SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Job How is Job described (1:1,
8)?
Why
did Satan think that Job was this way (1:9-11)?
What
did God allow Satan to do to Job (
What
was Job’s response (
What
did God tell Satan about Job (2:3)?
What
was Satan’s response (2:4, 5)?
What
did God grant Satan to do (2:6, 7)?
What
was Job’s wife’s attitude (2:9)?
What was Job’s outcome for persevering through his sufferings (due to spiritual warfare) without cursing God (42:10)?
Of
what value are Old Testament events to us Christians today (1 Cor.
How
does knowing this make you feel?
Has
Satan ever sifted you like wheat? If
so, what happened?
What
was the outcome of it all?
What
does knowing this do for you, and why?
And
what is Paul’s suggestion in foiling Satan’s scheme?
Is
there anyone that you haven’t completely and honestly forgiven, and whom you do
not genuinely love?
If so,
how can you do so (Eph.
What’s
involved in submitting to God (vs. 6;
Rom.
What
does it say about the weapons of our warfare?
[We will specifically see later what the weapons
of our warfare are in Ephesians 6.].
What
should we be seeking to destroy?
[The
strongholds which the Christian assails and overthrows with his spiritual
weapons are now more precisely defined, and it is noticeable that they belong
to the realm of the will and intellect.
This we know to be diagnostically sound, in respect of human psychology
and physiology as well as of the religious life, for a man’s inner motives are
the fount of his action; mind and will determine his conduct; and his attitudes
are the effect of the presuppositions of his philosophy of things.
Hence it is that the Christian warfare is aimed at the casting down of
the reasonings (rationalizations of self-centered man), which are the
strongholds whereby the unbelieving mind seeks to fortify itself against the
truths of human depravity and divine grace, and at the casting down also of
every proud bulwark raised high against the knowledge of God. This metaphor emphasizes the defiant and
mutinous nature of sin – Hughes’ Commentary on the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, pp. 351, 352.
The prisoners taken captive are the thoughts of man’s mind. The Christian is
to consistently submit his thinking to the
obedience of Christ so that the world’s values, thoughts, and knowledge don’t
capture our regenerated mind. And also
that our emotions stirred by demon forces don’t cause us to be fogged in
our thinking.].
What
does knowing all this mean to you?
How will your approach to decisions that are contrary to what you once believed to be the will of God and the truth of God change?
How will you deal with spiritual warfare, specifically?
Below are listed some of the
speculations and lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God:
Reincarnation (you’ll live again here on earth in some other form); materialism (the highest value, goal, and objective is in material well-being); naturalism (scientific laws account for all phenomena and denies any object or event having a supernatural significance); communism (everyone should be equal materially by having all goods owned and controlled by the state and dispersed equitably); existentialism (only what you experience is real); Epicureanism (“eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die”); agnosticism (you don’t or can’t know if there is a God); atheism (there is no God); New Age (man contains divinity), evolution (man progressively evolved from nothing over a long period of time; we’re just a higher level of animal); humanism (rejects supernaturalism and focuses on man being the highest good and the center of the universe); situational ethics (there are no absolutes; right and wrong are subjective, depending upon the circumstances).
Some sayings that are expressions
of loftiness raised up against the knowledge of God are:
“It’s OK to lie if you’re helping or protecting someone.” “Be a success at any price.” “It’s OK to step on the next guy to get ahead.” “I’m just acting like the animal I am.” “I can’t help myself, after all, I’m only human.” “God is too good to send anyone to hell.” “If you don’t make it this time, you’ll get another chance in the next life.” “All religions are true and lead to heaven.” “You only go around once in life, so get all the gusto you can.” “You owe it to yourself.” “If it feels good, do it.” “The end justifies the means.” “It’s OK to rob the rich to give to the poor.” “Since there are no absolutes, do what you think is best.” “The majority is always right.” “Do unto others before they do unto you, and then split.” “I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” “I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.” “Don’t let anyone tell you what to do.” “Be independent, don’t submit to anyone.” “If we love each other and don’t plan to hurt each other, it’s OK to have premarital sex.” “Since we’re soul mates and plan to eventually get married, it’s okay to have sex now.” “God doesn’t expect you to live so sacrificially and disciplined. That’s legalism.” “You should become friends with someone first and earn their respect/trust before you witness to them.” “Unless God opens the door for me to witness to someone, I don’t.” “You should share only when you feel led to share.” “I don’t use a gospel booklet to evangelize because it’s too impersonal, cold, canned, mechanical, and stifling to the Holy Spirit.” “God doesn’t want me to waste my talents by getting involved in an evangelizing and discipleship training ministry.” “I can’t serve the Lord effectively if I don’t get a degree from college.” “I don’t evangelize because it’s not my spiritual gift.” “I don’t need to say anything about God or Jesus because I witness by how I live.” “I haven’t been called into ministry work.” “I don’t know enough of the Bible yet to witness for God.” “Just invite someone to church and let the pastor witness to them. After all, that’s what he gets paid to do.” “If God knows who will and won’t be saved, and since it’s all predestined anyway, I don’t need to evangelize.” “Because nothing dramatic has happened in my life, my testimony is dull, and no one will want to hear it.”
Why
put on the full armor of God?
Who is
our struggle against?
What
are we told to do because of who our enemy is?
What
are the parts of our armor (vss. 14-17)?
What
is our only offensive weapon (vs. 17)?
Why
would God’s Word, the Bible, be the offensive weapon?
What
should accompany all this armor (vs. 18)?
Why is
prayer so important?
How
are we to resist him (see also 1 Cor.
How
can you practically do this?
Beside
yourself, who else is included in this experience of suffering?
What promise accompanies
this warning (vs. 10)?
When
demon forces tempt you, do you quote appropriate Scripture out loud?
Or,
what do you do?
[Since demons cannot read our minds, it’s
important that you quote appropriate Scripture to them audibly.].
To be
able to quote Scripture related to each different kind of temptation implies
what?
Do you
have a scripture memory program? If
not, when, and how will you start one?
If Satan suggests: then quote:
Fear 2
Tim. 1:7
Lust
Drugs 1
Jn. 2:15, 16
Worry Phil.
4:6, 7
Lying Col.
3:9
Gossip Prov.
13:3
Selfishness Phil.
2:4
Procrastination Eph.
5:16
Coveting Col.
3:2
Pride Jas.
4:6
Pornography Phil.
4:8
Sarcasm Eph.
4:29
Why is
this description of the devil important for us to know?
When God is telling you to do something, but in the back of your mind something/someone (the devil) is saying to you that it’s not right, don’t do it, what do you do, and why?
What did he do to Eve?
How do Satan’s servants disguise themselves?
Does this imply that you need to be careful to whom and to what you listen to and to whom you follow, even if they seem nice or religious?
How do you deal with a situation where someone (used by Satan) tells you to do something that sounds good, but you knew earlier that it was not the will of God originally or biblical?
Do you ever compromise
and give in when pressure is on you and do things that you once knew were not
God’s will or biblical, and why?
Where
do some Christians get the idea that the Christian life is free from spiritual
warfare and struggles?
How is
Timothy (and we also) to fight the
good fight?
Are
you a quitter or do you persevere when circumstances get tough, and why?
Is
there anyone that you have been angry with for longer than a day?
Does the
devil have a hold on your emotions and, thereby, use you for his
own ends?
If so,
how can you change this (1 Jn. 1:9; Eph.
What
should this caution you about?
What
does knowing this do for you, and why?
Where
is your final destination, and how do you know?