Our Spiritual Battleground

OUR SPIRITUAL BATTLEGROUND

THE WORLD, OUR FLESH, AND THE DEVIL

Lesson Principle

Oh, Let’s see what is in store for us to learn about these mysterious three worlds.

In the world of Narnia all four children had to fight against three enemies. Two were visible and one was not. There was the battle with the White Witch, a good versus evil type of battle. Then there was the world of Narnia being in a hundred years winter curse. There is the cold, ice, snow, and a “no Christmas” that filled the air and affected everyone, even Father Christmas. Then there was the unseen problem.

The flesh, its sin was battling all four. Remember our lesson on our flesh? You may want to read this again:

Bible Principle

There are two ways the Bible talks about flesh. Look at them now.

The First is the physical bodies of humans or animals. When God removed a rib from Adam and he created Eve, he closed up the place with flesh (Gen 2:21). This is our physical body.

The Second way is an even stronger force inside us; flesh is the earthly part of man, representing lusts and desires.

. Peter was very harsh toward Edmund, Lucy disliked Edmund, and Susan had an “I am a smart Girl” attitude. Yet, only Edmund made the choice to join the White Witch at first, unlike the other three.

Let’s explore how these three areas relate to us as Christians.

Bible Principle

In your Christian walk you will have to fight against three enemies.

One you cannot see but you can see its problems, one you cannot see at all, and one you can. They are the “World System, your Evil Flesh, and the Devil”. Let me explain.

The world system is the rulers, governments, teachings and evils found in the world controlled by people and not God’s laws. This is the enemy that we can see. We are blessed that our government and rules are based upon God’s laws and not human laws.

Notice what the Bible says:

Ephesians 2:1-2

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. NKJV

Let me say it another way; “And you, when you were saved, were given eternal life, but before you were saved you had sin in your heart; and you lived by the selfish rules of this world made by the devil and not God, and used by humans, who are not saved but are rebellious toward God, and want to rule this earth.”

You see, if a government, a school or even a house is not Jesus controlled it is Devil controlled. You may want to look at the scene when Mr. Tumnus tells Lucy that they have had a one hundred years winter, scene 4, “Mr. Tumnus’ Home.” Stop it right before he, Mr. Tumnus, plays his flute.

You can even tell that the winter curse has even affected Mr. Tumnus just by the sound of his voice when he tells Lucy about it. He sounds very sad when speaks of it.

We have two systems in Narnia, the White Witch’s and Aslan’s. We too have two systems to deal with in the world, there is Satan’s and then there is Jesus’ system to live by.

We make choices every day which system to follow. It is sad but sometimes we find ourselves following the worldly system and not Jesus’. That is why I am so glad for 1 John 1:7-10.

1 John 1:7-10

7. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

NKJV

In other words,” If we live by Jesus’ teachings and others do too, we are in a good relationship having fun with each other, because Jesus has saved us and brought us together.’ But if we say we cannot sin anymore we are only lying to ourselves and pretending we are perfect. ‘If we do sin and we ask Jesus to forgive us of that sin, He will, and get rid of it and never remember it anymore.’ If we try to say we did not sin when he tells us we have, we are calling Jesus a liar.”

So when you sin and you know it, do not try and pretend you did nothing wrong, it only makes things worst. Just confess it to Jesus and ask His forgiveness. If that sin is against someone else, not only ask Jesus to forgive you but ask that person too. Make things right with Jesus and others, always!

There is an important question yet to be answered.

What if a person will not forgive me?

Well, Jesus expects you to ask others to help you convince that person to forgive you. If that person will not even when you have others trying to help you to get that person to forgive you, drop it and pray for that person to repent and forgive you. Go on with your life.

The second area is the “Flesh”. We have discussed that part earlier but here it is again.

We still have a “Bad side” to deal with. It is a sad thing but it wins a lot of times. The idea here is that you and I must be on guard for the bad side, our flesh, because it will at any time try to get us to do something bad or selfish. Our flesh is the earthly part of man, representing lusts and desires (Eph 2:3). The flesh is contrary to, or against the Spirit of God (Gal 5:17).

This flesh is what the devil goes after to get people to sin. It is our weakness. So when you find that you are doing bad things it is your spiritual flesh that is making you do it not God’s Spirit.

