Hello, my brothers and sisters! Once again, I've decided to make a little post in this here forum.

At the moment, I'd like to address the subject of Biblically Proactive Spiritual Warfare or, as we shall know it, doing what you can to make yourself what you should be and preventing yourself from falling into the sin so commonly felt among humans( aka. apathetic stagnation ).

We, as fairly self-knowing fellows and fellowettes, know ourselves to be naturally carnal. We were born with it and we must live with it for the rest of our days. The Biblical problem with all of this is that carnality actually delights in itself and the company of those who do the same( Romans 1:32 ), and thus will not fix itself! Ipso facto, "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."( 1 Peter 5:16 ), we must take action to ensure that not only do we avoid that which is bad, but practice that which is good! This will not come naturally because, as Tertullian said, "how wise in all manner of reason does human wisdom seem to herself when she is in danger of losing the least of her pleasures."

Don't be discouraged, though, fellow members in the Body of Christ, we have indeed greater revelation than all the other people in the world as God has certainly revealed parts of Himself and His will to us in His Word! The only thing preventing this generally accepted truth from really transforming us is our own carnality.

Surely you have all felt as I have when you sit down to read your Bible and a thousand different distracting things instantly wish to impress themselves upon your thoughts, some of which even come from reading the Scriptures themselves! Whether or not you subscribe to my own positions on demonology, you must agree that it is either our own carnality, the demons of hell, or a combination of these two that prevent us from reading this, the only book really useful to us, and yet don't necessarily mind us reading something like "The Book of Virtues". Surely it shouldn't be so hard for us to read something we know to be so useful and transforming! Brothers and Sisters, I submit to you that in this "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"( Ephesians 5:12 ). I don't have any other way to describe it perfectly beyond this simple statement.

So then, what shall we do to combat this terrible foe? Well, the verse immediately preceding the above quoted one answers that perfectly.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Let us review the armour, shall we?

Ephesians 6:14-18

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth" -- ref. Isaiah 11:5

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that here is described a form of belt. If so, we could easily deduce and agree that truth is what will hold together the rest of the amour that God has supplied.

How do we acquire this Belt of Truth? Well, read with me John 8:31-32.

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Based upon those verses, I would say that if we "continue in (His) word", which is the Holy Bible, we will know the truth and it will set us free from our own misconceptions of God and our purpose as humans.

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"..and having on the breastplate of righteousness;" -- ref. Isaiah 59:17

The breastplate is particularly important, as we all know, because it shields our heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, and other terribly vital organs from harm. Of course, that being said, as this is a metaphorical breastplate, it shields metaphorical "organs" such as the "heart", which is really something rooted in our souls. Therefore, it seems very important to me that we discover and utilize this metaphorical breastplate.

So, what is righteousness? Well, Dictionary.com defines it as something that is:

# Morally upright; without guilt or sin: a righteous parishioner.
# In accordance with virtue or morality: a righteous judgment.
# Morally justifiable: righteous anger.

Where shall we be properly taught morality and, therefore, that which is "morally upright"? Well, read the verses below:

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Scripture seems to be saying that It is our only God-breathed manual for "instruction in righteousness", given so "That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."! It seems to correlate well with Jesus' words above, which stated that if we "continued in (His) word" or teachings, we would know the truth, which would set us free. Frankly, it could be bluntly stated that Jesus' Word and God's Word are truly one and the same, as they are both equally God's, even as they two are both equally God.

Therefore, I would conclude that Scripture is how God has enabled us to learn of His "instruction(s) in righteousness" and thereby shield our vital "organs".

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"And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" -- ref. Isaiah 52:7, Proverbs 25:25

Now, as I see it, this could refer to two different things or a combination thereof, which are either: 1.) Having your feet ready to facilitate the propagation of the Gospel as commissioned us by Matthew 28:19;20 or 2.) Preparing yourself to walk in the peace shown to us in the saying "..turn the other cheek.."( Mat 5:39 ) and in 1 Peter 2:19-23. I'd appreciate to hear what you think later, but for the moment I think it sufficient for us to consider it a combination of these two things.

On second thought, I'd say that, really, the second would compliment the first in a most excellent fashion, as it would improve our witness before the world if we walked in peace and understanding rather than in the rioting and fear of the common unregenerate man, who we are to live with, but not as.

