Spiritual Warrior Basic Training - Softcover

Johnson, Loretta A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1452017697 ISBN 13: 9781452017693

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2010

Synopsis

This book was born out of frustration - the frustration that comes from desiring to reach into our lives through prayer and tough, hard places that are far beyond our control. We know that prayer works, but at the same time, we experience prayer that becomes superficial and routine. Too often we ourselves say, Lord bless our lives. It is my desire to go deeper to claim the victory and promises that God has for us in his word, and to literally pray these promises into our lives, children, and loved ones as well.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

SPIRITUAL WARRIOR BASIC TRAINING

A Guide to Victory Over the Demons and Strategies of SatanBy Loretta A. Johnson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Loretta A. Johnson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-1769-3

Contents

Warning..................................................................................1Helmet of Salvation......................................................................3Breast Plate of Righteousness............................................................5The Sword of the Spirit..................................................................7Belt of Truth............................................................................9Feet Shod with The Gospel................................................................11The Shield of Faith......................................................................13Shield of Faith..........................................................................15Praying in the Spirit....................................................................16Powerful Weapons of Praise, Worship and Thanksgiving to Defeat Satan.....................24The Lord's Prayer........................................................................27

Chapter One

Warning

1. Warfare is serious business. A good soldier knows that they never go into battle unprepared. 2. Proper preparation, with the necessary equipment for combat, can mean the difference between victory and defeat - life or death. 3. The same is true for spiritual warfare; it's serious business. Yet we get Christians who tend to underestimate or over look completely the spiritual shield and armor for combat God has provided for his saints. 4. We choose to go into battle unprepared. No wonder so many of us gets battered, bloodied, and run when Satan attacks.

Satan is a coward, and he does not fight alone. His army includes these five divisions, which are:

1. Spirits or demons 2. Principalities 3. Powers 4. Rulers of the darkness of this world. 5. Spiritual wickedness in high places.

As you read in this chapter, the conflict is not that we wrestle with flesh and blood, this battle is in the realm of the spirit. Spiritual battles are won on the battlefield of praying and prayers. When we pray in Jesus' name, there are angels that are dispatched by the power of the Holy Spirit. There are some divisions of angels that are taking action and destroying the forces of darkness and the enemy.

We have those that are ready to get dressed and fitted with the armor and they do not have any fight in them. They don't know the first thing about God's word, the blood and name of his beloved son Jesus Christ. Knowing nothing of the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians today had better attend a spiritual warfare boot camp in basic training. Most people need to get in the word of God and get it in their hearts as the book of Ephesians 6:10 says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." This book will teach you how to stand and learn to stand.

Chapter Two

Helmet of Salvation

The first armor is the helmet of Salvation. There were a variety of helmets worn by soldiers of different armies and different centuries. In hand-to-hand combat it was distinct advantages for a soldier to have a helmet, which protected not only his head but also his face and especially his eyes. A blow to the uncovered head would immediately disable the soldier; therefore, this was one of the most important pieces of armor. In the language of the Old Testament, the word salvation means deliverance. In fact salvation and deliverance are interchangeable terms. Satan and his demons attack Christians three ways.

Through afflictions, making us sick or creating terrible circumstances that afflict and debilitate us. But God has given us the helmet of salvation; and we can trust him to set us free from whatever affliction the devil lays upon us. Through bondage, habits, sin, tradition, resistance to change. Bondage is those things that control us and motivate our behavior when we ought to be lead by the Holy Spirit. Through temptation, the world is full of pleasures and enticements that can draw us away from God. But the Bible tells us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Renewing our minds is critical if we are going to win in spiritual warfare. We live in a world of thoughts, many evil and immoral. They come into our minds, our senses, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. The helmet covers. One of Satan's most devastating tactics is to disable us with fear. If he can bring us fear to our minds, we will take our focus off of the power and protection of the Lord Jesus and lose our will to sustain the battle. Get this: by rising early in the morning and having a communion time with the Lord, we renew our focus on God's power and purpose for us through the day. Look what David wrote: Psalms 5:3, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Chapter Three

Breast Plate of Righteousness

A roman soldier wore a large breastplate to provide front and back coverage for his heart, and bowels, those vital organs, which if struck by an enemy sword, could be fatally wounded.

To the Jews of that day, the heart represented the mind, what we think. The bowels represented the emotions, what we feel. Just as our heart and digestive organs are critical to the bodily functions required for life.

So our thoughts and our feelings are critical to who we are and, how effective we are in Christ Jesus. God has provided us with perfect protection. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it them are the issues of life."

