SPIRITUAL WARFARE

The gates of hell will not prevail against the church of the living God. It will prevail against the church of the dead god, with images, icons, and going through the ceremonies, having a form of godliness, but denying the power, but it will not prevail against the Church of the living God. “I am come that you might have life, and life more abundant”. This is where the power of the Holy Spirit comes in.

Let us now take a closer look at the “winds” (the onslaught of the enemy) coming against us, and how we can resist these winds.

We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us; We have the victory before we have the battle, because we have the VICTOR in us).

Joshua 3:10

¹⁰ Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you [leading the way] into the Jordan.

Canaan pictures the land of the heavenlies, and David tells us “God prepares a table before us” but it is in the “presence of our enemies”. The meaning of each of these seven tribes has a spiritual significance, because they were in Canaan. Each of these names corresponds to the seven kinds of evil spirits mentioned in the New Testament. The bible speaks of the Seven Spirits of the Lord (actually, there is one Spirit according to Ephesians 4), but the one Spirit is in 7 Basic Relationships. (These can also be related to the 7 soul drives).

1. CANAAN

Canaan means to “bend the knee”, or to “Bring into bondage”. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. The book of Romans is all about that we may know and experience the Truth, (the most doctrinal book in the bible).

Romans 8:15

¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery (bondage) leading again to fear [of God’s judgment], but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [the Spirit producing sonship] by which we [joyfully] cry, “Abba! Father!”  

Remember Christ prayed for a woman whose back was bent over double, he rebuked a spirit of bondage.

The spirit of bondage wants to pull us down so all we can see is negative, to where we can’t look up because it keeps us pulled down.

God has a special weapon for each of these evil spirits, a special defense to shield us from each of these winds. In Ephesians chapter 6:11 after telling us to be strong in the Lord it says,

“¹¹ Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil.¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places. ¹³ Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day , and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].

The first piece of armor is…

Ephesians 6:14a

¹⁴ So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist

Another translation says, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth”.

1 Peter 1:13-16

¹³ Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

¹⁴ As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

¹⁵ But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

¹⁶ Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

The Amplied bible says in verse 13

¹³ So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit—steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert], fix your hope completely on the grace [of God] that is coming to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Our loins are Pro-creative. These thoughts start something, the will carries it out, and it becomes an act, so in one way, it is the Pro-creative part of our soul structure in our mind, and for that reason is compared to our loins. The devil aims his attack against our minds, so God wants the loins of our minds to be girded with truth.

One area of attack against our minds is condemnation, a form of the spirit of bondage. There are also spirits of bondage that can plague our bodies, like that woman who was bent over, yet most are plagued with condemnation.

Many Christians live in a legalistic atmosphere, and are always trying to “keep themselves saved”, God desires, by his grace, to give us the girdle of truth, to gird up our minds, that we may know that when we are Gods child, we are always, and will always be Gods child. God wants you to know, we do not have to submit to the spirit of bondage. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”.

When we are born again, justification takes place. Salvation comes to our spirits (the holy of holies inside of us, our spirits). Justification – just as if I had never sinned, this is for our spirits salvation. God is spirit and His born-again sons and daughters are spirit and can’t sin because we are born again. Our spirit is only reserved for Christ, where there is no contamination of sin, it is the holy of holies within us. Christ within the hope of glory. This gives us a firm standing in the house (family) of God, of such a perpetual validity is never needed to be renewed.

Although the born again believer is sinless in his spirit, he is subject to sin in his soul and body. We have to warfare against this Canaanite and Ishmael spirit. The first of the seven sins of the adamic sin nature is pride in rebellion and stubbornness – stiff necked. Ishmael is a hurry up spirit, impatient to bring in the kingdom of God before Gods time. He chooses religion instead of the wooing of the Holy Spirit’s leading him to Jesus to be born-again. Satan is his god and father, as seen in the 5 “I wills” of Isaiah 14. Like Nimrod, Ishmael is a natural hunter of deer. His attitude is, I have my god and religion what do I need with a savior or Holy Spirit. The Canaanites were very advanced in knowledge and metals. They first used the alphabet we use today. They worshipped many different gods. The tribes lived in the area promised o Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Megiddo where the last battle will be fought is in this land.

Our promised land is in the heavenlies where we are to reign and rule with Christ. These heavens are sectioned off with strongholds of Principalities, Powers, World Rulers and Spiritual Wickedness in high places. As the epiphany, the brightness of Christ’s Coming draws near the great darkness of the heavens is faced to the earth.

The strongholds of Satan’s rulership over this earth are becoming more and more visible. Spiritual warriors are contending for the faith and pulling down strongholds the enemy has held from the beginning. They are surprised by the power and authority that they are being evicted with.

To warfare against the Canaanites we must be Consecrated and Holy before God. We admit our sin of pride and rebellion and stubbornness and look back to the Cross, the finished work work and blood of Christ for a perfect atonement. God has imputed Christ’s righteousness for our sin so we can come to the throne of Grace with a clear conscience washed in the blood.

As David dealt with Goliath of the Philistines, so do we with Ishmael of the Canaanites. God’s forgiveness of our sin nature has stripped Satan’s helper Ishmael of his armor and the Word of God stays him.

Romans 8:15

¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery (bondage) leading again to fear [of God’s judgment], but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [the Spirit producing sonship] by which we [joyfully] cry, “Abba! Father!”  

The severed head shows all of his power and dominion gone, his underlings and captives set free of bondage to fear.

Fear is more than a strong emotion, fear is the opposite of love, the most powerful weapon of the Kingdom of God. Fear then is the power of darkness, apostasy, self will worship, lawlessness, anarchy chaos, the one world church which satisfies mans desire for religion and deception fear he is unsaved. Fear has torment for it is the essence of satan as much as love is the essence of our Father. The dead Ishmael represents all of mans inventions of salvation outside of Jesus’ Crucifixion as the sin offering and death of soul in hell as the scapegoat and to resurrected to life reenter his body and step forth from the tomb.

The seven sufferings of Christ destroy the adamic sin nature, for the Holy Spirit is sent to convict the world of sin (adamic sin nature) of righteousness (that’s Christ’s) and Judgment (of Satan and his family). Sin nature and the body of death were reckoned with our Father as dead in the finished work at Calvary. Isaiah 53:45 begins naming the sufferings of Christ. We speak that lightning bolt to the defeated Canaanite tribe. For our sin nature of pride and rebellion and stubbornness Jesus was stricken. 

We move in and conquer the land of the Canaanites, our own souls that have been captives of the bondage to fear or the heavenly realm of dark princes, we speak forgiveness to God’s elect reconciliation and liberty to the captives and with our feet on the neck of the princes we pull down their stronghold and raise up the divine nature of righteousness and salvation in the hallowed name of Jehovah Nissi, our Captain, our banner of love.

This is Armageddon on the plains of Megiddo for the Canaanites. The latter rain judgment the purging oil of the Holy Spirit destroys the world of the Canaanites.

Isaiah 54:17

“No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;
And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn.
This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And this is their vindication from Me,”

Isaiah 26:14

The [wicked] dead will not live , the spirits of the dead will not rise and return; therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out every memory of them [every trace of them].

Isaiah 53:4-5

But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness ;
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.

Psalm 68:1-4

Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered;
Let those who hate Him flee before Him.
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
As wax melts before the fire,
So let the wicked and guilty perish before [the presence of] God.
But let the righteous be glad; let them be in good spirits before God,
Yes, let them rejoice with delight.
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Lift up a song for Him who rides through the desert—
His name is the Lord—be in good spirits before Him.