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"Above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the darts of the evil one being kindled."

I'm sure that you know as well as I that the enemy constantly throws things at us that make us doubt both our understanding of the Bible and even the truth of the Bible itself! This sometimes comes in the form of scientific papers which "show" that the world could "possibly" exist "without something beyond the natural realm". At other times, it comes in the form of good sounding philosophies, which do not derive from a knowledge and understanding of God, but do possess, or rather plagiarize, some of the awesome truths of God and His Word. Both of these can only be logically ignored if you have a faith in something higher than in the ability of man to discover the truth. Only God and His Word can give you that which you need to logically ignore the conjectures of biased men who are driven by their constant discovery of the sovereignty of God to a hatred of He Whom they can not control.

It is more important that we believe God and never understand, than for we to believe man and so die in our "understanding".

To achieve this "higher" faith, I think we will have to "study to show (ourselves) approved"( 2Ti 2:15 ) very hard indeed! Even the devil is driven off by "It is written"( Mat 4:4; 7; 10 ), but how can we respond so if we do not know what is written? Indeed, it seems to me vital that we study the Word of God as with a mortal fear of falling further than even we ourselves know ourselves to be capable!

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"And take the helmet of salvation" -- ref. Isaiah 59:17

I understand this "helmet" to be something that serves to protect our "head" or thoughts, especially concerning salvation. Even if you have a shield of faith in God that is unbreakable, if you then do not secure your "head" or thoughts, you can be made to doubt your own salvation, despite your unbreakable faith that God indeed both exists and saves His people, and perhaps think that despite God's doing this, He did not do so for or to you.

I have noticed that among the greatest men of God the world has ever seen, most have experienced doubt and fears concerning their own salvation for at least a few of their formative years. Some of these names you may recognize: John Bunyan, J.C. Ryle, David Brainard, and the list really goes on and on. Something I have noticed as I looked over all of them and their fears is that they really couldn't have had these concerns about their own depravity and sins if God had not made them care! I'd say that if you're not spiritually alive, you're in a state of deadly numbness and therefore can not care about your relation with God. Therefore, in this thought I think we can all rest assured in our salvation when we are made to doubt it: If we had not been made spiritually alive in Christ, we could no more have such concerns or cares than a dead man could have an itch he felt necessary to scratch.

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"And take.. ..the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" -- ref. Hebrews 4:12

I think the above reference is an extremely powerful statement, so I'll quote it below:

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

From the account given in Matthew 4, I'd say that the Word of God is so implausibly and surpassingly sharp or effective that even the mere sight or threat of its usage causes those who are convicted by it to quake or, in the words of James 4:7, flee even from you, who neither spoke it nor made it authoritative! God is really that magnificently awesome and His Word is no less Himself than He is( Joh 1:1 )!

It can not be expressed by the greatest words of man, or much less by the finite vocabulary of yours truly, how drastically important or critically crucial or earnestly essential it is to the Child of God that he hear the Words of his Father. It is the only authority we can learn by or know how we should do anything. Get in that Word of God, Child!

Your very life depends on it..

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"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"

An army lives or dies by the decisions made on the battlefield. Therefore, the wisest and most experienced man is given charge and control of entire army, so that he may in his experience and wisdom guide them. He is far too valuable to be risked in combat, so he usually has a head of operations or HQ where he keeps in constant communication with the troops concerning their needs and their actions. If this link of communication is broken, the army usually dies shortly thereafter, no matter how well equipped. Ipso facto, the number one goal of an adversary is to disrupt the lines of communications between troops and their general.

The parallel between this human battlefield and the spiritual battlefield on which we are on the front lines can not be ignored or under-estimated. If we are not constantly talking with the General, we die. If we are in talking with Him, we know what to do and expect. It really is as simple as that. Either we pray or we are spiritually overcome by forces both without us and within. Of course, our General will most definitely rescue us, but we will be dealt a blow we will not recover from without great time for recovery and then what will happen at our post on the front lines? Someone else will have to fill in for us, which is something no brother would wish on another. Therefore, let us "pray without ceasing"( 1Th 5:17 ).

Well, I have a party to attend, and therefore no more time to refine my post. I apologize for the errors I wrote and I invite you to show me my mistakes so that the article can be perfected. Comments are welcome and invited.

Love you people,

Tyler <><

Edited for spelling once.