Our battle position from within the high Tower.
We have been studying the armour of God and this is the final part to this series. So the last part of this teaching is about the actual battle.
Once you have put on your helmet of salvation, (you know who you are in Christ), you have maintained your breastplate of righteousness (you have been given the gift of the righteousness of God to be able to stand in the presence of God, and you have been given the gift of repentance to maintain your own righteousness), your sword of the Spirit is ready because you know the relevant scriptures and they are tucked into your belt of truth, you have surrendered and committed the way you live your life to the Lord, you are ready to enter into battle. And how do you do that?
Eph. 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
This is not weeping and crying before the Lord for Him to deliver. This prayer is the type that is a battle cry. Declaring the word of the Lord.
But first:
We begin by reminding ourselves that He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
He is the Captain of the Hosts and never leaves His troops alone or unprotected.
Ps.144:1-2 – Blessed be the Lord my Rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. My loving kindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge.
He is your high tower and therefore your deliverer.
Your high tower is a shield. Not just a little shield you hold in front of you as you run into battle. No! The shield is a high tower.
You are surrounded on all sides by the presence of the Almighty.
2 Sam.22:3, V31 – The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation; my Saviour, You save me from violence. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; SO (in this way) shall I be saved from my enemies.
V31 As for God, His way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
Ps. 5:12 – For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favour You will surround him as with a shield.
His favour surrounds you as a shield. Say surround!
Deuteronomy 33:27 – The eternal God is your Refuge, and His everlasting arms are under you. He will thrust out the enemy from before you.
We have an eternal God who is an everlasting Refuge for us. We do not have to look to other things to rescue us – He will! His arms are right there to receive and carry us.
At any point in time, we are just a moment away from His arms.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I come before You.
I thank You that You are my refuge and my high tower. How awesome it is to know that I can run into Your arms and find the comfort and lovingkindness that I need. Hold me and carry me I pray. Amen.
From my position in You, here in my high Tower, I can see clearly and I am fully protected.
From my position in You, my high Tower, because I can see clearly, I now understand that I do not wrestle against flesh and blood. I can see that my fight is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places – Eph. 6:12.
Eph. 6:10 – I will be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
2 Cor. 10:3-6 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (not in my own strength). For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (worldly or fleshly options) but are mighty IN GOD for pulling down strongholds, (how?) by casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
And what do I know about You, my Lord, and the power of Your might?
Father, the knowledge that I have of You is that You are above all things. Nothing can stand in Your presence.
Is. 45:22-23 – Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the Word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. And to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.
Every knee MUST bow at the mention of the name of Jesus.
Phil. 2:9-11 – Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Which He has done. He now has all authority and all power in heaven and on earth.
1 John 3:8b – For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Matt. 28:18 – And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God always had authority in heaven, together with God the Father, before He ever came to earth. But now, He has come as the Son of Man, our representative, the last Adam, the life giving Spirit. He has laid aside His deity, His authority that He had with His Father in heaven. And He has come to the earth, as a man, to take back the authority and dominion originally given to mankind!
How do I know this? Because Jesus, Himself, said it.
John 17:4 – I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory, which I had with You before the world was.
As the Son of Man, Jesus is the express image of God (Heb. 1:3 – Take note – only man was created in the image of God) AND even though He is now operating purely as a man, He begins to do what God, by the Holy Spirit, tells Him to do.
And even so – as a man who is simply doing what He has been instructed to do – the demons recognize the image of God straight away.
Mark 1:23-24 – Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, ‘Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!’
V25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be quiet, and come out of him!’
Demons recognize the Christ in us.
Acts 19:13-15 – Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call on the name of the Lord over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.’ Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’
Why did the exorcism not work for them?
These are Jewish exorcists, sons of the Jewish chief priest called Sceva.
They were religious leaders, who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They obviously believed that somehow the name of Jesus carried power and they believed that using the name of Jesus would set the man free – like a magic wand.
Yet the demon did not budge, instead the demon who lived in the possessed man caused the man to attack them and beat up them up thoroughly, then sent them away naked and bleeding.
We see therefore that being religious or a religious leader doesn’t give you power.
If you don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and you haven’t surrendered your life to Him – you cannot use His name.
The demon knew Paul, because it could see Christ in Paul.
James 4:6-7 – God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The humble recognize and acknowledge, ‘Lord, I need You.’
To do what God requires of you – you will need Him. So the humble submit and surrender.
Lord Jesus, You are the King of my life. You rule and reign in my life.
You are asking me to forgive and I want to be obedient to You, but I need Your help to do that. I submit to You. I choose to forgive that person because they are just a pawn in the devil’s plan to keep me from doing what You have asked me to do.
The devil flees because the submitted Christian dwells under the shadow of the Almighty. So when he sees you, he sees God. He flees from God, your strong and high tower.
