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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/books/entry_id/1010122-Armor-of-God---Spiritual-Battlefields
Rated: E · Book · Religious · #2245288
Bible studies
#1010122 added May 26, 2021 at 9:05am
Restrictions: None
Armor of God - Spiritual Battlefields
Dear Heavenly Father,
I come to you now in the name of Jesus to help us in our moments of spiritual warfare. Teach us to fight the good fight of faith and to obey your commands. Teach us to love your laws and to fully follow and trust you. Teach us who to fight and when and where.
In Jesus‘s name,
Amen


 Battles Within Open in new Window. (E)
Walking a sinful world searching for guidance.
#2214479 by LMs❤️BrewinMagic Author IconMail Icon


This is a challenging study. If you Google this topic, you can find a lot of different opinions. It seems the most popular battlefield talked about is that of the mind. I can see how different things can be considered a battlefield, the Earth, the mind, the heart, the soul, the flesh, the emotions. The list goes on. I am not sure that I am capable of going over all the varying opinions here. What I will do is share some insights I have been given from the Holy Spirit and I can share my personal thoughts with you on the subject. It is a very broad subject. I encourage everyone to study this topic for yourself as you have time. It is an interesting study.

The Battlefields In The Flesh


2 Corinthians 10:3-6

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (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;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

There might be a battlefield in the flesh, but the war itself is spiritual. The Devil wants control of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The soul itself is considered to be a combination of all of these. These are your control centers. This is where you process your thoughts, feelings, personality, actions, and physical ability. If you serve God with all of these things, there is no foothold left for Satan in the war for your soul. So these four things overlap some. I think the general gist here is that we Love God with all our being and everything in us.

Mark 12:30

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (See also Matthew 22:37 and Deuteronomy 6:5.)

The flesh profits us nothing. It is temporary. The flesh will pass away. Our soul is eternal. God's Word is eternal. We have to learn to look beyond what we see. The spiritual world is alive and well. It is engaged in battle even though we can not see it physically.
John 6:63

The secret to living the Christian life is that we can put no confidence in our own flesh. We must rely completely on God. We must learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We must put our faith and confidence in the person of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:3-14

Your Soul


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul
According to Wikipedia, this is the definition of what a soul is.

In order to experience spiritual growth, one must be willing to be changed. We must decrease from self and increase in Christ Jesus.
John 3:30

We must exchange our old evil ways for new good ways by walking in the Holy Spirit. We put off the old man of the flesh and put on the new man of the Spirit. We exchange ways of violence for ways of peace.
Ephesians 4:17-32

The key to our walk with the Lord is found in what we treasure most deeply in our souls. We must put Christ first in everything.We must keep our priorities straight. We do not want to be lukewarm in our relationship with Christ.

Your Strength


We can not overcome the influence of this world, our flesh, and the Devil by relying on our own strength. Our sufficiency is of God.
2 Corinthians 3:5

There is a difference between working for God and a working of God. The power you have is in you, but not of you.
2 Corinthians 4:7
Philippians 2:13

Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit.
Galations 4:6
Galations 2:20

Self-discipline is necessary. However, self-determination by itself is not able to overcome the flesh. We can not will ourselves spiritual or saved. We must submit our will to God's will.
Luke 22:41-44

Only the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit in us can overcome the flesh. It is impossible to serve God through the power of your own flesh. The Lord is our supply of wisdom and grace when we submit our life through prayer to Him.
Galations 3:3

We should pray before, during, and after all of our spiritual battles. We will learn to be dependent upon and close to God as we pray before our battles. When praying during the battle, our focus is on God and not on everything going on around us. God can comfort, heal, and strengthen you when you come to him in prayer after the battle. Some people view prayer as a battlefield. My personal opinion is that it is (how) a way of fighting, and not where the battle is fought. Although I guess on your knees could be considered a where. I will let you make your own opinion on this one.

Your Heart

Proverbs 4:23

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

In The Heart Open in new Window. (E)
The heart tells who we really are.
#898164 by Sunny Author IconMail Icon


When we are converted, our heart becomes a battlefield. Jesus says in the parable of the sower that evil comes and snatches away the seed that is in their heart.
Matthew 13:19

We must keep a guard over our hearts and minds.
Philippians 4:6-7

The heart is deceitful. Trusting one’s own heart is foolish.
Jeremiah 17:9
Proverbs 28:26

The main way to guard your heart and mind is to ask God to search your heart and thoughts.
Psalm 139:23-24

We should not pursue earthly treasures. Everything seen will pass or wither away. Everything physical is only temporary. We should set our treasures on things above.
Matthew 6:19-21

If you want to know the contents and treasures of your heart, pay attention to what comes out of your mouth. Everything in the heart comes out the mouth.
Luke 6:45

Evil proceeds from an evil heart.
Mark 7:18-23

Faith happens in the heart. It is with the heart we believe the gospel and are made right with God. With faith in our hearts, we make confession to Salvation with our mouth.
Romans 10:9-10

We experience the power of Salvation when we become persuaded of God and convinced of the Gospel.
Romans 1:16

Some people struggle with feeling assured of their Salvation. They do their best to “be saved”. They try very hard to believe the Gospel. Unfortunately, they lack (true faith) the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction (evidence) of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

When we are assured of the truth in our hearts, we can not be moved. Our faith is steadfast. If we “believe”, but not in our hearts, then we are not truly saved. People are not saved by self-effort or self-determination to believe or by their own decision. They are persuaded to believe in their heart by the Holy Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit convinces us of the truth of the Gospel.

