Most people don’t stand for truth and righteousness, so they’re perfectly “protected” by putting on Saran Wrap. They don’t even recognize that there’s a war going on. It’s analogous to what we were as a nation prior to September 11 a year ago, and to the war on terrorism. The terrorist threat was just as great, but we lived as though there were no threat at all. As Christians, we are engaged in a war. We have an enemy who wants to totally marginalize us, and so we need to put on the full armor of God so we can be victorious in this invisible war. The problem is most of us have this idea of spiritual warfare that comes right out of the pop culture. It’s driven by the entertainment industry. It comes from The Exorcist rather than from Ephesians. Hank Hanegraaff.
 
Spiritual Warfare: Putting on the Armor of God.

Key Scripture Texts: Ephesians 6:10-20; James 3:13-4:12; 1 Peter 5:6-11

Other Texts: The Covering: God’s Plan to Protect You from Evil. Hank Hanegraaff.
The Screwtape Letters: A Devil’s Diabolical Advice for the Capturing of the Human Heart. C.S. Lewis.
 
Some Questions: What is the extent of Satan’s power? Can a Christian be demonized? What about territorial spirits? What is being bound and loosed in Matthew 18:15-20? What is the difference between deliverance and discipleship motifs of spiritual warfare?

 Lesson 1: How to Win the War Within: (from an article of the same title by Elliot Miller)[1]
  1. The apostle Paul says that the law of sin dwells “in [our] members” (Rom. 7:23) and further exhorts us not to let it reign in our mortal bodies (Rom. 6:12)
  2. The reason Christians are capable of both righteousness and sin is that they have two natures from which to draw.
  3. The new orientation inclines them toward good and thus wages war with their original orientation, which inclines them toward evil. The New Testament clearly describes Christians in a state of inner conflict in which they must deny one set of natural inclinations or the other (see Gal. 5:16–17; Rom. 7:15–25; James 4:1–3; 1 Pet. 2:11).
  4. It isn’t as though Christians start out with three-fourths of the original nature and one-fourth of the new and must work to decrease and increase the respective percentages. The old nature is still there in its full strength and ugliness — but they are no longer slaves to it. They can and must choose daily which orientation they are going to “clothe” themselves with or “put on” (Rom. 13:14; Eph. 4:22–24; Col 3:1–14). Sanctification consists of increasingly learning to live according to the new capacity, which is accomplished as the Word of God is applied to every area of one’s life 2 (e.g., Ps. 119:11, 105; James 1:22– 27; Heb. 4:2; 5:12–14; 1 John 2:4–5).
  5. We are combating an inner disposition toward evil, we respond to it by identifying ourselves with the crucified and risen Christ and aligning ourselves with His will (Rom. 6:5–14).
  6. There is a biblical basis for saying some of our evil thoughts are provoked by Satan (e.g., 1 Chron. 21:1; Matt. 16:23; John 13:2; Acts 5:3), but there is no biblical basis for saying all of them do (James 1:14; 4:1; Rom. 8:7; 1 Pet. 2:11; Gal. 5:17).
  7. Christians can never stand before God with total confidence until they find their righteousness strictly outside of themselves, in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ ( Phil. 3:3–9; 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 10:3–4). Only then will Christ’s imparted righteousness take shape in their lives (Gal. 6:14–15; Rom. 8:1–4). As soon as they begin to consider that imparted righteousness as their own righteousness they will find themselves walking after the flesh again (Gal. 1:18—2:14; 2 Cor. 3:5; 1 Cor. 10:12; Prov. 16:18; Rev. 3:17–18).
Teachers notes:
 
Spiritual Warfare revolves around the battle for the mind.
A Christian cannot become demon possessed. Matthew 12:29; John 8:49
Romans 5:12-21. From Adam to Christ: Human mortality has not only physical corruptibility but moral corruptibility as well.
1 John 1:8 refers to having not committing sin. It is a principle or nature that leads to acts of disobedience. John 8:34, Acts 8:23, Gal 3:22
A sinners life is characterized by unrepentant sin. 1 Timothy 1:9, 1 Peter 4:18
 

[1] This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 21, number 1 (1998) as a companion to the feature article The Bondage Maker: Examining the Message and Method of Neil T. Anderson, Part One: Sanctification and the Believer’s Identity in Christ, by Elliot Miller. For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org