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How to fight an Angel!

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SpiritualWarfareIn 1805, General Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the world’s most notorious emperors, won one of his most successful battles known to date, The Battle of Austerlitz. Although outnumbered, facing off against two strong enemy powers at the same time, Russia and Austria, Napoleon was able to deliver an amazing defeat to his enemies. While Napoleon lost only 13% of his army, both Russia and Austria lost 37% of theirs.[And] Unlike most defeats, which would normally result in signed-off treaties between any typical opposing powers, The Battle of Austerlitz caused massive damage even after the treaties were signed. While Napoleon gained access to more territory, the Holy Roman Empire was both literally and effectively put out of existence. The question then is… How did he do it? How was Napoleon the emperor able to win against two empires at the same time and come out ever so victorious; consequentially causing one Empire to cease to exist? There are two logical explanations as to the answer to this question. Firstly, Napoleon had to have known his enemy; for if he did not know, how would he have known whom to fight, and how to fight them? Secondly, he had to develop a good strategy; one in which would give him a good advantage in battle!  Ultimately it was Napoleon’s preparation that gave him the upper hand, which ultimately gave him his significant win!

Interestingly enough there is a question asked in the Bible that teaches us about the art of being prepared for battle. Luke14:31 asks “ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?”  When one man walked this earth approximately some 2000 years ago, he too had to prepare. All though the whole world was against him, he was able to triumph in battle!

 

It takes great skill to fight a powerful opponent, but even greater skills when the odds are against you!”

 

Imagine for example, you being in the ring with Mr. Iron Mike Tyson; or being in a karate match against Bruce-lee? How do you think you would measure up? What about in life or death situations? Let us imagine you are both hungry and tired while suddenly finding yourself circled by a pack of hungry Lions? What are your chances of surviving in any of these situations? I don’t know about you, but if I were in any of these situations I would probably poop my pants, and hope for a stench so strong that my enemy would have to give-up( now that’s what I call true skills!). I mean no Lion would want to eat a stinky dirty meal right? Fortunately for us these are just pretend situations, but in real life situations how would we stand?

 

In plain reality there are situations that would far surpass any of the ones previously mentioned. More specifically, imagine having to fight a being that some may not even know exist! Beings so powerful that they would make Bruce-lee karate chop himself in the neck, Mike Tyson run out of the ring before the 1st round, and the pack of hungry wild Lions play dead without command! Do you know who or what I am talking about? These beings are… Angels! What.. Did you just say angels?  Yes I did; something we fight against every day. And, just how powerful are Angels?

Well let’s see:

They’re invisible! -Looks like a blind person has the same chance as we do.

They have tons of experience – They were created before us.

They are lightning fast!

They have an incredible amount of power.

There are lots of them.

In both 2Kings19:35 and Isiah37:36 we see that it took only one angel to defeat 185,000 men! (What’s 300 Spartans to an Angel?) Just how strong are angels? Pretty strong if you ask me! Needless to say that we pale in comparison! Lucky for us we don’t have to fight them …right? I wish I could say “no” to this one, but the sad truth is whether we realize it or not we fight Angels every day! Here’s the good news; there is a way in which angels can be easily plummeted, dismantled, and obliterated, if you know how to fight them. So the question is ..how can you fight an angel?

Time to prepare!!!

1st KNOW YOUR ENEMY

1) So how do angels fight us? Well first thing to know is that Angels are spirits (Hebrews1:7), therefore their attacks are spiritual! This means, unlike a boxer, a karate expert, or a pack of wild hungry lions, Angel’s attacks are not physical, which in a sense is a good thing. I mean, could you imagine fighting something with all the traits which I’ve just mentioned: them being invisible, lightning fast, and having an incredible amount of power? Do you think you’d even have a chance to tell the story?

Key point: Angel are spirits, therefore their attacks are spiritual!

2) Another important fact to know is that there are good angels, and bad angels. Good angels side with God and help to protect those who ask for their help. Bad angels side with Satan, and are currently known as devils or demons (Revelation12:7-10). The ones who we are concerned about are the bad angels. And though there are bad angels, it is important to know that originally they we’re created good. How they became bad? That’s another story to be covered later! (For those who can’t wait to find out, read chapters 29-32 in  a book called “The Great Controversy” by E.G.W  ,or watch this video here)

Key point: There are good angels and there are bad angels!

3) So what is the objective of evil angels? Simple! An evil angel’s job is to do lead us into destruction by doing whatever they can, to keep us away from God! The next question is “how?” They do this by many ways (too much for me to write), but I’ll go over just a few principle key ways that I feel are most important. Demons are very subtle beings, and come in various of forms. They work best when one is completely unaware of them, and often times go unnoticed. They tend to work covertly though situations  and/or people. They primarily work by influencing our everyday decisions. A good example of where this is seen is in Genesis 3:1-6, when the serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit. Though Eve saw a serpent, what’s important was what she didn’t see! Revelation12:9 reveals to us that it was Satan himself who was that “old serpent”.  In this particular case, Satan used the serpent to influence his will , that is for Eve to eat the fruit, and ultimately she did!

