How we respond when we go through hard times is very important; just as is our attitude when we are fighting a spiritual battle. People tend to respond in three ways when the battle grows long and weary;

1. They give in to self-pity and negativity and default back to the thought patterns of, "This is the way it always goes for me. Nothing ever goes right."

2. They tell themselves, "Suck it up. Get over it." (This, by the way, is not biblical. Nowhere in the Bible do we see that when we encounter hardships we're just supposed to suck it up and move on.)

3. They get out their weapons of warfare and go to battle.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds,"

When the battle wears on, we may feel weary, we may be tempted to give up, but these are the moments when we must remember that we don't fight in our own strength. The weapons we fight with are not carnal weapons, and we don't dare fight in our own strength. Our weapons are spiritual weapons; they are mighty through God, in His strength—not ours. And as we learn to tap into the strength of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to do what we otherwise couldn't do, we will begin to see victory in our lives!

1. The Word of God

"... and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17).

Jesus used this weapon in the desert when Satan came to tempt Him. Satan, tempted Jesus, he even twisted the scriptures but Jesus came back at him each time using Scripture in its proper context to defeat him and eventually Satan left.

We will not defeat Satan by reasoning with him, by negotiating with him or just telling him to get out. We defeat Satan by using the weapons of our warfare that are mighty through God, and one of the most powerful weapons is the Word of God.

2. Prayer

"Praying in the Spirit always with all kinds of prayer and supplication" (Eph. 6:18a).

The passage talks about prayer, which is a powerful and often neglected weapon!

But notice that we don't just grab our prayer list and start working through it, "God I need.. ... and I need. ... and would You please. ... and bless. ..."

It says, "prayer and supplication in the Spirit."

We aren't praying with our mind, with our own intelligence. We are allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us the will of the Father.

Sometimes, we already know the will of the Father but there are times when we are not certain. When there is no chapter and verse that clearly tells us what the will of the Father is, It is in these times that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us the will of the Father. He may choose to reveal it to us so we can pray in our human language, or He may choose to pray through us with the gift of tongues.

3. Worship

Just like we saw in the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah when a coalition army came against them, Worship is a powerful weapon to destroy the enemy.

The Scripture says, "When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were defeated. Then the Ammonites and Moabites stood up against those dwelling from Mount Seir to destroy and finish them. Then when they made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, each man attacked his companion to destroy each other" (2 Chron. 20:22-23).

But we must make an important distinction! Worship isn't just music. Worship isn't just playing your favorite worship CD, Worship is a condition of the heart. It is purposeful and intentional elevation of God above everything else.

We can worship God by singing songs of praise written by other people, but worship can also be spontaneously singing words of adoration and exaltation to God that come from our own heart that no one has ever written before.

4. The Name of Jesus

"Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11).

Did you catch what this verse is saying? The name of Jesus is above every other name. Paul was clear when he said that God gave Jesus the name above every name. And in that name is incredible power. At Jesus' name every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord.

5. Our Testimony

"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" (Rev. 12:11).

The enemy may come at you with lies and deception, but he cannot convince you that what God has already done for you didn't really happen. It's your testimony, and it has great power! It is the final word.

This is a weapon that is so often neglected, because if the enemy can get us to focus on the negative, on what we don't have, on the bad things going on in our life right now, he can cause us to forget all the good things God has done for us in the past, All the ways God has come through for us, All the miracles God has done in our life, All the ways God has provided for us when we had nothing, The healing God has done in our heart and in our body because while the enemy can't refute our testimony, he can cause us to forget our testimony—knowing that if we use our testimony, we will be victorious. Because we will have the power to stand in faith that God will come through for us again!

6. Thanksgiving

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with gratitude, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will protect your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).

There is nothing the enemy wants more than for you to be riddled with discontentment, anxiety, worry, depression, and complaining. This is a great place to start in using thanksgiving as a weapon of warfare.

Through an attitude of thankfulness for what God has done and who He is to us, God is able to adjust our heart so our prayers will no longer be selfish and prayers of fear but prayers of gratitude and faith that He can answer all our problems. We are able to pray according to His will.


Lalasticlala, Mynd44