Many times I have been asked the ultimate question, “What is spiritual warfare?” In other words, how do you fight against the devil and his demons? Whether in a television interview, radio show, at a conference, or some other event, without a doubt this question always comes up.
Many good Christian brothers and sisters love the Lord, but they don’t know how to fight spiritually. Spiritual warfare isn’t influenced by how many times we attend church, or how long we have been saved (as good as those things are). Spiritual warfare has to have a foundation and a structure in order for us to fight and win the battles against the kingdom of darkness.
The number one key we need to establish in spiritual warfare is the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10 NIV). This is where spiritual warfare begins and ends.
Yet the fear of the Lord seems to be lacking in most of our churches today. I am sure that it blows the minds of angels and even of demons so much that they stand in amazement at our lack of fear and reverence for God. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19 NKJV).
This is why, when it comes to spiritual warfare, the majority of the time we believers never get the victory. The deception of Satan throughout the portals of time, all the way back to the Garden of Eden, is to break the fear of the Lord in your life. This has been the most effective tool that Satan has used to tower over the Church.
In the Garden of Eden the devil managed, as he is doing today, to bring the lies that will strip you down and take the fear of God out of your life. When he told Eve, “Eat of this tree... you will not surely die,” he was saying, “You do not have to fear God.” God gave a commandment, but Adam and Eve totally disobeyed Him and believed the devil instead. Most of us have fallen into the same trap today, because we have been taught by our church that God is a big Daddy sitting in Heaven, and that He will not refuse His children if we pray a certain way or with endless demands and claims and request for all sorts of things from Him. Countless preachers have preached those messages over and over.
We have lost our way: The way of the fear of the Lord. The Word says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so if you don’t fear the Lord, then how can you fight and win against the attacks of the enemy over your life?
The fear of the Lord means to reverence Him, to be in awe of who He is. He is a holy God, and He cannot be compared to anyone or anything. The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I realize my total helplessness: That I am nothing and can do nothing on my own, and that anything accomplished in my life is by the hands of the Lord and Him alone. This is the fear of the Lord. As believers, we should have this reverence engraved in our spirits and hearts. We should live by this; otherwise, Satan will always have us by the throat. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of spiritual warfare.
- John Ramirez author of Unmasking the Devil
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