Group Bible Study

In our daily meditations, we have been looking at Paul the apostle’s thoughts that the world is in the grip of unseen dark spirits. We looked at the defenses God has given us, before also looking at the offensive weapons to break the power of evil. The second offensive weapon of the church is prayer:  “And  pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests . With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). We have a modern-day example of Spirit-led prayer overcoming demonic strongholds over a city in Argentina. In the book by C. Peter Wagner,  Warfare Prayer  pages 30-34, there is the story of a strategy to reach the city of Resistencia in the northern province of Chaco, Argentina. Ed Silvoso, an Argentinean evangelist, initiated a three-year plan to change the spiritual atmosphere over the city so that people could hear and respond to the Gospel. As of the beginning of 1990, fewer than 6...

In our meditations, we have been talking about the spiritual defenses that God gives believers while we live in this world. After talking about the armor, Paul the apostle writes about the offensive weapons that God also gives. Some believe that Paul only mentions one weapon, the sword of the Spirit, but perhaps his second offensive weapon could not be typified by any part of a Roman soldier's armor. His next sentence after the sword mentions prayer without making an analogy to the Roman soldier. Here is Paul’s second offensive spiritual weapon: And  pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests . With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18). There are some among the church worldwide who would say that when Paul is talking about praying in the Spirit, he is writing about praying in tongues. They would remind us of two verses from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian believers:  2 For an...

Over the last few days, we have been talking about the offensive weapon of the Sword of the Spirit. Do not underestimate the power of this spiritual weapon. Here again, are Paul's words: 17 Take the helmet of salvation and  the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6:17-18). When we speak forth the sword of the Spirit, the authority and presence of God is behind God’s Word and disrupts Satan and his demons. God spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about this very thing when he said,  “ Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for  I am watching over my word to perform it ” (Jeremiah 1:12).  What was the Lord saying? He is saying that His Word will not return empty but will fulfill His purpose in the world through His power at work through the medium of His Word (Isaiah 55:11...

We continue today to ponder on the offensive weapons of the Spirit of God—weapons that will break down spiritual strongholds of our unseen enemies, Satan, and his dark angels and demons. Paul, the apostle, compared the Word of God to a sword, a sword of the Spirit. Martin Luther, the great reformer, had a similar experience with the Word of God stuck in him. He read the Scripture,  “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17) , but the church at the time believed that a person could enter into eternal life by his good works. While on a trip to Rome, as a religious work to earn peace and forgiveness, he was told that he would obtain peace by climbing the twenty-eight white marble steps of the Lateran Staircase on his knees. As he moved from step to step, the Spirit of God would not let him go, but at each step, the thought came to his mind, “The just shall live by faith.”  He saw that justification  [God’s act of removing the guilt and penalty of s...

In our last few day’s meditations, we looked at the defensive armor God has given us. Today we begin to look at three offensive weapons the believer can use in warfare against our unseen evil enemy. In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul the apostle mentions two weapons, but in Scripture, there is another that also causes chaos to the unseen realm of evil spirits. These three weapons are the Word of God, Prayer, and Praise/Worship. We will look at the sword of the Spirit first, which is the Word of God.  In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul wrote to the believers while chained to a Roman soldier. This soldier’s task was to watch over Paul during his house arrest. As Paul observed the Roman soldier's armor, it might have inspired him to think of the armor God gives us for our spiritual battles. Here’s part of what he wrote:  17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  18 And pray in the Spirit on all occa...

Carrying on from our meditation yesterday, the fifth piece of armor that Paul mentions is the Roman helmet. He typifies it as a helmet of salvation. Perhaps the thought in Paul's mind was that the enemy targets the mind in spiritual warfare. His attack on the mind varies from person to person, but many times to a young, immature believer, the enemy usually sows thoughts that are dismissive of the very existence of God. Doubts fly through the air in the same way as a sword attacks the head. It is then that you do not want a bag on your head instead of a helmet provided by the heavenly quartermaster. The assurance of salvation is an inner witness of the Holy Spirit that we are God's children protecting a person's mind as a helmet protects the head: "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children” (Romans 8:16).  We can face every demonic attack  knowing that nothing can separate us from God's love. Whatever trial or hardship, persecu...