Key point: A devil’s main objective is to lead us away from God, working subtly and/or covertly to control us through situation, events, and/or people.

So… how do they attack?

ATTACK 1: Divert our Focus! ( Matthew6:22-24, Genesis3:1)

24 hours in a day how do you spend it? Online watching movies, playing video games, shopping for new clothes, at work trying to generate enough income to pay a bill, or trying to impress that significant other? While none of these things are inherently evil, they can still be dangerous if they start to consume most of our time. How so you ask? When was the last time you picked up a bible? Out of 168 hours a week, how many are spent trying to know God? The Devil makes your focus/purpose everything in the world except what’s really important in life, that is having a personal relationship with Jesus!* Please see Matthew6:31-33

ATTACK 2: Making the truth a lie, and the lie a truth! (2 Corinthians11:13-15, Genesis3:4)

The Devil knows what is good for us, and he also knows how to keep us from it. In-fact he is an expert at making the good look bad, and bad look good; and he does this through lies This is why John8:44 calls Satan the “father of lies!”.”Smoking is good for you”, “Nothing wrong with staying up late at night”,” unprotected sex isn’t going to hurting no one”. How many people have reached for the candy apple bait, and then end up with the bitter consequences? In the garden, Satan told Eve that what God lied to her about dying as a consequence for eating the fruit; thus, painting God the creator, who loves the world that he would die for the world, as the “bad guy”. He first made her doubt God, and then he presented the fruit as something unbelievable good! He insinuated that God wasn’t looking out for them, but instead hiding something as he told her in Genesis3:4-5 ye shall not surely die; For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” In other words what he said  was ” God isn’t hiding the fruit from you because you’ll die, (look at me I’m alive and I can talk), but because he knows it’ll make you guys gods!This is the real reason!” Man, if only she knew the truth! Do you know what the truth is?

ATTACK 3: Attacking your sin ( James2:14-15, 1 Peter5:8 )

The Devil doesn’t sleep, and he has been around before the Earth was created. He practically knows every human being by name, and person/personality. This means while you’re sleeping he is busy finding new ways to keep you from obtaining victory, that is freedom from sin! He studies us like a book, and knows very well what our weaknesses are. This means he also knows how to influence us to continue in sin. One of his best attacks in making us want or desire something which we shouldn’t want, so that it would be hard for us to give that thing up. For example, if I ask “could you go a day without eating carob chips?” most likely the answer would be yes. This is because, if you’re like most people you don’t know what carob chips are. If you don’t know what carob chips are, then you probably don’t want any carob chips; I mean, how could you want something that you’ve never had, right? But now if I ask “could you go a day without eating chocolate?” that might be a different story. This is because once you’ve tasted chocolate and acquire a liking for it, you actually start to want more and more of it. In like manner, this is how the Devil gets us. He makes us desire the forbidden fruit, and then once we’ve taken a bite we get hooked. Then when you’re trying to quit a particular habit or sin he makes it near impossible. Since angels are spirits they’ll manifest themselves as many ways as possible. You decide that you no longer want to eat chocolate, but for some reason everyone around you starts offering you free chocolate truffles like it was Halloween! If only there was a way to get rid of these bad habits!

ATTACK 4: Persecution ( Revelation12:10,17, Matthew13:21)

Evil spirits will do anything to stop you from getting closer to God, but their specialty is in the form of persecution! Persecution is not something that feels good, in fact it feels horrible! More specifically, persecution is a direct attack which seeks to cause harm and offense physically and/or emotionally, and comes in many forms. So how does Satan and his angels seek to persecute us? If you start to become a threat to his kingdom, that is having a relationship with Jesus and advancing the gospel, he will seek to make life as unpleasant as possible. One thing he begins doing is throwing dirt on your name, spreading gossip and slander in order to destroy old friendships, as well as to prevent potential relationships from building. He has people misunderstand and scrutinize your EVERY move, and then wrongly accuse you for doing right (hence Christian and church bashers as per Revelation12:10, and 2 Peter3:3-7). When he sees that you’re not bending to his attacks, he’ll turn it up a notch! Not only will you lose friends, but you’ll start to lose your family as well. He’ll look for ways to instigate attacks of violence, even going as far as attempting murder. This is why Christ died, as he was often persecuted most of his ministry. Besides the various rumors and misjudgments pronounced against him, Christ also had to endure numerous attempts at his life. When Satan saw his attacks as unsuccessful, he used one of Christ’s own disciples to turn him over to authorities which ultimately resulted in his death! How do we deal with persecution?