The disciples related to the breastplate of righteousness. Memorizing the word of God.

The ability of the word of God to protect our hearts is explained in Psalms 119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." As we memorize God's word in our hearts we are sanctified and clean, according to John 15:3 "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."

Here are a few notes on righteousness:

1. The definition is the character or quality of being right or just. 2. It is the quality that puts us in a right standing with God. A righteous man is one who does everything God requires him to do and who is everything God requires him to be. 3. It simply is this: Not guilty! Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin by the shedding of his blood no matter what the accuser whispers to the contrary, Not Guilty.

Chapter Four

The Sword of the Spirit

The sword is to be used as an offensive weapon. The other five pieces of armor are defensive. The two edged sword was essential in battle because the soldier could wield it in either direction. The effectiveness of the sword depends of the hardness of the metal and the sharpness of the edges. A peculiar feature of the sword was a groove channel a "blood channel" forged into both sides of the blade. The blood channel broke the suction so the sword could be withdrawn. Blood is an unavoidable factor in battle. The shedding of blood means death for the victim and life for the victor.

But in the spiritual warfare, that blood was already shed. The Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect lamb that was killed, His bloodshed for our atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ made reference to his own blood with the disciples at the last supper. We defeat Satan by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony (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. Revelations 12:11).

The disciples related to the sword of the spirit: using rhemas in warfare.

The sword of the spirit is the word of God.

The Greek term used in this verse for "word" is not logos but rhema.

Scripture that the Holy Spirit gives to us for a particular situation.

Jesus demonstrated how to use rhemas when he was tempted in the wilderness, with each temptation; He quoted a verse of scripture from the Old Testament logos.

The discipline of reading, meditating, and memorizing scripture will provide the basis of receiving rhemas from the Holy Spirit. This is the one Paul uses to describe the Christians sword. It means a word, spoken by God, alive in our hearts. When Paul talks about the Christian's sword, he is not talking about the bible perhaps she-he is talking about the living word, the Holy Spirit who lives within us. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us power to defeat the enemy. A wise exercise is spiritual warfare would be to match rhemas with temptation which you anticipate.

Chapter Five

Belt of Truth

Throughout history, the belt has been a symbol of strength. It has been a means of freedom. In Biblical times, men wore outer garments that reached to the ground. If they ran in battle, they would be apt to step on their garments and stumble. To avoid this danger, they would raise their garments to the knee and secure them around the waist with a belt.

Peter had this picture in mind when he wrote, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (I Peter 1:13)

Truth is also a means of freedom as Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32). If we are going to stand against the attacks of Satan, we must know the truth and we must hold on to it. We are ineffective soldiers, constantly being taken advantage of by those who would lead us away from the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Error in the church divides the body of Christ and weakens the spiritual warriors.

The belt of truth is the first piece of armor God tells us to take up if we are going to stand against the devil's schemes.

With God's word in His Holy Spirit, we need to act as people of integrity, walking out daily a life that is consistent with nature and character of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The disciples related to the belt of truth. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He will tell you lies about the purposes for which God made things and about every aspect of life.

He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is not truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

The best way to guard ourselves from Satan's lies is to have a daily program of reading and studying God's truth.

Chapter Six

Feet Shod with the Gospel

As born again Christians we all should have the shoes of readiness. In Jesus' day, shoes served one major purpose; they protected the feet from the rough, sometimes dangerous terrain of the Middle East. The soldier's shoe, in particular, had to take him long distances over rocks, brambles, scorpions, snakes, and still keep him from slipping or stumbling when the battle got tough. God tells Christians to wear a special kind of shoe in the spiritual battle we're fighting. If our feet aren't dressed correctly, we'll slip and fall. The feet are a symbol of authority when a king was conquered, he would be brought to the victorious ruler and made to bow his head down to the ground.

The conqueror would put his foot on the neck of his defeated foe, symbolizing that he had jurisdiction over him and his kingdom. Keeping in step with the Holy Spirit is a way of life, a "walk". In Jesus' day, everyone walked. So when the Bible talks about our walk it's talking about our way of life.

There will be some places we will go and some places we will not go. Keeping in step with the shoes of the gospel: "Meditating on the scriptures."

Since Satan is the author of rebellion, he will do all he can to cause us to rebel.

By engrafting scripture into our minds, wills, and emotions, we will be able to think God's thought after him. Meditation on scripture is the way to engraft God's word into our lives so we can walk in his ways and bring peace to many others through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

CH7[ The Shield of Faith

The warriors of ancient Rome had two kinds of shields. The first called a buckler was small and round and was usually strapped to the soldier's arms. In hand-to-hand combat, he could use the buckler to fend off the blows of his enemy while swinging a short sword with his hand.

