Spiritual Battle

     What do you think of when you think about Spiritual battle?  When I was a child I thought it was something like what you see in the movies.  I did not believe that other gods were real, but I grew up watching movies like Clash of the Titans.  In my mind, it was like that with God on His throne telling the angels what to do and Satan with his demons trying to destroy all His plans. 
     It did not seem to affect me too much. When I became a Christians, I did not change my perspective very much because I was so young and just did not think that deep.  However, when I started taking it seriously, around age 20, I discovered topics like this on a whole new level. 
     Jesus is the best example of what real spiritual warfare looks like and how to actually defeat it.  After His baptism, he went into the wilderness for 40 days and nights to fast.  It is vital to fast and commune with God before beginning anything big like a ministry, a move, a job change, or something else.  It is preparation for spiritual warfare because if you are on God's path you will face temptation to get off track.  If you go to battle without preparation or armour, then you should not go into battle at all because it will be a blunder.
     After Jesus' fast, Satan came to Him personally to tempt Him.  He was hungry and fatigued.  It was probably one of the weakest states He had been in.  Satan tried to get Him to do three seemingly innocent things that would make Jesus' life more comfortable.  However, Jesus saw behind the facade.  Satan used scripture to try to get Jesus to sin, but Jesus counteracted each manipulated scripture with sound scripture.  Finally, He told Satan to go away.  That is when the angels came to Jesus to serve Him.
     You can receive wisdom to see the difference between manipulated and sound doctrine.  You can ask for discernment when fasting to see the best path for you.  You can command Satan and his army to depart from you in Jesus' name.  They will leave, but not forever.  As long as you live, you will be facing spiritual warfare in periods of your life.  Just stay true to God because you know your reward will be in Heaven.

Matthew 4: 1-11