Defensive Strategies
2 Cor 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Let us wash ourselves off, from every defilement so that all of our actions that affect the flesh and spirit can become matured into God’s standard.
This standard is the absolute separation from all that is common to this world into a devotion to what is sacred and precious to God.
1 Thess 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The God that brings “shalom peace” bring it into your life.
This may He do by separating you totally through, and through, from all common and profane things, and bring you to an absolute devotion to the sacred things of God.
This sanctification is accomplished by your spirit, soul, and body each made complete, whole, and without defect, so that your life might not even have one source of just criticism placed upon it.
May you be guarded and kept in this condition until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Cor 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
To alter the outward appearance without a significant inward change of the heart.
The tense is in the present which means this deceptive transformation is a continuous spiritual tactic of the enemy.
It is closely illustrated to an architectural schematic, and shows us how the enemy can change the schematic of things.
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Giving place”, is the construction of a landing strip, or an airport runway on our very being, for the devil to land upon!
Only our sin and disobedience can do that.
Any time that we are in willful disobedience to the Lord, we automatically open up an airport on our very backs, where the enemy can land and take off at his personal whims and fancy!
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
The Greek word for worketh is defined as giving energy to.
The word for disobedience is being non-compliant.
John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
The prince of the cosmos comes, and it is impossible for him to have even have the tiniest connection with me.”
Absolute binding of the enemy occurs, when each and every part of our lives have come into conformity with the will of the Lord, and the enemy is forbidden a place or space where he can afflict us
There is no absolutely no relationship between the demonic and Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
That they may return to a sober condition and out of the snare of the devil, after having being hunted down, taken captive, and caught alive by him, in order to do “his” will.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Be controlled, free of evil passions, and serious in your life, because your opponent in court, the devil, as a roaring lion, lives to earnestly seek, whom he may drink down, swallow, consume, and destroy.
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
He travels continually throughout differing arid places “seeking a cessation of his now unpleasant circumstances”, and in no way finds it (showing the necessity the demons have to possess a living being).
44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
I will return into my house whence I came out, and having come, finds it vacant and occupied, and in a perfected state of being swept, and cosmetically adorned.
Offensive Strategies
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the rhema word of God:
The sword of the Spirit is the rhema word of God. As we have discussed before, the rhema word of God is the living and active personal word given to us by the voice of the Holy Spirit to assist us in a specific situation.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
We are encouraged here to take the whole armor of God and having done all to stand, to stand therefore.
“Having done all” is the word “katergazomai.’ Having done all, to stand,” is wonderfully depicted by the cartoons of the coyote and the roadrunner. In one of their many scuffles, as a ball of dull is kicked up, both of these guys always got lost in their dusty fights. When the dust finally settles, the roadrunner usually remained standing. This is exactly what it means to “having done all, to stand.”! We must fight by the Spirit without compromise, or without discouragement, until we remain standing victoriously; as Satan, sin and the world lay scattered at our feet in full visibility, once our ball of dust finally settles!
The command is to carry out all things to a complete victory!
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Here Paul commands us to work out, carry out, and accomplish absolutely everything to completion that pertains to our salvation, and that with utmost serious cautiousness.
We must hear and find out what the Holy Spirit tells us to do, but the activity must be ours, and it must be constant and in perfect agreement with the voice of the Spirit through the rhema
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
The Greek interpretation; we have overcome Satan by means of the blood of the lamb and by means of the word of our martyrdom.
The word for testimony in our New Testament is repeatedly found to be our English word, “martyrdom.”
1 Cor 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
2Cor 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2 Cor 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ
In the above three verses, we see that the word sincerity contains within its root the word for “sun” in the Greek.
Only a life of purity before the Lord will make us into a clear windowpane by which the rays of the sun or “The Son” can shine through.
An impure life will make us into a dirty piece of glass through which the image of the Lord can hardly be seen.
If the enemy cannot see the sunlight of the Son of God, he shall not leave us alone until the day and the time that he does, and if he does. Remember our enemy, the devil, is the greatest legal lawyer that this universe will ever see, apart from God Himself. He will claw and cleave for every inch of us that has not pass by death into resurrection.
Secondly, part of our responsibility for generating purity before God, is found in our consciences. Our conscience contains one of the most powerful manifestations of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is to either defend or reprove each, and every action of our lives.
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
In actuality the word “follow” is defined as a union in traveling the same road. It is a oneness with the pattern of Jesus’ life, His ministry, and even of His death, if necessary.
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
You cannot be a slave to two lords… You will hate one, and love the other one unconditionally…you will embrace one; and think little of the other…Ye cannot be a slave to God and to material acquisitions.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
He that comes upon, hits upon, and holds on to his own selfish life for his selfish gain, shall bring himself to ruin, destruction, uselessness and misery through his corrupted self. He that ruins, destroys, and wastes away his sinful existence for the sake of the Lord shall discover, recognize, acquire and procure real life from the Lord for himself.
Matt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
To have real weight or clout with Jesus. The word for love in this scripture is affection for Jesus above that of anything else. Having a greater affection for anything in this life makes a believer unfit and unprepared to follow Jesus. He is unable to adequately respond to the life and the call of Jesus. There will be a lack of balance between the believer and Jesus himself. He will not deserve Jesus.
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Of no account do I make my life or hold my life in honor, so that I may complete my course on the horse track on which I am racing upon with joy, and the ministry that I received from the Lord to testify fully and thoroughly of the glad tidings of the grace of God.
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Therefore I neglect and no longer care for what is behind me. I stretch myself out and towards, and run swiftly after what is before me. The direction being, the mark of the goal of the high price of unbroken fellowship of Christ’s resurrection life, and the hope of His calling for me.
2Cor 5:13 For whether we be beside ourselves (out of our minds, or wits, or exhibit insanity) it is to God: or whether we be sober,(sound mind) it is for your cause.
In our burning obedience to our Lord, Jesus requires us to take steps of faith that portray us as incoherent and insane to the world, and even to the dormant church at large.
Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after (I persecute after), if that I may apprehend ( seize and make it my own) that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
“I persecute, pursue, and overtake everything for which Christ has called me. I do this in hope of being able to seize, and grasp all that Christ has grasped and possessed me for.”
Jose and Mary Alvarez 