The second type of shield was much larger called a battle shield. Made to fit his specific measurements, the battle shield provided the soldier with head to foot protection. If he had his shield up, the stones and flaming arrows fling by the enemy could not harm him. It was designed to interlock with one another. With this feature, soldiers interlocked their shields over their heads and advanced toward the walled cities of the enemy. The fiery darts that came down upon them from the soldiers on the wall were ineffective. Paul said in Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

The purpose of the shield of faith is we believe God exists even though we cannot physically see him, and then we are certain of what we do not see. If we believe God rewards those who seek him, then we can be "sure of what we hope for." Simplified, the definition of faith is this; believing in God.

Believing what he says in the Bible. Believing what He whispers, in our hearts, either privately or through one of his messengers. God has said it so is true.

The Bible is constantly talking about faith. That's because faith is important to God. When people believe God, God himself is pleased. God wants to bless his people, but He cannot because of our unbelief. Listen: Without faith, we miss His blessing. When we believe God, things happen. Faith in God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the most powerful force available to man. ]CH7

CH8[ Shield of Faith

The disciples related to the shield of faith. Fasting regularly, Satan is the one who buffets the saints and watches for opening for his darts. It takes spiritual discernment to anticipate and deflect these assaults. Such discernment comes through fasting. Jesus promised to reward openly those who fast secretly, and Isaiah 58: 6 - Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

When Paul was buffeted by Satan, he resorted to prayer and fasting. In Matthew 17:18 "And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

The disciples came to Jesus wanting to know why they could not cast him out. Jesus said, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting( Matthew 17:21). ]CH8

CH9[ Praying in The Spirit

Our first offensive weapon in prayer. Praying in the Holy Spirit is praying and talking to God direct and God talking to us direct.

The prayers that move God are not directed by our personalities but by the spirit of God living in us. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16. Jesus said, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force." Hebrews 11:12

Pray in the spirit! Pray in unknown tongues! As you pray the Holy Spirit prays through you to execute judgment against the power of darkness and they have to leave the presence of the spirit of God.

The work of the enemy will be exposed and the Holy Spirit will not only reveal the demonic forces that is bound from operating in the spiritual realm. The Holy Spirit will also expose and reveal the enemy's strategies, and will give you the victory and a divine way to defeat the enemy.

At the end of your prayer time the Holy Spirit release the anointing that is being released and if you will accept by faith the Prophetic word God is releasing and submit yourself fully to the Holy Spirit, He will anoint your, mouth. As the Holy Spirit is released in your life in a greater dimension than you have ever experienced you will pray prayers that will break through the enemy's resistance. Your prayers will be divinely directed and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Do not rely on your natural understanding. Rely on the Holy Spirit - Pray in the spirit in unknown tongues. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will flow out of our innermost beings like rivers of living water.

The second offensive weapon is to look at what (James 5:16) says in God's word, our Holy Bible, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Get this: the scope of the influence of prayer is extensive. (Ephesians 6:18-19) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching with all perseverance supplication for all the saints; and for me, the utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel. Listen: there are more commands in the Holy Bible to pray than to do anything else. Why? Prayer is the lubrication that keeps our spiritual armor working. Without it we become clanking legalists - out joints eventually rusting together, immobilizing us. We have the word. We're protected by God's armor. But we cannot move. We cannot advance. We all dress up but cannot fight. A very important fact is that talking to God is just half of what prayer is about.

The other half is listening for what God has to say to us. When we pray, we can expect God to answer. Listen; sometimes the answer to our prayers is delayed. Occasionally, that is for our own good, as God teaches us to wait for His timing. But the delay may also be because of demon interference. Remember a delay is not a denial, Glory to God. Prayer is a conversation with God. It is not a formula. It is not a posture to get in, or certain words to be repeated. It is simply the created talking with the Creator. The child of God talking with his Father. Some helpful steps is praying when possible, pray out loud. Silent prayer is just as much prayer as vocal prayer. But when we vocalize something we indicate we are sincere that we believe it. It does us good to pray out loud.

(Continues...) ]CH9

Excerpted from SPIRITUAL WARRIOR BASIC TRAININGby Loretta A. Johnson Copyright © 2010 by Loretta A. Johnson. Excerpted by permission.
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Edition details

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1452017697
• ISBN 13: 9781452017693
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112