Heart belief in something always comes from something outside of ourselves. Faith comes from hearing.
Romans 10:17

God shines a light into our heart, and this brings about true faith in the Gospel.
2 Corinthians 4:6

Faith is given to us as a gift from God. It is not earned or obtained by our own efforts.
Romans 12:3

There is a big difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. We might be able to increase our earthly knowledge without God's help, but only God can give and increase our faith in Him.
Ephesians 1:17-18

True Faith is experiential heart-belief that we believe to be true with absolute certainty. We will “see” what we believe. When we know God's truth in our hearts, we can walk by faith and not by sight. This allows us to see life from God's view and a heavenly perspective.
2 Corinthians 5:5-9

Our true faith is then shown by your works. When I know who I am in Christ and believe this truth in my heart, living out this heart-belief becomes easy, producing the fruits of the Spirit. Your life is defined by what goes on in your heart.
James 4:7-10

God has put the Spirit of Christ in us enabling us to live as true children of God. Cry out to God our Father and he will hear your prayers and deliver you from an evil heart.
Galations 4:6

God is able to draw people to himself by using what pours out of the heart of believers. Bitterness, unresolved hurt, envy, strife, jealousy, anger, and unconfessed sin can harden a heart where little or no good comes out of it. How can God use hardened hearts to draw others to himself?

This is a song that goes along with the subject. It is called, “Search My Heart, Search My Soul”.
https://youtu.be/CbliYx-Ijdg

Your Mind


We are as we think within ourselves. Spoken words can sometimes cause wounds, resulting in enemy attacks against us. Satan will use things like self-doubt, discouragement, worthlessness, shame, insecurity, and insignificance. Impure or ungodly thoughts must be fought against in our minds to keep them from taking root. If these unholy thoughts take root, over time, they can cloud the mind causing confusion and false illusions.
Romans 12:2-3

Satan's weapons are lies and deception. Our defense is God's truth. Who's voice are we listening to?
1 Peter 5:8-11

Gird up the loins of your mind, and get ready to fight against the Devil's attacks.
1 Peter 1:13-16

There is no question that the mind is a very large and obvious battlefield.
Romans 7:14-25

There are three main areas of influence in our Scripture at the beginning of this study, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6: strongholds, imaginations, and thoughts.

Strongholds cause us to be conformed to this present evil world. Strongholds happen when ungodly influence over time indoctrinate our thinking. Thought patterns form. These thought patterns (strongholds) have to be pulled down and destroyed. Strongholds cause resistance to spiritual growth.
Ephesians 2:1-3

Imaginations are mentioned more than once in Scripture with negative connotations. The Lord hates wicked imaginations.
Here is the definition Wikipedia gives of imaginations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination
1 Chronicles 28:9
Proverbs 6:16-19
Lamentations 3:60-62
Romans 1:20-21
Genesis 6:5
Genesis 8:21

Thoughts, every word and action begins as a thought. Whatever rules our minds also has rule over our lives. What is on the mind shapes the heart. Thoughts are a matter of choice. If you want to keep your heart and mind pure, you have to choose your thoughts wisely.
Matthew 12:34

There are two types of wisdom. One is from God and the other is from Satan. Choose you this day whom you will serve.
James 13-18

We can guard our hearts and minds by acknowledging and shunning our vulnerabilities. The eyes are the primary entrance to the soul. We have to be careful what our eyes see.
Psalm 101:3

Whatever enters through the eyes, gets stored in the mind and has an effect on the heart. Because the eyes are a window to the soul, they can be used as a gate for good or evil to enter in. According to one study, 89% of what we learn comes from visual stimulation. 10% of our learning comes through audible stimulation, and only 1% comes from the other senses. Therefore, this makes the eyes the primary sense used for enticement. Temptation is often brought about by something seen on the outside stimulating an inward lustful response.
James 1:13-15

Do not make provision for the flesh. Learn what thoughts and activities activate your fleshly lusts and eliminate them.
Romans 13:14

We must have rule over our own spirit.
proverbs 25:28

The Bible provides a list of acceptable things to think about in Philippians chapter 4. We should think on positive things rather than negative things. Think on the good things and not on the bad.
Philippians 4:8

When we keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit will lead us. He will teach us and make us remember things He has taught us when it is needed.
John 14:26-27



The Battlefield Of The World


The world is a battlefield because we are in the world, but not of it. It will hate us because it hates Jesus, everything we stand for.
John 15:18-20

Jesus has already overcame the world through his death on the cross. However, as long as we are here on this earth in our flesh, we will have persecutions, trials, tribulations, and many troubles.
John 16:33

The world is a battlefield that seeks to take your focus off of the things of God.
1 John 2:15-17

In the end, iniquity will be prevalent. People will fail to love one another. The world becomes a cold and dark place. However, those of us who endure to the end of our lives with Christ, will be saved.
Matthew 24:12-13

We all must make a conscious choice who we will follow. Will we follow Christ or Satan and the things of the world? Choose today who you will serve and act accordingly. As for me, I will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:15

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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/books/entry_id/1010122-Armor-of-God---Spiritual-Battlefields