Unite & Fight! Part 1

Breathe - for women....

Unite and Fight! Part 1 --
by Cindi Dailey

We are in a battle for our lives! Our church, our families, and our marriages are all being attacked. We can either choose to wallow in the depths of despair, be part of the problem, or rise up—say enough’s enough, and fight! God has called us to be warriors, not wimps.

Luke 22:31-32 "And the Lord said,“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

While we know that each one of us will have a season of sifting, we need to also learn how to be prepared to enter the fight. To know how to defeat the enemy, we must learn about him. We can also take comfort in knowing that, as Christians, Jesus is walking it with us through it.

Enemy’s character:

• Cunning & crafty–– Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.”

• Prideful - Ezekiel 28:11-19 - Vs 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.

        o Satan let his position and power fill him with pride. God called him the “anointed   cherub” and stated that he was the “perfection of beauty.”
 
        o Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

• Usurper- Isaiah 14:12-15 – Vs 13-14 “You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will set on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.”

       o Satan tried to usurp God’s throne. He wanted God’s position and power, but he failed to remember that only belongs to God. Satan also failed to remember that he is a created being and that the only reason he is still walking the earth is because God allows it.

       o Rev 12:12 “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

• Manipulative/Deceiving—2 Corinthians 11:13-15 – Vs 14 – “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”

• Liar & Father of Lies – John 8:42-47- Vs. 44- “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Enemy’s goals:


• Steal, kill, and destroy. John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy…”

      o Also: 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

• Prevent men from coming to Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

      o Satan will do or say ANYTHING to keep people from repenting and coming to Christ

• Chain up the Believers – Gal 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

      o Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed”

      o Also Isaiah 61:1

      o If Satan could not leave the believer back into bondage/chains, Paul would not have warned us against it. Satan wants to render the Christian harmless and put him back in chains.