Weapons of Warfare -- DEMON POWER

Weapons of Our Warfare

DEMONIC POWER

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. II Cor. 10:3-4 

The Scriptures describe Jesus tearing down or demolishing the works of satan.  What satan builds Jesus destroys.  He has sent us the sons of God into the world in the same manner He was sent.  It remains one of our purposes in the world to tear down and destroy the things satan and his demons have built and are continuing to build.  The fortresses (or strongholds) that we are empowered to destroy are the works of satan.

If we are to successfully accomplish these God given missions, we need to be able to recognize the fortresses and to understand the demonic power that builds and maintains and restores them.  A fortress is constructed to protect that which is hidden within it.  It can be used to guard and maintain control over a territory.  It also can serve as a safe place of preparation from which to sally forth and conquer additional territory.  Such new territory can then have its own fortress established to guard and maintain control there.   Thus, the common feature of every fortress is that the territory it occupies is controlled by the one who built the fortress.

In Deuteronomy 7 we are shown God's battle plan for conquering the Promised Land.  Many of us however have never considered in our own lives, what is our promised land.  Your promised land is yourself.  It is a promise of God that little by little He will enable us to take control over every area of our self-life.  The gift of self control and the fruit of self control are continually growing in the life of the followers of Jesus.  Thus, the Scripture is correct; we are continually working out our salvation.  But, this self control is not the world's idea of self control based in our will power and our tremendous self discipline and following of religious rituals.  This is the self control that the Spirit of God gives to us as a gift as we allow Him to nurture our souls and mature us to the ability to manage more of our selves.

Sometimes, however, satan succeeds in establishing a fortress within a person's promised land.  Such a fortress can be understood as an area of life in which the person knows the character and will of God and yet he cannot get himself to live according to what he knows.  An obvious example is addictions.  Whether to alcohol, drugs, pornography, sex, cigarettes, or any other thing an addiction exists when the person no longer is completely free to choose to abstain.  But, there are many other areas that are not viewed as addictions:  uncontrolled rage or anger, feelings of rejection or abandonment, and on and on ad nauseum.  If the person is no longer in control then the enemy has established a fortress.

But how does the enemy establish such a fortress ?  What is the power that establishes and maintains it ?  Surprising as it may seem the entire power of the enemy lies in his ability to deceive a person and to get the person to believe something false about himself or God or both.  Remember satan's deception of Eve in the Garden of Eden?  The deception was a two prong attack.  First to convince her that God was keeping her away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil for his own selfish purposes.  That was a lie.  Second to convince her that she would not surely die by eating the fruit.  That also was a lie.  His entire power over her was to deceive her.

Many people have lies implanted in their lives before they are mature enough to intellectually recognize them.  For example:  The child who is forced to grow up with no father in the home.  That child is very likely to have a lie implanted in his soul.  Fathers always abandon their children.  God is a Father.  God will abandon me.  Believing this lie has many consequences all of them are damaging to the child and to the adult he becomes.

Jesus is the Truth; the only Truth.  He is the personification of ultimate Truth.  In the same manner satan is the father of lies and his demons are the personification of various specific lies.  Thus, a demonic spirit of rebellion is a personification of the lie that God has no authority over us.  A demon of sexual perversion is a personification of the lie that people's bodies are toys and we are free to use them any way we might choose thus we have power over other people. We could describe thousands of other lies that have become demonically personified.  But at the heart of every demonic possession we will find a key lie about God, or the person, or both.  

The process of tearing down the works of satan is in essence a process of setting people free from the lies that have controlled their lives.  We are releasing people into self control.  This is only effectively accomplished if we recognize that we are not talking here about mere intellectual misunderstandings.  Rather we are discussing the power of lies personified such that the demon has actually achieved long-term control over the indivuals entire belief structure.  So, for example, if I think that you probably do not like me and you do not think I know what I am talking about then I might soften my approach to you and try to be more persuasive in my presentation of information.  But, if I have become controlled by a spirit of rejection, then I "know" no matter what I do you will push me away and ignore me.  I will become angry with you because of how I "know" you will treat me.  I will lash out at you for the way you must "think" about me.  And I will produce in you the exact reaction that I expected because I believed the lie that you would always reject me.  

The mission of tearing down the works of satan is accomplished on many different fronts.  In part it is teaching people the Truth so that they begin to question the lies they have believed.  But it also involves the Holy Spirit empowered processes of: 1)  imparting God's love and grace into the lives of victims; 2) recognizing the specific demons who are at work by the gift of discernment of spirits; and, 3) commanding those demons to release their victims.  All of the power we need to do these things is available to us as sons of God.

His, thus yours,

  Stuart