Spiritual Warfare (20)
When we fight the war for holiness. We recognize the demons are involved in that. But we are not called upon to name territorial spirits and rebuke the devil and satan. Please read Jude verse 9 and you'll stop doing that.
Rather our task is to come before the Lord and to submit ourselves before the Holy Spirit and to invite him to fill us afresh to empower us. So we rely on Him and not on our own flesh.
John Neufeld
Sermon: I Believe in Satan (and Demons)15.7K
Let us settle in our minds that the Christian fight is a good fight-really good, truly good, emphatically good. We see only part of it as yet. We see the struggle, but not the end; we see the campaign, but not the reward; we see the cross, but not the crown. We see a few humble, broken-spirited, penitent, praying people, enduring hardships and despised by the world; but we see not the hand of God over them, the face of God smiling on them, the kingdom of glory prepared for them. Holiness (Chapter 4)
Pirates do not use to set upon poor empty vessels; and beggars need not fear the thief. Those that have most of God, and are most rich in grace— shall be most assaulted by Satan, who is the greatest and craftiest pirate in the world.
our knowledge of the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces is limited to their existence and activity. We do not know precisely what they are nor what they do. It is therefore pointless to speculate in any detail about how these malevolent forces interact with us. There is no point trying to find "a demon under every rock." All we need to know is that they exist and they act. Believers must therefore be prepared for their opposition and aggression—however it may manifest.Pillar Commentary
Pray to God to bless you in your work. "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong" (Eccl. 9:11); nothing prospers without a blessing. And what way to obtain it but by prayer? It is a saying of one of the ancients, "The saints carry the keys of heaven at their girdle." Prayer beats the weapon out of the enemy's hand and gets the blessing out of God's hand.
It is not so easy a matter to pray as men think. In regard of the unspiritualness of our nature compared with the duty itself in which we draw near to a holy God, we cannot endure to be separated from our lusts; and there is great rebellion in our hearts against everything that is good; and Satan also is our special enemy…. When we go to God by prayer, the devil knows we go to fetch strength against him, and therefore he opposes us all he can. But though some may mumble over a few prayers, yet (indeed) no man can pray as he ought, or in faith, that is not within the covenant of grace, nor without the Holy Ghost.
The Christian's armor will rust, except it be furbished with the oil of prayer. What the key is to the watch, prayer is to our graces; it winds them up and sets them going.
"Necessity is laid upon us. We must fight. There are no promises in the Lord Jesus Christ's epistles to the seven churches, except to those who 'overcome.' Where there is grace, there will be conflict. The believer is a soldier. There is no holiness without a warfare."
Christian, take special care not to trust in the armour of God, but in the God of the armour.
I have ever found that when I have thought the battle was over and the conquest gained, and so let down my watch, the enemy has risen up and done me the greatest injury.
New Quotes
Israel going into Egypt had no opposition, but traveling into Canaan, they were never free.
A humble soul being once in a great conflict with Satan said thus to him: "Satan, reason not with me—I am but weak. If thou hast anything to say, say it to Christ; He is my advocate, my strength, and my Redeemer, and He shall plead for me." A humble soul is good at turning Satan over to the Lord Jesus, and this increases Satan's hell.
When the sword is in the scabbard, the traveler is easily surprised; and when the guard is asleep, the city is quickly conquered. The strongest creature, the lion, and the wisest creature, the serpent, if they be dormant, are as easily surprised as the weakest worms. So the strongest and wisest saints, if their graces be asleep, if they be only in the habit and not in the exercise, may be as easily surprised and vanquished as the weakest Christians in all the world, as you may see in David, Solomon, Samson, Peter. Every enemy insults over him that has lost the use of his weapons.
Frequently renew settled and holy resolutions. A soldier unresolved to fight may be easily defeated...The weakness of our graces, the strength of our temptations, and the diligence of our spiritual enemies, require strong resolutions.
The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification. All true saints are soldiers. Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness, and indifference.Holiness, Ch4
The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But the great spiritual warfare--its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests--of all this they appear to know nothing at all.Holiness, Ch 4
The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence, and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heavenHoliness, Chapter 4
This warfare, I am aware, is a thing of which many know nothing. Talk to them about it, and they are ready to set you down as a madman, an enthusiast, or a fool. And yet it is as real and true as any war the world has ever seen.Holiness, Chapter 4
If you can defeat him [Satan] and get rid of him by using common sense and ordinary wisdom, do so. It is perfectly right and legitimate for the Christian to do that. I am saying all this because I often find that people are in difficulty about this matter and are spending their time in praying about a matter instead of doing something that is perfectly obvious from the standpoint of common sense.Spiritual Depression (82)
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2. Charles Spurgeon (135)
3. J.C. Ryle (117)
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7. J.I. Packer (95)
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