The Battle

This representation and service of their King does not occur without opposition as the King (Jesus) has an enemy that is cunning, deceitful and loveless, who tries to destroy the citizens and the work of The Kingdom of The Father.

Accordingly, the citizens have weapons to defeat the enemy but these weapons are of no use if the citizen does not have the knowledge of them, how they are used, the maturity to use them and the desire to use them. There is also armour provided for the Christian to assist them in this battle.

This armour has no rear protection as a Christian is always to face the enemy and be ready to attack him as is necessary. There is no way to turn your back on the enemy and run from the battle without being seriously hurt.

Any citizen not in this battle needs to ask whether they are in a period of rest from the battle, too immature to do battle, too tied up with the things of the enemy or maybe whether they even belong to The Kingdom.

The more a citizen loves their King and spends time with Him and seeing his Love working for them, the more they want to serve and represent their King and protect what is His.

The Armour of a Christian

Armour is put on by a person before he goes into battle. It identifies him as belonging to a certain army and ruled by a particular king. It allows him to fight with the weapons provided by his master. In the armour, he is able to attack the enemy and plunder the enemy’s territory! The armour of the Christian is received at salvation and is proof he belongs to Jesus and The Kingdom of The Father and is part of their army on earth. As it is a spiritual battle The Armour is spiritual.

The protection and authority of the armour depends on the authority of the King providing it and the way in which it is built to protect the soldier and more importantly, as to how much of it has been accepted and put on by the soldier. The armour is only put on with the approval of the king and for his purposes. We serve the mightiest and greatest King before whom all other kings must bow!

The armour is always put on for a purpose which is to defeat the enemy and their works.

The parts of the armour are the foundations of our Christian life. If we do not have all of these on us then we will have difficulty protecting our self fully.

The area of battle needs to be known to effectively fight the battle and as the battle is spiritual, fleshly weapons are of no use. You need to use God’s spiritual weapons as nothing else will work in this battle. We fight the plans of the leaders not just the individual demon soldiers. Demons work to a plan given to them by their rulers so you need to hinder or prevent the plan they are a part of as well as the efforts of the soldiers enforcing these plans. Just as God has a plan for each person so does Satan have a plan for each person.

The choice of armour is very important. It must all be put on and must be appropriate for the battle or you will not be fully protected or able to stay in the battle for long.

You must know what you are fighting for and live according to the requirements of the King to be authorised to battle. You need to know God’s truths to fight the lies of the enemy and be in a proper relationship with God so there is no weak spot in your life that the enemy can use to attack you. Jesus must be Lord of every area of your life so there is nothing unprotected that Satan can attack.

Reconciliation with God must first occur (The good news of the Gospel of Peace) so you can be a part of His army and worthy to fight His battles. The Gospel is also a weapon in stealing people from the enemy kingdom. Without reconciliation there is no foundation to the Christian life. We preach reconciliation and peace with God as our main weapon. Remember, we preach the Gospel of The kingdom and demonstrate its authority over Satan as part of our preaching.

You must have faith in the strategies of your King and in His ability to supply your necessities to fight as well as to heal any wounds obtained in the battle. You must believe He is more powerful than the enemy and is worth following otherwise Satan can make you doubt these and the Kings love for you so you become weaker in your resolve to fight the battle.

You must accept the call of the King to join the army as well as use the weapons He provides for you to fight with. You must know what the weapons are, how they are used and where to get them. The helmet protects the head where we think (mind, will is) just as God’s Salvation places us under His protection and His truths protect our mind. It is the truths of the Word in your mind that kept you from the deceits of the enemy (Satan and his kingdom). It is a spiritual battle which is why The Word, as explained by The Holy Ghost, is such a strong weapon.

If you do not study and meditate on The Bible you will not know the truths of God that The Holy Spirit will use to set you free and use to guide you in this battle.

You must ask for your supplies and guidance according to the rules of the King for obtaining these things. Prayer is primarily for battle as God promises to provide our needs. Worship is not prayer it is an expression of love as is adoration and thankfulness. You must also believe all the hardships endured for the king are worth it so you will endure to the end (Heb. 11:6).

Prayer then serves at least two purposes:

The Word of Command (in Jesus Name) to remove the enemy from the battle and to take his kingdom by force,

Asking for fellow labourers and the things the enemy has as they really belong to Jesus and He will work to help you obtain them if they are in accordance with His Will.