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So now we have come to know a little bit about how evil angels (demons) operate! They are relentless beings whose only mission is to control the population leading them to destruction, by leading  them away from God! Despite what many people think, these beings tend to work best unseen working covertly through situations, events, and people. There are cases where they manifest themselves directly, as they have the power to create illusions and perform miracles ( Revelation16:14);even having power to transform themselves into familiar spirits ( watch out for mediums, psychics anyone who speak to the dead as per Deuteronomy18:9-12). They like diverting our attention, deceiving us (making the truth a lie), keeping us in sin, and persecuting us! They also are more powerful, faster, unseen (invisible), and worse of all they have been fighting humans since the worlds began! This means they study your habits day by day, and can almost predict your every move! How in the world do you fight such a being?!?Is there even a way to fight these spirits? The answer…..Yes! There is only one way to defeat a force so powerful; do you want to know what that way is…..? Do you want to know the truth? No war strategy anyone could write could can work against these entities! Don’t get me wrong, there are strategies used to fight angels, but it will only work under one condition!

To fight an angel, you need something or someone who knows everything about them! Something that knows their every move, and their every habit before they do! Something that is above and beyond their ability and power! Something that they themselves can’t comprehend! How do you know their lies? How do you keep focus? How do you endure persecution? How do you keep from falling? The only way … Jesus Christ! Through a relationship with Christ Jesus you have more than enough to defeat any demon! Even Satan himself must bow down to the master, for devils tremble in his presence ( James2:19 ). If you don’t have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, then following my strategy to a tee won’t do you a lick of good! If you don’t have a relationship with Christ, then ask him to enter into your heart, and live a life of sincere repentance and watch the transformation! Enter into the relationship, then follow this simple strategy and you will receive VICTORY!

Time to develop a strategy!

* Strategy taken from Matthew4:1-11 where Jesus was our example!

Strategy1 Know God!

As discussed previously, knowing God is the prerequisite to defeating Satan! Why? Because the main objective of evil angels is to keep all mankind away from him! Once you know God, which means to have a good relationship with him, you are automatically given divine protection through the Holy Spirit which stops the devil from having his way with you. This means having constant communion with God through prayer! This also means that you must know him daily (instead of once a week during church).Having a relationship with God you must come to know him for yourself, and not through/by other people. Just because your pastor knows him, doesn’t mean you know him. Don’t get me wrong, you can learn about God through those who know him, but you yourself should be seeking God independently as well. So the question is; How do you know God? (See strategy 2)

Strategy 2 Know thy word!

Through his word! The bible is the only safe ground that tells us what we need to know about God! Try committing yourself thoroughly to his word, through bible studies and devotions! And again, this is more than just once a week at church! Knowing God is a commitment not a onetime event! Try committing the principles to your memory and heart, by memorizing and meditating on his word! This way when the Devil tries to lie to you ( going against biblical principle ), you can use scripture to refute him as  Christ did in Matthew4;  you can say to him” It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This is equivalent to “it’s ok to steal, no one has to know,” and you saying ” but the bible says  thou shall not steal, that’s the 8th commandment!”  * see Exodus20:3-17 for the Ten Commandments

Strategy 3 Be persistent!

There is a false belief that once you enter a relationship with Christ, that there is no way you can leave that relationship! This my friend is a complete lie! Christ will never separate himself from us, but we can choose to separate from him ( Romans 8:38-39 ).With that being said, “remain persistent!” This is because a relationship with God, like every other relationship on earth, is progressive. When you come to God it is because you realize you’ve fallen short of his glory, as per  Romans3:23, and you realize you need his help. God will then give you the gift of eternal life, which is to know him and his son (John17:3), through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Once God gives you the Holy Spirit you will have victory over sin as your character changes  as you learn more about him day by day. After spending time with God, enjoying life more abundantly, you’ll be thankful, showing your appreciation through faith! Through faith, because you trust that he has your best interest at heart! Through faith because you’ll keep his commandments! The devil will try his best to wear you down, but you must push through and persevere! The devil, just like he did to Eve in garden, will try to discourage you by bringing forth seeds of doubt of God’s character. This is one of the many reasons why there are so many atheist, as there are false misconstrued ideas of who God really is. This is why progressively establishing faith in God, getting to know him for yourself, is so important; for if Eve knew or had more faith in God then she would’ve known that what the serpent/devil told her about him was lie.  When the devil sees your persistency, and that he is having a hard time getting to you he’ll try to persecute you, but Mark13:13 lets us know “he that shall endure till the end, the same shall be saved!” But the question is;  How do you survive persecution? With the power of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit changes your mentality and persecution will be something you rejoice in! *see Acts5:31

Strategy 4 What is True repentance for 100 points please!?

