The Holy Spirit In Spiritual Warfare

Pastor Alex Adegboye

Everything in every area of life requires skill. Even in spiritual things you need skills. Without spiritual skills you cannot maximize the entire benefits of being a Christian. Prayer is skill oriented. Prayer is based on principle and knowledge, that is, know what you want and how to say it. Once prayer is strategic you pray less. There is a war in the spirit realm and the war requires spiritual skills to enforce and maintain the victory of Calvary.

2Tim 2:3 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”.

We are soldiers not civilians; therefore, we must be skillful at war. Do not be ignorant of warfare. There is a warfare over your life. Nothing comes to you freely; it has been paid for by Christ. Warfare is always strategic; it means you must be skillful. If you are given a weapon you will need training to use it, this applies to spiritual arsenal too. You need skill to maximize spiritual potentials. Nothing goes for free in the realm of the spirit. Let’s consider the following thought:

1. The devil is very smart and takes advantage of your ignorance. He does this if you allow him through a lack of skill and knowledge. Our enemy the devil is strategic; his real power is in cunningness. He is a master planner and knows how to execute his plans. One way he does this is to keep us ignorant.
2. Every provision has been made by God for every child of His to have victory over all troubles. Abundant solution has been made in Christ Jesus for all our pains and problems.
3. The Holy Spirit is the captain of the army, Joshua 5:13-15. You cannot win the devil without the leading of the Holy Spirit as the Captain.

The battle we are fighting often times have the human face but truly they are spiritual. I want you to understand spiritual skills. I want to use the physical faces of battles in the Old Testament to reveal the spiritual faces in the New Testament.

Three things happened to the children of Israel in 1 Cor 10:1-4:

1. They were delivered by faith in the blood.
2. They were baptized in the red sea, that is, their passing through the red sea indicated water baptism that is why the Egyptian army could not conquer them.
3. They were baptized in the cloud. This indicates the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The blood of Jesus is the only basis for your salvation but does not make the total provision for your deliverance. We also need the Holy Spirit to be delivered. The blood separates us from Egypt (the flesh), but the Holy Spirit delivers us from spiritual problems. Your problems are personal so also are your solutions. The cloud they had in the Old Testament was a figure of the Holy Spirit.

In The Upper Room Three Things Happened (Act2:1-5)

1. There was an immersion. They were covered all over by the Holy Spirit.
2. They were filled.
3. There was an outflow.

To gain victory you must do the following

1. You must be immersed in the Holy Spirit.
2. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit.
3. You must overflow with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

THINGS THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN DO FOR YOU

1. He can make an atmosphere around you as He was a pillar of cloud and fire around the Israelites in the wilderness. He controlled the atmosphere in the day through the cloud and at night through the pillar of fire, Exo 13:20-22.
2. He can be your spiritual protection. The pillar of fire gave light to the children of Israel by night and darkness to the camp of the enemy, Exo 14:19-20
3. He can fight the enemy for you. Through the Holy Spirit God is not only protecting us but He also fights the enemy.
4. He can guide and give you direction. The Holy Spirit can speak to you. God spoke with Moses because he was where the cloud was. To hear the Holy Spirit you must be with Him, Num 9:15-33.
5. He can give wisdom. The Holy Spirit gives strategic wisdom to win battles. You don’t win battles because you have professional or academic qualifications but through the Holy Spirit, Exo 17:8-15.
6. He can strengthen you. There were never any feeble or sick for forty years in the wilderness. Through the Holy Spirit God gives life to your body, Deut. 34:7, Rom 8:11.

You cannot live in sin and allow the Holy Spirit to be in control. The Holy Spirit has special sensitivity to sin. If you want to have victory in life the first to do:

1. Consider your life style.
2. Have a constant fellowship and relationship with the Holy Spirit.
3. Pray in tongues. Pray in the Holy Spirit consciously; this means the God inside consciousness.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Holy Spirit is the Captain. As they followed the cloud so we must follow the Holy Spirit, 2 Sam 5:17-25, Psa 25:14.

God bless you.