Paul was under house arrest in Rome while writing his letter to the church at Ephesus. In chapter six of his letter, he wrote about the spiritual war taking place on our planet. Most people are oblivious to it, but those of you with insight have had your spiritual eyes opened to reality (Ephesians 1:18). Behind everything that goes on, there is a war going on between the forces of light against the forces of darkness, and I hope you, dear reader, are on the right side! Most scholars believe that Paul was chained to a Roman soldier and used the Roman soldier’s shield, armor, and sword as a metaphor for what he wanted to teach the Ephesians and all who would read his words about overcoming the attacks of Satan. When we have spiritual armor to protect us, we will be strong, not in ourselves, but in the Lord and in His mighty power, which is more than a match for any demonic spirit. The fourth article Paul mentioned was the shield of faith: In addition to all this, take up the ...

We are continuing to look at Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, and his thoughts about spiritual defense in the war between light and darkness in the world. We have already talked about the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, so let’s now think through what he meant with the third part of the Roman soldier’s defensive capability, the ability to stand amid spiritual warfare: 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:13-15). Paul next looked at the Roman soldier’s feet. He saw the  caliga  or half-boots with nails in them to grip the ground in combat. Without the studs in the soles, the Roman soldier would...

When Paul the apostle wrote the letter to the church at Ephesus, he was under house arrest chained to a Roman soldier. He wrote about the spiritual war being waged all around us on planet earth. He used the Roman soldier's armor as an analogy of the spiritual armor of protection for us to gain victory over our opponent, the fallen angel, Satan. When Paul looked at the Roman soldier’s breastplate, it reminded him of how a Christian needs the breastplate of righteousness as a defense of the heart and inner organs. Two possibilities could have been in Paul's mind as he wrote.  1) The first is the need for imputed righteousness. What do we mean by imputed? Imputed means  credited to our account  as in the case when God spoke to Abraham, our father in the faith, and told him that he would be a father to a multitude of people even though he was old and childless. 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” ...

In our meditations over the last few days, we have been thinking about the spiritual warfare that many believers are going through. To fight in this spiritual war, we must have spiritual defensive armor. This armor we are talking about is a provision from the Master who has called all believers to fight. Let’s put it another way. If your nation were to call you up to fight a war, one of the first things you would do would be to go to the quartermaster stores and get your uniform. You don’t buy it; you don’t earn it. It is given to you by the One for whom you are fighting. You don’t tell the quartermaster what kind of armor you would like. He has already thought that through for you and constructed it to His specifications to equip you to face and defeat the enemy you are fighting. Battles are often won or lost on the strength of one’s armor or weaponry. It’s called the Armor of God for a reason. It is not the armor of self. I don’t want to trust a helmet of my own making, for i...

In our daily meditations, we are continuing from yesterday to talk about deeper levels of sin that bring a person to be oppressed and demonized. Yesterday, we talked about the first two levels, a Foothold, and secondly, Manipulation. The third level is Oppression.  3) Oppression.  If a person does not cast down thoughts and imaginations of the mind that they know to be evil, the enemy manages to get a level of control of us. Whoever we choose to obey is the one who will rule our lives (Romans 6:16). Sin desires to shape us into the image of the one we have chosen to obey (Genesis 4:7). A person that is oppressed often has negative and somewhat pushy thoughts that are suggestive of going down a particular avenue of sin, thoughts that are more compulsive. We could use the  Star Wars  movies as an analogy to describe what happens to a person oppressed by demons. In that movie, the Jedi knights dropped suggestive thoughts into the minds of their enemies that g...

We are in a series of meditations as to how our unseen enemy, Satan, and his demons strategize to bring people into servitude to demonic powers. At a later meditation, we will look at the armor of God, but if you are young in the faith and have only come across the last couple of these meditations, it would be wise to access the beginning studies in our series,  The War Against Satan and His Angels  on groupbiblestudy.com. They are all freely accessed online at the link above. Before we look at several stages of attack by our unseen enemy, we need to think through some practical ways of defending ourselves. This is not a comprehensive list of ways, just some helpful hints I have found helpful. P ractical Strategies for Defending Ourselves :  Often, a person does not realize that he or she is under spiritual attack until after he or she has given in to temptation. The enemy then quickly accuses through guilt and shame. When I have been under spiritual attack and...