The third area is our enemy, the Devil. This is when the Devil or his helpers called demons try to trick you in to doing bad things. He does this through many things in our lives. He uses movies, music, games, and dirty thoughts just to get us to do things his way and not Jesus’ way.

I am not saying all music, games, movies, and such are evil but the Devil can use them, especially if they are created not under Jesus’ law but under the world’s system. The world is already under the Devil’s law so it is not hard for him to influence it.

BE ON GUARD!

Think about this, ok?

Was the snow, warm drink for Edmund, or Turkish delight evil? “NO!” of course not. It was how the Witch used them was it not?

So be very careful about what see and where you go in life, it could be a scheme of the Devil. Just like Edmund was tricked by the White Witch, the Devil can trick you too.

Lesson Principle

We need to be on guard for all three in our life. Sometimes they all come at once, but the key is to see them before we sin. That is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in us when we were saved. He will help us see all three in our lives. Here are 3 things you need to do to help you in battling all three evils.

One, Pray for the Holy Spirit to let you know when you are being tempted by any of the three we discussed. He will do that for you and you must “Listen” to Him.

The second is put on your armor; you know the one found in Ephesians 6. I will explain how in the section called Application.

The last one is a combination of studying the Bible and letting Jesus teach you the “Right” way to go.

Look at Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

Said another way, Trust God from the bottom of your heart;

Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.

Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;

He’s the one who will keep you on track.

Application

Take all the areas of your life and list them. Here is a list to help you.

Family: Dad, Mom, Brother/Sister [if you have some] and how do we get along?
School: Teacher, Friends, and other students, how do we get along?
Shows I watch on TV, Video Games I play, computer games and sites. What do I do with these that may cause me harm?
Church teachers and friends, how do we get along?
Other areas you may want to list here and deal with them that I don’t know about.

Making plans to watch out for the devil’s tricks in all these areas will help you be ready for him when he tries to trick you. Edmund was not ready for the White Witch and her tricks because he was not looking for her. It will be the same for you and the devil.

Now think of the list of areas that the world may use to trick you. Wow, it looks like the same as your list above. Why? Because the devil uses the world and its leaders for his own evil ways and then he tries to get you to sin. Just like the

White Witch used the dwarf, who drove her sledge; or when she tricked Edmund to like her and do her will she used the snow to make the warm drink and Turkish delight.

Here is a list for you to use if you need help thinking of some ways.

Music star types and sports stars
People you admire (want to be like) when you grow up.
Other kids you hang around
Other things I don’t know about in your life

Remember, the things of the world can be used to be fun and not evil, but you need to be careful how you use them. Remember Lucy said winter can be fun with sliding, skating snow ball fights, Christmas, and other things. It was how the Witch used winter that made it bad.

Sports, games, shows, fun recreation places, boating, skiing, bowling, etc. can be fun things to do but if they keep you from doing what is right they become wrong.

This brings me to a very important section of this idea of resisting all three areas.

Look at this scripture passage.

Ephesians 6:11-13

11. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the DEVIL'S SCHEMES. (Plans)

12. 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.

13. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand

Let’s take a look at our most powerful gift that the Holy Spirit gives us every day. It is called “The Armor of God!”

In Ephesians 6:10-18 we find this armor spoken in a picture like image for us to see. It tells us that we have a hidden, spiritual armor. Let us take each piece and learn how to use them, ok?

The first is Truth or honesty as our belt that we spiritually wear. It was predict of Jesus in Isaiah 11:5, that honesty should be the belt or belt on his stomach and faithfulness the belt or belt of his will. The same invisible belt given to Christ, he gives to all Christians. God desires truth, that is, seriousness, in the inward parts where the Holy Spirit lives. This seriousness about the Christian life will help you watch out for the World, your Flesh and the Devil.

The second is Righteousness and it must be our breast-plate. Living right, doing right by the Bible, and being as much like Jesus are the things that make up our breastplate. This is why knowing who Jesus is, according to the Bible, is so important! The breast-plate of a Roman soldier protected the chest and sheltered the heart from dangerous blows by a sword. The righteousness of Christ given to us is our breast-plate against the arrows of the three we have already talked about. When we are honest, or we show Jesus’ love to others we are either living like Jesus wants us to, and we will easily see the ways of the World, our Flesh or even the Devil.

So to review, when we put the first two armor pieces on we are serious when we live our life for Jesus and we live by loving others and being honest. What is the next piece?

