The revelation of Christ, the knowledge of the Truth, and the Understanding of the entire Gospel revealed in Scripture will yield wisdom regarding strategy when dealing with darkness. While I do not claim to be an expert in dealing with this spiritual realm, I have made some observations and gleaned wisdom from those who have confronted this reality. I also have the Holy Spirit within who is an excellent teacher.

The question that may come to mind at this point is, why darkness? Why think about it or even entertain the thought of its existence?

Well, because it is darkness where evil hides. The light that we are in Him, shines in that darkness and exposes it so we may come against it with weapons of warfare, that is the armor of God and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God in us. By His power we defeat that which wants to kill, steal and destroy all that God says is “good.”

Evil is never satisfied. Evil thrives on chaos and deception. It doesn’t have to make sense. Evil cannot be reasoned with because it isn’t by some faulty reasoning that it causes the chaos.  The devil and powers and principalities we battle against choose to do evil. It wants to rule and reign but it has already been defeat. However, it is trying to do this towards a Kingdom that ALREADY HAS a King. That King functions LEGALLY through His Church. Evil and all its minions are functioning illegally and without permission from the King. The believers in Christ are another matter, however. Through deception we have unwittingly and ignorantly participated and given way for the devil to work among the nations.

In order to do our part as the Church Jesus is building, we must know our place IN the victory Christ has won for us. If we have heard the authentic gospel and have been authentically initiated into His Kingdom, then we can take our place in His Body and work from His victory for us, the redeemed[i]. If we have not been trained in our weapons of warfare then we are woefully ignorant of our own identity as saints (Phil 4), kings and priests (1 Peter 2), fellow heirs with Christ (Gal 4, Rom 8). A seeker sensitive and tolerant culture has been allowed to infiltrate and compromise worship, prayer, and basic functions as a community of faith in the name of “love” and being a “good Christian.” The fear of man and what others think or how they feel (or money or power) has been more important to the majority of religious leaders over the decades than the fear of God and His instructions to the Church.  It is not until the Church Jesus is building rises up to her rightful place and plunders the devil’s kingdom.

Sounds aggressive, doesn’t it? It is! And it is “for all the marbles” as Apostle Dave Viljoen says. The devil wants ALL the King of kings has. This is a spiritual battle we are waging with the tools given by way of the Holy Spirit. Our weapons are not carnal; we will not win with weapons of natural warfare such as guns and ammunition. Our weapons, according to Scripture, are spiritual: prayer, declarations, the Word of God spoken, His Truth spoken and declared, His Church united in one voice with one Gospel message.

Metaphor time! (you were waiting, weren’t you?) lol.

A glass prism or a kaleidoscope is OH so pretty with all its lovely colors reflecting as the sun shines through it, isn’t it? Don’t we love to see all the pretty colors reflected into a room? Sure! But it is powerless. The light that shines through is so divided among the spectrum that it has no effect on anything it touches.

But now consider a magnifying glass! WOW we can start a fire with one of those! The light coming through is so concentrated in one place that it is powerful.

The prism would relate to the many denominations and doctrines that have infiltrated the church systems as we know it (40,000+ Christian denominations and non-denominations). Everyone is so sure they have the truth and as a result have made so many accommodations for people’s feelings and different interpretations have influenced and produced multiple doctrines. Instead of the Church being founded upon the One Foundation of Christ (the faith that was once delivered to the saints – see Jude 3) with the leadership of Apostles and Prophets,[ii] the people of God voted and divided themselves (winners and losers) and elected their own leadership rather than allowing God to appoint leadership through consensus. This led to denominations, sects, and cults.

This was a smart move on the devil’s part. He is not a dummy. If he cannot defeat, he will divide and deceive. Fear (of death, shame, and power) leads to pride. And the devil uses this, of course, to create all kinds of mischief that reflects badly upon the church man has built.

