Recognizing the Works of the Enemy.
I. Review of our enemy.
A. Why does the enemy oppose you?
1.You are a source of pleasure to God.
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. KJV
2. His real enemy is God. But because he is powerless against God, he attacks that which is closest to the heart of God, you and me.
3. His main purpose is to pain the heart of God…to insult Him….to frustrate His purpose in your life.
4. He wants to grieve God’s Heart by doubting God’s integrity.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? KJV
B. What are Satan’s Favorite weapons?
1. Delays
Satan tries to delay God’s miracle in your life. But having done all to stand, we stand therefore.
Daniel had a 21 day delay.
2. Deceit
The devil is a liar.
3. Distractions
The reason men fail is broken focus.
Turn not to the right hand or the left. Proverbs 4:27
4. Disappointment
With your self or others. Do not reply the guilt of previous mistakes…nor become preoccupied with past losses…nor magnify the weakness of others.
C. How to predict your seasons of attack.
1. When you become physically exhausted.
When fatigue walks in, faith walks out.
2. When you face a major decision.
Crisis always occurs on the point of promotion.
3. The birth of a child destined to become a great leader.
All Great Men Attract Satanic attention.
4. When a miracle has just left the hand of God.
Satan always attacks those he fears the most.
Hell only reacts to your future, not your past.
**Start here Sunday night.
5. When you make an effort to start a new ministry.
Jesus faced His wilderness experience just prior to His healing ministry.
6. When you are next in line for a promotion.
When Joseph in the old testament, announced the dream that God had given him, his own brothers, in bitterness, sold him into slavery.
His reputation of honor was stripped because of one lie from Potiphars’s wife.
II. Your Most Effective weapons.
You will never win over our enemy through our own strength or wisdom.
Zech 4:1-7 Amplified
4:1 AND THE angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
2 And said to me, What do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it, and [there are] seven pipes to each of the seven lamps which are upon the top of it. [Matt 5:14,16; Luke 12:35; Phil 2:15; Rev 1:20.]
3 And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it [feeding it continuously with oil]. [Rev 11:4-13.]
4 So I asked the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.
7 For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it! AMP
2 Cor 10:4
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,
AMP
You will never win a Spiritual battle logically.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
1. You must know how to speak the Word of God.
Heb 4:12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.
AMP
If you say what God says, you get to the results that God gets.
2. Your Conversation should reflect the mentality of a conqueror.
Proverbs 18:21
Never speak words that make Satan think he is winning.
The 3 men said before going into the furnance.
Dan 3:16-16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
NIV
3. You must take your authority over Satan in the name of Jesus.
Philipians 2:9-10
Faith in the name of Jesus destroys sense knowledge. Acts 3:1-6
Jesus’ name can do anything he can do.
4. You must in faith, spiritually clothe yourself in spiritual armor each morning in prayer.
Ephesians 6:13
One hour in the Presence of God will reveal any flaw in your most carefully laid planes.
5. You must pursue and extract the Wisdom of God from the spiritual mentors God has placed in your life.
Prov 1:5 The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly]-
AMP
Prov 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
KJV
Your mentor should be the greatest source of stress in your life.
Four Forces that shorten your season of struggle.
1. Your speaking.
Words of faith build up your Spirit. Prov 18:21
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
KJV
Faith Talk is explosive. When God wanted His presence to end and His Future to begin, He spoke.
2. Your singing.
Singing creates a climate that Satan can not tolerate.
Songs of worship and Praise dispel demonic spirits as Saul discovered when David played. 1 Samuel 16:23
3. Your sharing.
The prayer of agreement with others is extremely powerful.
Call the intercessors into battle.
Matthew 18:18
4. Your seed sowing.
Sowing creates a partnership with God that involves His in your adversity.
Malachi 3:10-11
Two Important Closing Truth
1. Your battle is always for a reason.
2. You Battle is always for a season.
Battle is your chance for recognition….both in Heaven and Hell.
Revelation 3:5 , 12, 21
1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
KJV