What is true repentance? II Corinthians7:10 tells us that when you feel sorry with a “godly sorrow” for sins (or wrongful actions) committed in the past, it will lead to true repentance. Verse 11, of that same chapter, tells us that you will have a complete change in attitude and mindset against your sin; as with “zeal, vehement desire, and revenge” you turn away from your sins. Ultimately this “godly sorrow”, as verse 10 originally tells us, “worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of“. So why is this important? Or even a better question; what does this have to do with fighting angels?  1Peter5:8 lets us know that”the devil, (is) as a roaring lion, (that) walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Angels have intelligence, and like lions, they study their opponent before they strike; and as discussed previously, they are keen observers of your daily habits. However, when you come to Christ you are a new creature (2 Corinthians5:17). As a new creature, because of your relationship with Christ, you are constantly changing and forming new habits; habits which these “Lions” are unfamiliar with, making the devil “work” extra hard to get to you to fall (Ephesians4:28 ).This is why as a Christian you must guard the avenues of your soul in the things you choose to spend time doing, because the devil will be persistent in presenting temptation ( Proverbs4:23 ). So why does the devil present temptation? Good question!!When you have the Holy Spirit, a lion sees 15 feet angels walking in-front and behind you that seek to protect you (I don’t know the actual height, just hypothetically speaking here)! In order for the lion to get you he must get you out of your protection and/or relationship, then he can strike! Just because you have the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that the devil will not try to get you to fall; misery needs company, you use to be his and he wants you BACK! The question now is “how does he get us out of God’s protection?” What the devil does, to get us out of God’s protection, is get us to sin (disobeying God’s commandments and principles).Why? Because sin separates us from God (Isiah59:2).Of course when we sin we must follow 1 John1:9 and repent, asking the Lord for forgiveness, and the Lord is gracious enough to forgive us, so the sin isn’t necessarily the problem. The problem comes when we aren’t truly sorry for our sin, and start to commit the sin over and over again (habitual sin).If you willingly continue in sin, you are by default expressing independence from God and his sacrifice becomes vain ( Hebrews10:26).You may continue and pray to God and ask for forgiveness, but if you know in your mind that you don’t plan to stop , most likely because you love that sin, then your prayer was in vain. Now don’t get me wrong, just because you repeatedly commit a particular sin, that doesn’t mean that God’s grace is removed from you  if you are truly trying to repent. However, blatantly and repeatedly ignoring God’s spirit is not true repentance. To defeat the devil you must simply did what Jesus did. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James4:7).” When you have a relationship with God, sin becomes disgusting therefore hard to commit! It’s simple! If you practice sincere repentance the Devil loses!

Strategy 5 Fasting!

When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he had just come off of a 40 day fast! Though he was weak in the flesh being hungry, he was exceedingly strong in the spirit. Maintaining his relationship with God through prayer, he had faith that God could maintain his life, thus resisting the devil’s temptations. Is it a coincidence that our Lord and Savior was able to resist all of the devil’s strongest temptations, after fasting? Jesus himself spoke about the incredible power of fasting when he casted out a demon, which his disciples couldn’t. The disciples now curious wondered why Jesus was able to cast a demon which they themselves couldn’t. Jesus tells them that it is because of their unbelief, and also that ‘certain kinds’ goeth out by fasting and praying! Do I need to say more? Fasting gives us power to do things that we wouldn’t normally be able to do, including rebuking demons. This means if you are struggling with a sin, fasting may be just what you need to overcome that sin and/or temptation! If you feel like you need victory over sin, maybe God may want you to fast! It may be a little challenging, but all the effects of fasting is truly beautiful. If you practice ‘self-control’ through the power of fasting, how can the devil control you? If you’re having trouble with this issue of fasting, you may have to ask God for more power and strength through the Holy Spirit! * Story found in Matthew17:14-23

Conclusion

We have learned that here on earth a very real war is going on that most people are unaware of! Evil angels also known as demons seek to destroy humanity by leading them away from God! These beings have a superior advantage over humans; them being invisible to the human eye, lightning fast, exceedingly powerful, abundant in experience and intelligence, and operating covertly; we have no chance of survival! Since we cannot fight these beings by ourselves and live, we must find something or someone to fight them for us! There is only one solution to alleviating the problem, “a relationship with Jesus Christ!” Through having a relationship with Jesus, not only will the problem be alleviated, but completely obliterated as we reach new heights with in that relationship! Through Jesus we have access to eternal life, and ultimately the “victory!”

There concludes “how to fight an angel!” Any questions, just write in the comment below and I’ll attempt to answer them! God bless!

Bill

Bill

Hello im Bill and I love the Lord. I often find myself witnessing to others about the love of Christ, reading and researching ways to live a healthy lifestyle, and reading the Bible. I'm here to help, so if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. God bless!

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