Jesus said in Matthew 16 that the gates (decision makers) of hell will not prevail (withstand its advance) against His Church. Who are these “gates?” they would be the powers and principalities Paul writes about in Ephesians 6 and those who allow evil to work through them.[iii]

It is the wisdom of God through His Spirit and Word, that provides instruction when to advance or step back, declare or decree and when to walk away from a fight when the timing isn’t right. Sometimes there is a better time to engage in spiritual warfare. God has a strategy, a plan, and it is one of victory. The Church is SUPPOSED to receive this instruction with consensus on the Lord’s Day gatherings.

Unfortunately, with the muddling of soul and spirit, Sunday mornings have turned into group therapy sessions and self-help talks which neglect the purpose of true worship that focuses on Christ, His Kingdom and Listening to His voice for the Instruction of the Lord and then MOVE in the direction with the wisdom and timing of what God is doing NOW in the earth and in our communities.

A very important key when dealing with darkness is to know the difference between being led by our soul and being led by the Spirit. Why? Because our soul[iv] relies on feelings and experiences and the resulting conclusions we come to from our own perspective. This can be useful but misleading because perspectives and opinions are subjective and not a good measure for decision making or warfare, no matter how “wise” to the world a person may think they have become.  If put into a battle with darkness, a person making decisions based upon their feelings and limited experiences will be waging war on more than one front. The devil’s only weapon is deception and the only knowledge he has of us is our past then that is what he uses. And we are most vulnerable in areas such as memories or failings of the past that cause have caused us feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, or shame. All the enemy has to do is place something in front of us that reminds us of those failings, and we can be caught in a tailspin of dealing, once again, with old things even though they may have been thoroughly dealt with because we KNOW spiritually that we have been cleansed of those sins at baptism.

[The sure thing to do for a believer AT THIS MOMENT is to claim the promises of baptism, (if we know them!), which is all that Christ did for us in hell and heaven and that we have been cleansed from those sins and no longer identify as “sinner,” subject to the accusation of Satan.  We are a NEW creation, the old is gone and we are COMPLETELY FORGIVEN AND REDEEMED.]

If we are ignorant of the work of Christ to redeem us and the difference between soul and spirit and are relying on our own efforts for wisdom, we will be compromised. Why? Because not only will we be dealing with the stresses of a current battle in the Spirit (worry, anxiety, stress), we will also be dealing with how everything ties to that moment or moments of the past when we felt some shame or inadequacy. Knowing the truth of what Christ did and also drawing on the Faith of God, enables us to let the Holy Spirit guide and direct us in the God perspective. This results in the peace that passes understanding regarding circumstances and the storms of the past can NO longer define our future. Why? Because we are not identifying as “that person” who “did those things” or “that person” who was “trespassed against.” With this understanding we go from victim to victor and from surviving to thriving in our daily life. We are a NEW CREATION and the Faith of God, which is a gift from Him from by the Spirit, we can draw our strength and OVERCOME by our testimony of what Christ has done and by the reality of the Blood of the Lamb.

 Philemon 1:6

… I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for the sake of Christ.

Blessings.

Anne

  [i] Authentic Gospel and initiation  28-minute video of Jim giving the Authentic Gospel message. Also Jim discusses this in his book, Re-Awaken to Good News   with a donation of $25 we will send you one, it can also be found on Amazon in Kindle version

[ii] Apostles and Prophets have been set aside in the community of faith over the years. Their function in the first century was to steward the Gospel message, keep it pure and accurate. With their removal, pastors, teachers, and evangelists have had to try to fill the role, but it is not their gifting. So then labels were created, and a hierarchy was set up for leaders to “advance” through and Apostle or Prophet was added to their name tags as if that could create the leadership need that was vacated. See Acts 15,

[iii] Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. “High places” would be in the spiritual realm.

[iv] The soul is the seat of our emotions, reasoning, and intellect. It is a good thing, and we need it which is why God created us to have one. But it is not a good captain to lead us.  To live according to our soul means that we are subject to every wind of change that comes our way that effects how we “feel.” The soul relies on the past to define the future and often causes us to react rather than respond to life. The soul also helps us empathize, create and imagine.