According to the Bible spiritual warfare is very real and personal.
Most of the Body of Christ ignores the topic of spiritual warfare. Yet a very few seem to find a demons everywhere. There is an appropriate perspective somewhere between these extremes.
Back in the 1980s I was a member of Charismatic churches. I have seen and experienced all kinds of proper uses and crazy abuses of spiritual warfare. I am not here to put down any teacher or perspective. This blog is just a gentle reminder that the Bible has some verses that are worthy of our close attention. Let the Holy Spirit make the interpretation and point to the personal application.
I have known a few Christians over the decades that have experienced extraordinary hardships. Some of these were related to medical, relational, financial, ministry or business. Those who passed through their unique valley well had an intimate understanding of the reality of the spiritual warfare that raged around them. They used the verses listed here daily.
I have heard testimonies of missionaries that were in impossible situations where the safety of their family was in peril. This was because they were in a remote location surrounded by those hostile to the gospel and vowed to kill them Often all they had for protection was the promises of the Bible. And the scripture that has repeatedly proven to be most useful is Psalm 91.
The apostle Paul taught about putting on the whole armor of God. When I have heard that mentioned in teaching and preaching the emphasis was on what part of the wardrobe goes where. Plus how that relates to other verses in the Bible. Then years ago I was working with a small group to present these verses to a class. I mediated on these words for a month. What stuck me was that the word STAND is critical to this passage. So I made the following diagram as a handout for my teaching.
My neighbor named Shebaa has been experiencing many medical and financial troubles for months. (You can read more about her and the prayer requests at www.shebaa.org ) She is a strong believer who prays for many hours each week. She asked me to recommend Bible verses related to prayer. I put together the following list with emphasis on spiritual warfare. I used the color code on these verses that I used on Psalm 91.
The system is explained at the bottom of each page. The green highlight is for the verbs that I am to do. The red highlight is for what I am not to do. The yellow is for what God does and who He is. This is how I have been marking my Bibles for many years. It helps me recognize the practical application immediately. This began long ago when the verse about if you love my you keep my commandments led me to find what commandment I could keep as an expression of my love for Jesus Christ.
The Bible translation used in the following PFD files is King James Version. The KJV is used for legal and ethical reasons. In order to use NIV or NAS in this way I would need to ask permission of the publisher. The color codes amount to a derivative from the original. It is highly unlikely that they would allow this. Plus is it very probable that they would require me to pay a royalty. However King James is in the public domain so I can freely use it in this manner. And I can suggest that you may print out these to help you meditate on them without needing to ask me permission or pay a fee that would go back to the copyright holder. You can download these PDF files and send them as attachment to those you believe could use such encouragement. Plus you can send the web address to this blog to anyone.
As a footnote to all this legal junk I am exploring a new translation that is currently being developed. The name is World English Bible WEB. All the New Testament has been translated and much of the Old Testament has been done. Like the King James it will be public domain but it will have more modern words. To learn more about the WEB Bible go here http://www.ebible.org/
Note that the WEB translation can be downloaded for FREE along with many other translations in the amazing FREE Bible study tool that I am using often http://www.e-sword.net/
If you wish to look up these verses in your favorite translation then here is the link to Bible Gateway http://www.biblegateway.com/
Here are the PDF files for your mediation and further study
Psalm 91
http://tinyurl.com/cuv5e
Armor of God - STAND
http://tinyurl.com/943ok
Dressing for Battle (prayer based on the armor of God)
http://4bridges.homestead.com/files/PDF/Dressing_For_Battle.pdf
Daily Spiritual Warfare
http://tinyurl.com/8zsv7
Battle Focused Ministries
An excellent site created and maintained by a former trainer of soldiers
http://www.battlefocused.org/spiritual-warfare/matrix/
note that the print version is only 2 dollars
http://www.battlefocused.com/publications/spiritual-warfare-matrix.php
Most of the Body of Christ ignores the topic of spiritual warfare. Yet a very few seem to find a demons everywhere. There is an appropriate perspective somewhere between these extremes.
Back in the 1980s I was a member of Charismatic churches. I have seen and experienced all kinds of proper uses and crazy abuses of spiritual warfare. I am not here to put down any teacher or perspective. This blog is just a gentle reminder that the Bible has some verses that are worthy of our close attention. Let the Holy Spirit make the interpretation and point to the personal application.
I have known a few Christians over the decades that have experienced extraordinary hardships. Some of these were related to medical, relational, financial, ministry or business. Those who passed through their unique valley well had an intimate understanding of the reality of the spiritual warfare that raged around them. They used the verses listed here daily.
I have heard testimonies of missionaries that were in impossible situations where the safety of their family was in peril. This was because they were in a remote location surrounded by those hostile to the gospel and vowed to kill them Often all they had for protection was the promises of the Bible. And the scripture that has repeatedly proven to be most useful is Psalm 91.
The apostle Paul taught about putting on the whole armor of God. When I have heard that mentioned in teaching and preaching the emphasis was on what part of the wardrobe goes where. Plus how that relates to other verses in the Bible. Then years ago I was working with a small group to present these verses to a class. I mediated on these words for a month. What stuck me was that the word STAND is critical to this passage. So I made the following diagram as a handout for my teaching.
My neighbor named Shebaa has been experiencing many medical and financial troubles for months. (You can read more about her and the prayer requests at www.shebaa.org ) She is a strong believer who prays for many hours each week. She asked me to recommend Bible verses related to prayer. I put together the following list with emphasis on spiritual warfare. I used the color code on these verses that I used on Psalm 91.
The system is explained at the bottom of each page. The green highlight is for the verbs that I am to do. The red highlight is for what I am not to do. The yellow is for what God does and who He is. This is how I have been marking my Bibles for many years. It helps me recognize the practical application immediately. This began long ago when the verse about if you love my you keep my commandments led me to find what commandment I could keep as an expression of my love for Jesus Christ.
The Bible translation used in the following PFD files is King James Version. The KJV is used for legal and ethical reasons. In order to use NIV or NAS in this way I would need to ask permission of the publisher. The color codes amount to a derivative from the original. It is highly unlikely that they would allow this. Plus is it very probable that they would require me to pay a royalty. However King James is in the public domain so I can freely use it in this manner. And I can suggest that you may print out these to help you meditate on them without needing to ask me permission or pay a fee that would go back to the copyright holder. You can download these PDF files and send them as attachment to those you believe could use such encouragement. Plus you can send the web address to this blog to anyone.
As a footnote to all this legal junk I am exploring a new translation that is currently being developed. The name is World English Bible WEB. All the New Testament has been translated and much of the Old Testament has been done. Like the King James it will be public domain but it will have more modern words. To learn more about the WEB Bible go here http://www.ebible.org/
Note that the WEB translation can be downloaded for FREE along with many other translations in the amazing FREE Bible study tool that I am using often http://www.e-sword.net/
If you wish to look up these verses in your favorite translation then here is the link to Bible Gateway http://www.biblegateway.com/
Here are the PDF files for your mediation and further study
Psalm 91
http://tinyurl.com/cuv5e
Armor of God - STAND
http://tinyurl.com/943ok
Dressing for Battle (prayer based on the armor of God)
http://4bridges.homestead.com/files/PDF/Dressing_For_Battle.pdf
Daily Spiritual Warfare
http://tinyurl.com/8zsv7
Battle Focused Ministries
An excellent site created and maintained by a former trainer of soldiers
http://www.battlefocused.org/spiritual-warfare/matrix/
note that the print version is only 2 dollars
http://www.battlefocused.com/publications/spiritual-warfare-matrix.php
posted by John | 6:48 PM
