THE LEVELS OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE

IDENTIFYING YOUR ENEMIES, THERE   STRATEGIES AND THERE STRENGTH.

The Bible made us to understand very clearly what the concept of spiritual battle is being made up of. Therefore The book of 'Ephesians 6:12 Have this to say in this regard. " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

From the scripture above it has been ascertained that most of the battle that surround a man are not mere ordinary or physical battles, but unseen spiritual battles that originated from the pit of hell. And in most cases man in his ignorance have been unable to identify the source of his battles and problems there by making him to in most cases channel his spiritual and physical arsenals to places he ought not to, there by accumulating more enemies than he should have.

In every battle that you find your self , be it spiritual or physical you must clearly understand the folliwing three Dynamics of warfare:

* You must identify your enemies
* You must understand the strategies of your enemies
* You must know the strenght of your enemies.
The importance of having this basic knowledge prior to any battle can never be under estimated.

ADVANCING THROUHG THE LEVELS                 OF SPIRITUAL WAREFARE.

We are all Involved in the battles of spiritual warfare at varying levels depending on our various growth in our Christian and spiritual life.
However this levels can be subdivided into three different levels, Namely:

1) THE OBJECTIVE OFFENSIVE LEVEL                OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE:
The church is not only the community of the redeemed; it is also invariably suppose to play the role of a redeeming community, this is because as a church we have all being commanded by Jesus Christ and impelled by the indwelling Holy spirit to preach the message of the Lord's redeeming love in Christ jesus to all people. This divine spiritual mandate can be seen in the following scriptures, (Matt. 24:14; 28:18-20; Acts. 1:18). Satan holds the world in bondage and also have no plan to let go, Satan has resisted and is still resisting the church from performing it statutory obligation as a redeeming community.
The Bible has emphatically made it very clear to us that every human being who live without the true God is in bondage to evil supernaturalism. That was why our Messiah have always in many occasions refered to Satan as the ruler of this world. ( John12:31; 14:30; 16:11)
We must also not to forget in a hurry the claim of the ownership of the world which satan put accross to Jesus " I will give you all the Earth and it glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I will give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if you worship before me, it shall all be yours ( Luke. 4:6-7 ).
The above scripture is a clear demonstration of how Satan is desperately seeking for worship from mankind in other to accomplish his desire to completly subject man under his total Dominion. Therefore, as we seek to evangelize, Satan does everything possible to resist us by snatching away the words down into people's heart in other to hinder their redemption.

Eventually most of the human beings that the church is suppose to bring to Christ for redemption are now been demonized to one degree or the other due to satanic influence upon their life. Which have now led them into extreme demonic possesion and bondage. We must understand that the word possession in this context refers to the voluntary reception of a control spirit by a spirit medium. The spirit rides, mounts or temporary possesses the medium for a specific purpose and time. When this happens the medium will be in trance state, allowing the spirit to totally control the medium, his body, soul, mind, emotion, and will. And as soon as the spirit leaves the medium will now regain his or her freedom of self control.

However, by demonization I mean that Satan, through his evil spirits exercises direct partial control over one or more areas of the life of a human being.
However, it is also important for you to clearly take note of the following facts:-
* That while all unbelievers live under demonic Dominion, not all unbelievers are demonized
* That so many unbelievers and believers are already demonized and should be set free from these demons through the word of God
* That the  demonized can display signs of extreme violence.
* That when dealing with a potentially demonized person or unbeliever we must understand that the only approach to his or her deliverance is the use of the word of God as contained in the scripture.
* And finally to administer the word of God on a demon posses person the minister involved must understand very clearly the art of binding demons using relevant scriptures.

THE SUBJECTIVE PERSONAL LEVEL OF                        DELIVERANCE

Before proceeding further to highlight this point of " subjective level, having outlined the objective level" we must first and foremost acknowledge the truth of the fact that Jesus Christ who is the only Son of the most high God have already defeated the devil and his kingdom there by bringing him in total subjection of our authority and power through his supernatural authority which he have also delegated to us.
There fore as deliverance minister one of our anticipated joy is when we see the demonized victim shifting from his posture of: threat, boast, and violent attempt to injure us or to harm us, to that of the fear of us which will eventually help in creating the enabling spiritual environment for their spontaneous confession of our Authority over them and the possible deliverance of the host from the grip of this satanic subjection and control. However we must also be mindful of the the fact that Satan and his demons will always put up resistance in this regard but the Bible have warned us against the fear of them.

Another thing we must understsnd in this battle of spiritual warfare is that the demons we cast out of a victim do not die, but rather when they live they go out their seeking for any receptive heart or body that will accommodate them through their deceptive antics. This is because demons are disembodied spirits beings seeking for a human body to inhabit in.
Apostle Paul warned us against allowing the devil to take undue advantage of us this is because as Christian's we ought not to be ignorant of his schemes, therefore if we in any case decided to be ignorant of his schemes he will certainly take an undue advantage of us.

