Spiritual Warfare

I share this piece, which is an extract from two powerful sermons at our church, Borrowdale Community Church (BCC), which is part of Faith Ministries. The motivation, in sharing this, is to assist the afflicted understand the nature of their struggle which according to Ephesians 6:12 "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms".

Man is made up of the body, soul and spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:23 - And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ).

Dr Magumise , BCC (2014), preaches "a human being is a triune being; consisting of body, soul and spirit. The body is sense conscious and interacts with the environment through the five senses; seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling and tasting. The soul is self-conscious, it relates with the inside of man, the mind, will and emotions. The spirit of man is God conscious and connects with God and discerns spiritual things".

Having established this, he goes on to deal with the spiritual aspect and he continues, "at every given point in time, there are two scenarios: the physical and the spiritual. The spiritual, though not seen is as real as the physical and the spiritual controls the physical. (Heb 11:3)".

This sermon revealed a number of truths to me. One such being that we, as human-beings, in as much we interact with each other in body, there is also another level of interaction, the spiritual level. Some of the disharmonies we experience are therefore not physical but are better understood as spiritual disharmonies, that is spiritual (demonic) attacks. Dr Wazara (BCC, 2014) goes on to say "you cannot have such serious disharmonies at home, work, in friendship and assume it's normal. These have to be viewed from the spiritual perspective". This is why the bible urges us not to be unequally yoked. Based on opposing beliefs there is just no way you will agree or function properly where there is the conflict in the spiritual.

Hope this answers some of the questions you may have on whether the problems you may be experiencing at family level, work level or within friendships are normal. It's spiritual conflict, it's demonic attack! The attacker is therefore not the person you are dealing with (physical) but it's the devil"s attacks.

In his sermon, Outshining the World: Enemies and Adversaries, Dr Shingi Munyeza, deals with this issue and concludes that "see the attacker for whom he is, the devil. He defines the enemy as one who actively opposes or seeks to harm you".

Dr Munyeza goes on to offer the following solutions for dealing with your enemies:

• Love your enemies - "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" Matthew 5:44.
• It's about principalities and not flesh and blood - focus on the God in them - separate the individual and tendencies (2 Thess 3:13-15).
• When you react you are going against flesh and blood, be the strong one and not react.
• Vengeance is for The Lord - "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,and the Lord will reward you" (Proverbs 25:21-22). And Deuteronomy 32:35 says "It is mine to avenge; I will repay.In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them”.
• They are your furnace and crucible (a place /occasion to produce good). "But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them". (Genesis 50:19-21). Jesus said Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.
• Let the wheat and weeds growth together - evil will always be around us but do not focus on eliminating it (Matt 13:24-30). Focus should not be on the evil but in the righteous (Hebrew 12:1-2). Focus on Jesus the devil defeater Hebrew 12:2.
• Learn to push back - Neh 13:19-21. Resist the devil , focusing on the principalities. "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, ’but you are making it ‘a den of robbers. The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
• Battle belongs to The Lord Det 20:1, 1Sam 17:47, Hebrew 10:12-13, 1Cor 15::54-58.

I hope this helps those that face attacks from different angles! Mechanic Manyaruke has a song about the relationship between Jews and Samaritans!

Your comments are most welcome.