Understanding this truth is all part of wearing the helmet of salvation. This is keeping your helmet of salvation in battle fit condition.
Knowing this truth and continually reaffirming this truth to yourself aloud is protecting your heart. At the same time you are sharpening the sword of the Spirit and your belt of truth remains equipped with the weapons that you may need.
Having submitted and staying submitted is key.
It begins with me bowing my knee.
In the name of Jesus, I come before Your throne. You are my God and my King. My desire is to do Your will my Lord. Help me to hear Your finest whispers.
Every Knee Must BOW!!!
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name…
You are the Great “I AM”, Indescribable, All Mighty, All Powerful, Immeasurable, All Sovereign and nothing can stand in Your presence.
You are the Jehovah Elohim – the Eternal Creator, Jehovah Elyon – the Lord Most High. You are unequalled and unrivalled! There is none like You!
You are the source of ALL life. Nothing can exist without Your breath of life. You are the Creator and we are the created. Every angel is a created being. The devil and every demon were created as angels by You first. Their evil hearts corrupted the beauty that You created but still they are simply created beings. Only You alone have no beginning and no end.
You alone have ALL power and ALL authority!
Nothing, absolutely nothing can stand in Your presence!
You created the galaxies, the universe and every star was named by You. The heavens declare the glory of our God and I stand in absolute awe of You.
Thank You for wanting to create us. Thank You for dreaming of us and writing our story into Your book. Thank You for the plan of salvation!
Today I stand here because You determined it to be so. Hallelujah!
Father, You raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in heavenly places FAR ABOVE every principality and power, every ruler of the darkness of this age and every spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenlies.
Father, I will look to You, and be saved. For You are God and there is no other. You have sworn by Yourself, the Word has gone out of Your mouth in righteousness and shall not return to You void, but it shall accomplish everything You sent it forth to do. Isaiah 45: 22 – 23
At His name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, every knee must bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that at the name of Jesus every name should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
I pledge my allegiance to You Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, body soul and spirit.
I thank You for sending God the Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth, to teach me Your ways and to empower me with Your grace – the ability to be transformed from glory to glory in Jesus name.
Here I am Lord, use me for Your glory!
What have you just achieved by doing this?
You have just submitted to God and at the same time by declaring His greatness, your faith level in who He is, has gone up a lot of notches.
We are commanded in Eph. 6:10 Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
Not in you but in Him!
Next you begin to take authority over any thoughts the enemy might have whispered into you mind. How do you do that? By refusing to engage with anything that is contrary to the Word. If it in any way looks like it is stealing, killing or destroying your peace, your confidence, your faith, your health, your provision, your future – it is the enemy.
Instead, you immediately raise up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God which you have stored in your belt of truth. And then with authority, you declare what the Word of God says and in this manner you are replacing your thoughts, keeping your mind swept and clean and focussed on your King. You are being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
This is resisting the devil. And when he hears you leaning on your God and he hears you speaking the ever-living, incorruptible Word of God. He recognizes your high Tower, the Lord Jesus Christ and he has to flee.
Eph. 6:17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;
And what do you do now that you’re standing there in your battle gear with your sword held high?
V18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
As we said earlier, this prayer is not begging for help! This is not about crying and snivelling and feeling sorry for yourself. Be strong and be courageous.
How? Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
This is using the sword of the Spirit to completely disarm the enemy by lifting up your God, by lifting up the Word of God. The enemy will recognize the greater One who is within you. Jesus he knows, Paul he knows, you with the sword of the Spirit, he will know. And he will flee from you.
Be strong and courageous!
If you need some help with what to pray etc. please check out my website. Go to the ‘Arise sons of God Series’ and have a look at ‘Arise sons of God – Part 1 – Living an Intentional Life‘. My prayer strategies are there.
Prayer:
Father, we ask that You would dispatch Angelic hosts to manifest shifts in the heavenlies.
We agree with Your Word that Jesus has destroyed the Works of the enemy. We agree that it is written that Jesus has all authority and power in heaven and on the earth. Therefore we declare in the name of Jesus that all legalities and covenants that have been agreed to by man and the principalities and powers, and the rulers of darkness of this age – that these agreements are declared null and void and have no power over our earth, over our family and over our lives.
We declare that these are silenced and nullified in His name.
We pray and ask for the removal of every demonic altar and the revoking over godless covenants in Jesus name.
We ask Father that You would seal the gates to the earth, to our land and to our people and to our families in Jesus name. We decree Your kingdom come. God’s Kingdom rule every heart and life in Jesus name.
We release healing, forgiveness, love, joy and peace to the heart of every situation that is contrary to Your will.
And we say, ‘Peace be still.’
Amen.