PREPARING FOR BATTLE – PART 1

My greatest fear in approaching this subject is that we will not take it seriously enough, that we will read, speak, hear about this, look at a few Bible verses, say: [Hmmm… that is interesting] and then go on with our lives as if nothing has changed. I know that I cannot make you take this seriously, but my hope and prayer is that everyone will realize that this subject is one of the most important of all when it comes to living out our believer’s faith. 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 6:12. The devil has in battle array his minions arranged by ranks as we see here: [evil rulers], [principalities], [mighty powers of darkness,] and [wicked spirits] are all part of a demonic hierarchy that have been set up to attempt to defeat us. These are not human beings but fallen spiritual creatures that seek to do us harm. It says that we are fighting against them; this speaks of a hand-to-hand encounter with the spiritual forces of wickedness. This is our warfare and it is in progress now. We are not talking here about make believe, dreams, visions or some type of believer’s riddle, we are talking about a very real battle, with very real beings, that seek to harm us and lead us away from Moshiach. There is a demonic world around us and it is manifesting itself at the present hour. People are being ensnared and led into all kinds of demonism. There are spiritual forces working in the world, evil forces working against the church. They are working against the believer, against YHVH, against Moshiach. Do not try to make light of these things. It is happening all around us and we alone are no match for it.

Preliminary Facts:

1 -- Satan Was Defeated at the Cross: …and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. -- Colossians 2:15.

2 -- Sin’s Penalty Was Paid for all People for all Time: For Moshiach also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to YHVH, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit -- 1 Peter 3:18.

3 -- Sin’s Power Was Broken: For the Law of HaRuach of life in Moshiach Yeshua hath made me free from the Law of sin and death. -- Romans 8:2.

4 -- Satan and His Hosts Engage in Guerrilla Warfare: to discourage, deceive, divide, and destroy YHVH’s people and YHVH’s program.

5 -- Moshiach Followers Are Instructed: to stand firm against satanic attacks.

With all those preliminaries in mind we need to answer this question:

How Do We Prepare For Satanic Attacks?

There are going to be times, when you realize that you are under attack, it might come in the area of temptation, doubt or in your marriage, but it may happen; what can you do about it? Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of YHVH that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. -- Ephesians 6:13-15. One of the great things that we learn here is that YHVH has supplied us with all the equipment we need, it is not something that we have to manufacture or come up with on our own, it has already been provided for us.

1 – Resist The Enemy!

YHVH does not tell us to go on the attack here; we are not going out to look for a fight, we are simply preparing ourselves for the attack. Picture yourself as a soldier standing on the border of the camp where the rest of your army has set up their tents to sleep for the night. Your work is to stand watch and engage the enemy if they happen to try to break through the ranks. You are not going to leave your post to go look for the enemy, you are simply there to resist when they come to do battle with you. Our job as Moshiach followers in spiritual warfare is to stand guard, to be ready and able to fight when the attack comes to us, not to go out and look for it. We are to resist the enemy with the weapons YHVH has provided for us. Look at it this way: we are standing at the border that surrounds our hearts and our minds. One day a temptation comes to us that threatens to attack us by passing by the border we have set and entering into our camp. If we are unprepared for battle, the temptation will walk right past us and we will immediately surrender to it. But if we are prepared to resist that temptation, we will do battle and we will win. Let me give you a practical example; let us say that you are attracted to someone sexually that you are not married to. The opportunity comes for you to have sex with that person, the way you have prepared or not prepared yourself prior to that opportunity will determine whether you will win the spiritual battle or not. It is of vital importance that we are equipped prior to the temptation, because if we are not, we will most likely fail. This is true for every spiritual attack that we go through. I can resist with YHVH’s help, but I must seek that help before the attack begins.

2 – Stand Our Ground:

When the battle is over and the dust has settled, only one army is left standing on the field. The other army lies dead on the ground or has fled in retreat. Submit yourselves therefore to YHVH. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. -- James 4:7. When we resist and stand our ground, Satan has no choice but to retreat. He cannot stand up to a child of YHVH who has equipped themselves with the weapons of warfare that YHVH had provided for us. He attacks, we resist, and he flees. He returns, he attacks, we resist, and he flees again. He will return again, and he will attack, and we will continue to resist, and he will flee again; this pattern will repeat itself over and over and over again. The battle will never end, but as long as we stand our ground in the power that YHVH has granted to us we will win the battle every single time.