Breathingbook

Greetings! It’s been a while since my last post about demons being fallen angels. Sorry for the delay!

You may ask, what is Spiritual Warfare? Paul writes about principalities, powers and rulers of darkness in high places in Eph 6:11,12

Eph 6:11-12 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 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.

If you are a believer, chances are pretty good you’ve encountered spiritual warfare. One of the most common forms of Spiritual Warfare is the attack upon our thoughts to mislead and draw us away from the truth of God’s Word.

The Apostle Paul wrote,

2 Cor 10:4,5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

the weapons of our warfare are not carnal The Gk word for weapons here is hoplon and means the instrument or utensil we use to fight with. The Gk word for warfare is strateia and refers to military service; implying one must be constantly on the alert as a good soldier of the military would be. The Gk word for carnal is sarkikos and means pertaining to the flesh. Thus, the instruments we use to fight our strategic warfare in the spiritual realm are not the same as those used in the physical realm (the flesh).

but mighty through God The Gk word for mighty is dunatos and means powerful or the ability to be powerful. Thus, we are able to be powerful through God. We are not powerful because of anything we might or can do, but only through the grace of God and God alone who delivers us.

to the pulling down of strong holds The Gk word for pulling down is kathairesis, which means demolition or destruction. The Gk word for strongholds is ochuroma which means castle and implies the arguments which take place within the human mind. So the pulling down of stronghold is the destruction of the arguments in the mind which contradict and call into question the validity of God’s Word (God’s love, protection, faithfulness, etc…). Whatever the devil does to make you doubt God’s Word or forget it, is a stronghold (castle, strategy or argument) intended to destroy you.

2 Cor 10:4,5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

casting down imaginations The Gk word for imaginations is logismos which is ones computation or reasoning of the mind. To cast down the imaginations is to tear down anything going through the mind contrary to God’s Word.

every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God In Eph 6:12 (see above), Paul writes about spiritual wickedness existing in “high places.” Every high thing is speaking about the spiritual wickedness that exalts (or tries to raise) itself up against the knowledge of God.

The knowledge of God is His Word and what His Word tells us.

bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ This speaks of monitoring the thoughts that go through ones mind to the degree that when a foreign thought comes through, it is captured and corrected. This means that when something passes through the mind which is not in accordance with God’s Word, we capture that word (or saying), reject it and speak God’s truth to ourselves.

To paraphrase,

the weapons we use in spiritual warfare are not physically seen (nor could someone from the world understand them), but they are mighty unto us because of the power God. We tear down and destroy any arguments contrary to the Word of God present in our minds, because they come from spiritual wickedness in high places trying to exalt their reasoning against the true knowledge of God’s Word.

Jesus did this very thing when He was tempted of the devil in the wilderness. In every temptation, the devil tries to pervert God’s Word to deceive Jesus. The devil names an individual scripture and tries to take it out of context to deceive Jesus. Since Jesus IS the Word of God, He knows scripture!

Jesus knows the Father doesn’t contradict Himself, so Jesus speaks the truth about God’s Word to the devil and the devil leaves.

Mat 4:3-11 And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.

The devil deceives many people by taking scripture out of context, but know this: scripture represents the character and truth about God.

Do your very best to keep scripture in context – who is saying what, what was the social context of the time, what else has been said about the same topic elsewhere in scripture, look at the Bible as a whole, and so on.

And the Lord will teach you all things. Hold fast to Him and Him alone.