PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

[Ranb2khz]

Spiritual Warfare Tactics

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." ~ Ephesians 6:12

A Filipino pastor, who is a former Muslim, lives on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. He was a notorious gang leader and spent years in prison for robbery and murder. While in prison, he met Jesus Christ.

After his release, he was so effective in leading Muslims to Jesus back home in Mindanao that Muslim extremists in his area kidnapped his 14-year-old daughter. They would only return her, he was told, if he stopped preaching about Jesus and returned to Islam.

He and his wife prayed intensely, and felt they could not give in to this blackmail. He continued to preach faithfully for three years with no definite news about his little girl.

At that point he concluded, "Despite the terrible things they have done to my daughter, I fear no one but God alone! Pray for my daughter and that I will continue to preach Christ."

Three years later, he received a letter from his daughter. She shared with her parents that she had been sold into prostitution in neighboring East Malaysia. But God had helped her escape. She was then taken in by a sympathetic Malaysian family that hid her for her safety, and married soon after. After reaching out to her parents, they all reunited in a safe place.

Spiritual warfare is the cosmic conflict that rages between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. But remember — we are not talking about two equal kingdoms battling-it-out for victory. Satan is only a created being. Christ has all authority and power. Satan's power was broken at the cross. The Apostle Paul records for us in Colossians 2:15:

"And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

So the only power Satan has today is the power to deceive the people of the world — to blind them from seeing the glory of God:

"But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Satan's primary strategy is to divide and conquer. His key tactics include accusation, deception and the interruption of our relationships with the Father and with each other. He is actively leading mankind to defile the land, which is God's, in order to keep humanity in darkness. This is one reason that unity in the Body of Christ is so critical for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Why would someone lost in the chaos of the world want to be part of a fellowship of people that is disorderly, dysfunctional and even destructive? The Church of Jesus Christ must be ruled by love. We must be a refuge, a place of safety!

Response:

I will be alert to Satan's spiritual warfare tactics today without getting distracted from the Lord's primary ministry directions.

Prayer:

Pray for witnessing brothers and sisters on the frontlines who experience Satan's greatest fury.


~ Standing Strong Through The Storm: A daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks

http://members.opendoorsusa.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=77689.0&dlv_id=110550