However we must come to the full knowledge of the fact that satans prime goal is to bring Christian's into subjection by luring us into sin so that the power of the holy ghost in us can be totally extinquished thereby making us powerless and lessen our effectiveness in worshipping and glorifying God through both our personal conducts and Spiritual services to God.
We must also understsnd that while Satan was unsuccessful in his attempt to bring sin into the life of  Jesus, he was eventually succesful in penetrating the life of Peter and Judas who where both the apostles of Jesus, and moreover he is succeeding every day in the life if our present day believers.

Apostle Paul warned the Christian's in Corinth against the satanic dimensions of sexual lust and temptation, He also expressed fear that Satan might be successful in drawing the Thessalonians believers away from the life of obedience to God.

WHO ARE YOUR ENEMIES ?

In one of the scriptures, Jesus Christ declared thus " Bring before me those enemies of mine who does not want me to reign over them and slay them in my presence" The above position should be our stand in dealling with every enemy that is contending with our spirtual powers and those that want to bring us under their ungodly subjection.
We must also acknowledge that the following also constitute the enemies of our spiritual warfare, they are:
* The world
* The flesh
* The devil
But among all this three the devil is our principal enemies while as the flesh and the world are his channels of penetrating us.
However it will be very necessary if we can heed to Apostle Peters warning to us " Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary the devil, prowls like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour, thereby confirming the fact that a Christian can be demonized. These warning therefore should prepear us for our next level of spiritual warfare.

THE CHRISTIAN LEVEL OF SPIRITUAL                              WARFARE

It is highly important for us to know that this level of Satan's activity and demonization of Christian's is becoming very alarming and trouble some and. It is this level of demonization that has led to the Christian disunity all over the world.
We must not forget in hurry the prayer that Jesus prayed to his father in the book of John concerning our unity " So that they may be one".

This aspect of spiritual warfare  level is called "The Christian level of spiritual warfare" in the sense that it deals with the need to bring deliverance to demonized Christian's and believers.
It might shock you to hear the blank truth such as this:
* That there are Bishops who needs deliverance
* There are general oversee who needs deliverance
* There are pastors who need deliverance
* There are church leaders and workers who needs  deliverance etc.

Traditionally many Protestants churches has denied the possibility of a demonized believer. While admitting that believers can be harrased, oppresssed, afflicted, and tempted by Satan through his demons.
But they have denied the fact that demonization can occur with one who is truelly a child of God. The usual negative basis of this negative position is the assumption that the Holy spirit does not dwell in the same body with demons. But we must also not forget that demon can enter the body of sinning  Christian thereby leading to the exit of the holy spirit. However, the Holy spirit may as well choose to enter the body of a demonized Christian for the purpose of the works of deliverance this is because it is possible for a Christian to be be demonized prior to his or her conversion, beside even when a Christian is demonized prior to been converted there is still no guarantee that all the demons get out of him at the point of convertion.
The Bible have this to say in the book of Psam 11:3 " If the foundation be destroyed what can the righteous do?
This because as a Christian our Flesh soul and spirit are always at war with one another, with the flesh always struggling to bring the other two under subjection.

However, the three levels of spiritual warefare can be summerized as follows:

a) The ignorant level: this have to do with the level in which we are yet to accept Jesus as our lord and personal saviour and do not understand our authority over Satan and his demons.

b) The Awareness Level: This is the level which have to do with the knowldge of whom we are and our position as people who has been handed over the power and the authority to to bring Satan to our subjection

c) The concious and unconscious Level: this is the level were we desperately need to guide our salvation with fear and trembling knowing fully that our our conversion and realization of whom we are does not in any way repel Satan from trying to infilterate our spirit, soul and body. This is because, even knowing whom Jesus was Satan tried to bring him under subjection but he eventually failed with Chris, but he is succeeding with many Christians today.

I therefore request that every Christian or the readers of this message should study the book of Ephesians 6:1- 24. For a clearer understanding of this levels and what it takes to fight this battle.

About the Author:

Oguh Hyginus John : is a Graduate of the prestigious " INSTITUTE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE (INSWAR)
WHERE HE RECEIVED SERIES OF SPIRITUAL TRAININGS AT VARIOUS LEVELS, SUCH AS:

* BIBLICAL STUDIES
* DELIVERANCS STUDIES
* COUNSELLING AND PEACE STUDIES
* BROKENNESS AND HOLINESS.

HE IS ALSO: A Deliverance pastor.

AND:  The State Pastor (FCT)
TRIUMPHANT FAMILY  FOR CHRIST MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL.