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Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt and I am glad to have fellowship with you today.

There is an unseen battle that affects us all. None of us can avoid it. It effects every part of our life.

Your mind is under attack and there are times you can’t even trust your own thoughts because of this unseen battle. You might think the problem is just a random synapse firing in your brain, but I am here to tell you about a spiritual war.

This battle effects every area…

Your marriage is affected. Divorce injures in your heart… you thought it was all caused by a being exposed to bad examples of parents. This brokenness goes beyond the natural and into the supernatural.

Our self-control problems may be more than learning to tell yourself “No.” It could be a war that you are unaware of.  Our problems with food, over-spending time & money, and even addictions may be a battlefield of an unseen realm.

Our physical body is affected. What you think is a physical pain may be an attack that originates in a spiritual realm.

Spiritual Warfare

This unseen battle is Spiritual Warfare

This battle is NOT first PHYSICAL… it is FIRST SPIRITUAL.

Before you saw the temptation in the physical, there was an invisible spirit at work, warring against you.

Before you thought the thought or said the word that would end up destroying your relationship, it was a spiritual issue.

Paul said it this way in Romans 7:21

“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me… Another force (law) is at work within my members warring against my very mind.”  (paraphrase)

Let’s define this unseen battle.

Spiritual Warfare – A conflict in the unseen angelic realm that is affecting the physical, visible realm.

Another way to put it, something happening in heaven, that is affecting Earth.

We are talking about an invisible battle, between invisible beings, that effects your daily life.   

Ephesians 6:12(NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Whether we realize it or not, we are in a battle, fighting forces we CANNOT see, but their effect on us we CAN see. We can see the damage left behind. We can see the collateral damage.

The scripture says our struggle is not flesh and blood… Our struggle is not with people. People are not the source of the struggle.  People can be used in the battle, but they are not the source of this unseen war.

Our enemy in this war, satan, has deceived us to believe that people are the source of the struggle.

The person that you are fighting, is not the source of your struggle. You are in a battle, fighting the wrong person.

What happens through people has a spiritual source. This does not exonerate people for the evil they do, but instead it views the conflict in its true context.

Everything in the physical has a spiritual counterpart.

With our 5 senses we can experience the physical.

• We can see the violent images of the Taliban in Afghanistan… But can we sense the spiritual counterpart that is the origin of that violence?
• We can hear the lies and the hurtful words… but can we sense the spiritual counterpart that formed the thought you hear?
• We can feel the physical abuse of hatred… but can we sense the spiritual counterpart beyond the physical?

Until we address the spiritual cause we can never repair the physical effect.

This series will help fix your problems in the physical by focusing on the unseen spiritual realm. Why not give this a try… You have been focusing on the physical and not seeing solutions. You have been throwing physical dollars at a problem, without realizing you needed a spiritual solution. You have been giving physical energy, with no result.  Let’s focus on the unseen battle.

Should we focus on the natural & the supernatural
Should we focus on the physical & the spiritual

We should focus on both. We need to live a physical and a spiritual life.  We need to operate in the natural & the supernatural.

In Jesus Christ we serve a Lord who is both SPIRIT and PHYSICAL, NATURAL and SUPERNATURAL.

This battle is spiritual & physical, natural & supernatural as well.

The unseen battle is spiritual in its cause and physical in its effect. 
There are physical effects in your life that ought to be directing you to look outside of the realm of the physical for a solution.

Your Physical is under attack by the spiritual!

Personal Relationships

Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.

There is a relationship between your tangible emotions and the intangible spiritual battle. Your anger links to the devil gaining a foothold in your life.

Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

When a Husband & Wife do not have a dynamic PHYSICAL life, it leads to an opportunity for a SPIRITUAL attack. Paul warns that depriving your spouse in the PHYSICAL opens a door for a SPIRITUAL enemy.

Your physical health

In the book of Job the devil is allowed to attack Job. Satan attack’s Job’s children, his marriage, his friendships, his livelihood, and also his physical health.

The pain in your body may come through the spiritual realm and not the physical realm.

Matthew 17:14-15(NIV) When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.

A man brings his son to Jesus. The son has a physical issue we call seizures.  What does Jesus do?

Matthew 17:18(NIV) Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

An unseen battle was going on within the child. It manifested as physical, but Jesus called out a SPIRITUAL enemy.

1 Tim 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

The Church is not excluded from this spiritual war. Deceiving spirits and doctrinal teachings that have their origin with demons will attack the Church.  This is already happening in our world, and many are abandoning the faith.

We must be connected to the TRUE SPIRIT so that we can recognize the deceiving spirits. We must know the Spiritual Word of God so that we will not fall away to the doctrine of a devil.

Believe there is a battle

A growing number of people who call themselves Christian no longer believe in satan, demons, or hell. People who believe in God, believe Jesus died on the cross… yet do not believe in a spiritual enemy.
It seems people are eager to believe in heaven, but not hell… Jesus, but not satan… Angels, but not demons…

A growing number of people who identify as Christian, believe that satan is merely a symbol of evil, but not a real being.

You can never fight in the unseen battle, if you do not believe in the unseen battle.

A 1995 gritty crime drama called The Usual Suspects contains a quote that I always remember. While I can’t recommend this picture for a family-friendly movie night, I would still like to share the quote.

The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World He Didn’t Exist

The Devil does exist, and he is at work, but we often live like he doesn’t exist. Satan often works in the shadows. This invisible enemy prefers to stay hidden. He works in darkness and shadow for a reason.

If a demon showed up in this room so you could see him, hear him, feel him… I don’t think I would have to tell you to pray and get a hold of God. Yet unseen demons are present in our world, but we are unaware and often do not pray or we pray amiss.

James 4:3(KJV) You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

This scripture talks about praying amiss. You pray, and prayer is good, but if you pray with the wrong motivation, direction, or understanding this is praying amiss. The context of James 4 is Christians being controlled by pride which causes them to not properly live for God.

It is possible to pray amiss.

If you are praying against a person, but the real issue is a spirit… You are praying amiss.
If you are praying against a physical malady, but the real issue is a spirit…
If you are praying against depression, or an addiction, but the real issue is a spirit…

We must believe there is a battle and then we must identify the battle.

Identify the Battle

You see a physical problem in front of you, but can you identify the real battle?

Think about the problem you are facing… can you identify the spirit that is the source of the conflict.

Perhaps you have seen the incredibly theologically sound cartoon Scooby Doo.

Scooby Doo

If you have seen one episode of Scooby Doo, you have pretty much seen every episode of Scooby Doo. It is very formulaic.

*Spoilers* There is always some sort of supernatural ghost, phantasm, or monster that is causing trouble. And the mystery-incorporated team must catch the supernatural entity.

CAUGHT

Every episode of Scooby Doo has this moment where they have caught the one causing all the trouble, and Fred reaches over and… Unmasks the evildoer.

UNMASKS

Turns out the “phantom puppeteer” was farmer Joe all along. And Joe would have gotten away with it had it not been for those meddling kids and their dog.

We need to unmask the villain in our story.

Spiritual warfare is basically a reverse Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo episodes always unmask something spiritual as physical… Spiritual Warfare unmasks something physical as spiritual.

Identify the Battle

Where is your battle today?

Do you believe in this unseen battle?

Have you identified the battle?

Identifying the battle changes how we see everything.

Some see a covid pandemic that is only natural… but we begin to see that it could be fallout from an unseen spiritual battle. When all we have done in the physical… lockdowns, masks, social distance protocols, & vaccines has not been enough to halt the virus, perhaps we should think past the physical?

When we see war, terror, and evil rise in our world, like it is in Afghanistan right now… Are we to believe this is just a physical struggle, or is there a spiritual counterpart?

The person in your school or on the job that is giving you problems. You feel like they are angry and out to get you and you aren’t even sure why. It could be a spiritual issue.

Maybe our problems do not originate in flesh & blood?

Ephesians 6:12(NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Today I want you to enlist in the unseen battle.

Decide today that you are done being a casualty of this conflict and become a warrior.
I want you to decide to IDENTIFY the battle. To look past the natural and at the spiritual.
I want you to commit to prayer, worship, and the Word of God.

If you are ready to win this battle, come talk to God. Come push back against the spiritual forces of evil.

If you feel like you maybe under attack, I want you to come receive prayer today.