We find the third piece in Ephesians 6:15, which says,’ and their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace”. Shoes were in the past part of the military armor. The use of them was to defend the feet against the hits at the ankles, and sharp sticks. The preparation of the gospel of peace means a prepared and determined heart, or will, to live by the gospel and witness to others the good news of John 3:16. The sad thing is that not all will believe you, just like Lucy in the story; however, we must never quit or give up trying.

The fourth piece is in verse 16, and it tells us, faith must be our shield: “Above all, taking the shield of faith”. This is one of the most important pieces of armor that we have to put on.

Do you remember our formula for Faith? Faith is Trust + Belief in Jesus. You must trust that Jesus and his words are always right, even when you don’t sometimes understand why. I don’t understand all about the creation story but I accept it as true because I Trust Jesus.

You must also believe that Jesus will never do or say anything that will hurt or harm you! Now when you put both Belief and Trust together you are walking by Faith.

Faith is our main power in an hour of temptation. The breast-plate protects our heart; but with the shield we turn every temptation of the world, our flesh and the Devil away. This is the victory over the world, even our faith the Bible says. We are to trust always the truth of all God's promises. Such a faith brings great power to use against temptations. Our enemy the devil is called the wicked one in this Ephesians scripture passage. He is wicked himself, and his actions are to make us wicked. His temptations are called darts, because of their swift flight, and the deep wounds that they give to the spirit; they are called fiery darts, the poisonous darts which are to hurt us. Our faith in Jesus will help us resist and not do the evil he wants us to do.

Ephesians 6:17 tells us, the next piece of armor that we see is called the “Helmet of Salvation”. Let me explain what that means. The helmet secures the head and protects it from dangerous blows by clubs or swords. Understanding salvation protects our spirit-mind from dangerous evil thoughts, which will make us sad or angry. A good hope of salvation is that now Jesus has control of our thoughts and we need to think on good things and not evil. We can when we begin each day with Jesus by reading the Bible. Remember your Devotion time and put good Bible things in your head. Ask Jesus to help you see when the Devil, the world or your Flesh is trying to put something else in your head and then try to get rid of it by asking Jesus to take it away. He will, if you ask and believe by faith.

The helmet was for protection against the blows to the head. I have found that the Devil loves to use the trick that you can lose your salvation; that is, you can become not a child of God again.

When we find verses and memorize them, especially the ones that tell us we have “eternal life”, we are putting on our helmet and the Devil cannot hurt us. I am going to talk to you about this very thing in our last chapter so for now just remember to use as your helmet memorization of the scriptures from the Bible.

The last piece is something very familiar; our sword is the “Word of God”! I believe that our shield of Faith and our sword, The Word of God, are probably the two most important pieces of our armor. The Bible is our greatest source of knowing truth, right from wrong, good and bad, and of course it is good for giving us verses to live by. That is why a good study time and devotional time is so very important for “all” Christians. So don’t forget your Sword and use it every day!

There is a picture of a Knight in full armor at the end of this book. You may want to copy each name for each piece on it before you read on.

DIGGING DEEPER ACTIVITY

Watch scene six,” Hail the Queen” and answer the activity questions afterwards. If you do not have the DVD click the scene below.

QUESTION ONE: Did the White Witch have a plan for Edmund?

If yes, what plan did she have, explain; if not, explain why she did not.

QUESTION TWO: Why do you think the White Witch used a warm drink and Turkish delight with Edmund?

QUESTION THREE: Do you think Edmund liked the idea of being “King of Narnia”? If yes, write down why? If No, then write down why?

QUESTION FOUR: How does the devil do the same thing to us to get us to sin and do bad things? (Look back at the information you have just studied to find the answers. List them below).

Well, you are almost at the end of your journey and I know you are excited about it.

Remember that even when things are going rough, and sad times come, Jesus is always there with you. In the next chapter I am going to help you understand this very important truth. In fact, this next area is an area that even adults have trouble understanding.

It is called by some, “Once you are saved you are always saved.” I like to call it “Eternal Security”, because it deals with eternal life. You know that promise Jesus gives in John 3:16? Read on to discover what I mean.

Eternal Life is for, well, forever it can not end so if Jesus saves you and He gives eternal Life, that means forever you are His. We will deal with that in the next Chapter.