All prayers of request should be in accordance with God’s Will or for the purposes of seeking God’s Will.

You must support each other in any action against the enemy

The armour of a Christian is dynamic based on what Jesus has done for us at Calvary and upon our accepting what He has done. It signifies that our citizenship belongs to the Kingdom of The Father and that our battles are those of Jesus for despoiling the Kingdom of Darkness and rescuing souls from its clutches. It shows we stand for Jesus, His rules and requirements and like all soldiers, are willing to die for our commander.

A soldier goes into battle knowing he may die but he obeys the orders given to him as they are the best chance he has for life and carrying out the King’s Wishes! The soldier is willing to die for His King and for the sake of The kingdom and the people in it whether related to him or not. So it should be with all who serve in the army of Jesus!

The armour of the Christian is God’ preparation for you to be able to take part in His battles as well as protection in the battle. It is interesting that the armour has no back to it as if a Christian’s only defence against Satan is to attack Him.

The Weapons of a Christian

Our war is a spiritual one and so the weapons must be spiritual. Their effects can be seen in the physical though, which is why some have assumed it is a physical battle. Medicine is based on this assumption and is not successful in many illnesses because it treats only the physical so cannot explain what happens when a spiritual approach is taken and there is healing. The flesh (man’s reasoned methods) does not avail in this battle.

There are at least four weapons:

Rewards

God is not a hypocrite and must reward us according to His rules. This belief in a reward is one of the requirements of faith in God’s goodness (Heb. 11:6). According to how you serve as a citizen of His Kingdom will be your reward:

If we really believe these rewards then nothing on earth will be more important than serving our King and using what he has given us for the good of others once we have met the needs of those we are responsible for.

God is our Reward

In Ps 15:1 God says to Abraham that He is his protection and Reward. This has not changed so when we follow Jesus as Lord and Saviour He, The Father and The Holy Spirit are our reward and protect us. We are given a relationship with all three and from that relationship follow our rewards as we reap the benefit of these relationships because they allow God now to give them to us.

The more we develop the relationship with God, the closer the intimacy with God we will have, the more we will expose of ourselves to each other, the greater the service we will do for Him and the more He can reward us.

The relationships with The Father, Jesus and The Holy Spirit and the salvation is our eternal reward to seek anything else as a reward misunderstands how God relates to us and is idolatry. All other rewards in heaven are a result of the quality of the relationship we have with them.

Only as you focus on Jesus and the relationships we have with He, The Father and The Holy Spirit can The Father truly reward you as He wants to, now and in heaven.

This affects our attitude towards prosperity and the like. Things like prosperity theology are wrong as they focus on wealth and possessions being our rewards and not on the relationship we have with Jesus, The Father and The Holy Spirit as being our reward.

Prosperity and wealth are things Satan uses to reward His Follower. On Earth Jesus promises to provide all our needs but states our rewards are in heaven. His reward on earth is more intimacy and spiritual promotion as we grow closer to Him, giving Him more of our life to be Lord over and serve Him as He desires us too.

Some crowns mentioned as rewards are as follows:

Types of Rewards

Relational Gifts (a result of salvation)

Service Gifts (a result of our desire to serve God)

Rewards (These are for services rendered - a result of our obedience)

While the Gifts are a result of God’s Love and Mercy, the rewards and crowns are a result of obedient service. A person will not be given the spiritual reward of another’s labour or a labour they had no part in. While they may benefit from the results of that labour they cannot partake in the rewards God has for that labour (Gal 6:7-8). While the physical rewards on earth may be taken from the person by Satan, he cannot remove from anyone their rewards in heaven.

Prosperity or wealth is not a reward. God promises to provide all our need and prosper us as He needs to for His purposes. To seek prosperity for its own sake is to say that God has not given you what you need and will allow Satan to sidetrack you. We are told to pray "give us this day our daily bread" not "Give us all we can get". The true follower of Jesus is not content with what this world offers and rejects it preferring to use and enjoy what God gives them. Their treasure is in heaven so they do not seek the prosperity this world offers but that which their God gives which can never be taken from them.

Remember that we can lose out crowns (Rev 3:11) and salvation (Rev 3:5) and that it is our decisions that determine our salvation, rewards and relationship to Jesus.