Spiritual Warfare: Biblical Principles for Victory

Ephesians 2:1-3-"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

In this passage of scripture, we see three dimensions of spiritual warfare. We are going to look at some key principles we can use to overcome our three enemies which we war against daily.

1.)World- Faith-John 5:4 says, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

2.)Flesh-  Flee- 2 Timothy 2:22-"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

3.)Devil-  Fight- James 4:7- James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Some people blame the devil for every single sin they commit. Often times, it is our own Flesh and not Satan that causes us to sin. The bible says in Galatians 5:17- "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do."

Feed the Spiritual nature: Starve the Carnal Nature

Every Born again child of God has two natures, and both of these natures within us  is struggling to dominate us. If we feed our spiritual nature with the Word of God and yield to the person of the Holy Spirit, then he will empower and rule us .If we feed our flesh (old sinful nature), then the flesh will rule us. In other words, the spiritual nature will starve if we feed on the things of the World such as the lusts of eyes, lusts of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life( see 1 John 2:16). On the other hand, if you are consistently feeding on the Scriptures, then your fleshly nature would starve and grow very weak.