already righteous because of what Jesus Christ did. Righteousness means right standing. And because Jesus never sinned, perfect works, sacrificed himself, his blood washed you clean. Now you're in right standing of God because of your faith in the one who was perfect. So your righteousness doesn't come from your works. It comes from Jesus. You've been given positionally the full righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. A man who knew no sin became sin so we could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Look at this, number three, the shoes of the gospel of peace, armor of God, part three. Look, your walk should carry peace and authority, not division, not paranoia, not rejection, not anger, not lies and lust. It's peace and authority, which is power. Four, the shield of faith. Your faith extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy. Doubt is the dart and faith is the block. So when the devil sends a dart of doubt in a situation, man, I'll never be healed. That's something that we've all dealt with, right? You're sick.

Some of you might be going through an autoimmune disease, cancer, diabetes. You know, it could be anything. Me and my wife have been through all that. I mean, I've been through a lot with my wife and we've seen how the enemy likes to attack with doubt. And let me tell you something, not everything happens instantly, miraculously. Sometimes it's a process. For some of you, it might be your marriage. You're believing that God is gonna clean up your marriage. You have faith that you're not gonna get divorced, but because it hasn't happened yet, it's gonna be a fight of faith and the enemy is gonna shoot doubt. And I just know how the enemy works. He comes at different parts of the day. You can feel it. You can see it. You'll be in peace all day. And then all of a sudden you go to a grocery store or to a park where your children or down the street, and then, boom, an atmosphere hits you. And then you start doubting and you're like, what the heck? That's the opportunity for you to put up the shield of faith to destroy him. No, I have faith. I will be healed in Jesus' name. God's already healed me by stripes and I'm gonna see it manifest in the physical soon.

I'm gonna take care of my body. I'm gonna make sure I drink water. I'm gonna steward what God has given me until that point comes, thank you, Lord Jesus. My marriage, even though it looks crazy, my spouse wants to divorce me. They put the paperwork in. It doesn't matter. I still have faith that you're gonna restore this in the name of Jesus. And through your faith, God moves. He can't move with double-mindedness. The helmet of salvation. Your mind is protected when you remember who you are and what Jesus did. So when you remember what Jesus did, it protects you because it's identity. Jesus died for me. He was buried in rose. Thank you, Lord, that my sins are washed clean. Thank you, Lord, that I'm not righteous because of myself or holy or anything like that because of me, but because of what Jesus did. He made me this way and you're pleased with me, Father. You're pleased with me because of my faith in Christ and because I came to you and I'm now a child of God. I can do no wrong in your eyes because of the blood. Even when I fall, I'm not coming to you because I wanna be saved again. I'm coming to you because I know I'm saved

and I don't want to taint our relationship with sin. So wash it by your blood in the name of Jesus. It's different. This helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. We talked about this. That's the word of God, not just for reading. But it's for striking speak it out loud and use it in warfare I've seen this happen where the enemy's shooting shooting an atmosphere But then and i'm and i'm feeling i'm trying to stand on truth about the truth I'm feeling it, but the atmosphere is so overwhelming and i'm like what's going on and it's the most random times, bro He's so he wants to cause inconvenience and I start saying out loud father. I thank you lord that i'm holy and righteous I'm healed i'm delivered. I thank you lord. I thank you. I start speaking life over a situation life over life over it Life over it and I can feel the atmosphere It leaves it's because I destroyed the lives of the devil with the sword of the spirit This isn't just a costume. It's not optional You need this armor daily You need to also understand your authority luke 10 19 Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all power the enemy That means when you rebuke demons, they gotta go When you resist the devil he has to flee when you pray with faith mountains move But authority only flows through alignment. You can't fight the devil if you're sleeping with them You can't bind spirits and cast them out if you're bound by that sin pattern that you don't want to give up holiness matters submission matters prayer matters This is how we fight speak the word of god out loud worship until the heaviness breaks fast to break stubborn strongholds Pray in the spirit to build yourself up surround yourself with fire filled believers and never Accept as normal what jesus died to defeat i'm gonna say it again last one Never accept as normal what jesus died on that cross to defeat

Some of you were some of you were raised in war zones. I know I was south florida broward county miami area Demonically oppressed I was raised in war zones. I was raised in areas I was raised in an area where it was extremely satanic and demonic so many strongholds had to break in my life so much deliverance Physically and spiritually I went through a lot, but now I fight different. I don't need a gun. I don't need a bottle I don't need a vape. I don't need a knife. I don't need Anything a switch Now i've had the name of jesus and hell knows that name so my brothers and my sisters wake up Gear up stand up strap up because the battle is real but so is your victory that you already received Let's keep going and i'll see you in the next lesson