Principalities & Spiritual Warfare: Part 6 (Spiritual Warfare 101)

This is a situational study using an example in the Bible of a warfare scenario in Judges Chapter 14.

Samson’s Marriage

Judges 14:1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.

The word Timnah here means ‘assigned portion’. Timnah was at the border of Dan and Judah. Samson’s parents, one was from Dan and one was from Judah. This territory was later taken and became a part of Dan and was later incorporated into Judah. So, now in the hands of the Philistines, what would later become a part of the territory of Israel. So it was a border city that would later be conquered. So Samson was on his way down the path—it’s an assigned portion—it’s something that God is going to give them but they don’t have it yet, okay. Something that we are warring for—when we do spiritual warfare, what are we trying to do? Taking territory from the enemy—that’s what it simply means. Taking territory.

Spiritual warfare is taking territory from the enemy. Timnah is the assigned portion—something that is on display to us. How many believe today that there is some new territory that we are going to take? Now, in the meantime, there’s some temptation going on here. Whenever God is wanting to give us something, there’s always a certain amount of vulnerability that we have in the process.

V2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” God has a territory He wants to give, but instead, Samson likes the woman from the territory, and so this is where the battle is for us, is that if we’re going to take new territory, there is temptation that is there in the middle of the territory that we’re trying to take. And so we have to be able to discipline ourselves in the process of making those new acquisitions in the Spirit.

Another example, the Bible says in Proverbs 22, if you’re sitting down with a wealthy man, do not love his wealth—do not have a desire, do not be given to appetite—put a knife up to your throat. Every now and then we just have to remind ourselves and put a knife up to our throats—it doesn’t mean slit your throats, OK? It’s sort of a reminder—hey do not get enamored—do not get flattered—do not get your mind focused on the wrong thing, because there are a lot of snares, a lot of temptations there, you have to know WHY you’re there. Do not get distracted. Someone said, “When you get to the top, you better know why you’re there.” Purpose. So he’s rising to the top, Samson’s rising to the top, he’s a deliverer. In the 13th chapter, we read how the mother was barren, an angel visits them multiple times and first tells her, then tells him, and she even has requirements of how she’s supposed to live consecrated as a Nazarite while the baby is in her womb. Because when he’s born, he’s supposed to be a Nazarite. Now the rabbis say the reason is because Samson was going to need to control his desires. If God was going to give him supernatural strength, he was going to need to control his desires, and so he said from the womb I have to be a Nazarite. Now the other part of this is that the Philistines were known for their drunken brawls, they were known for being out of control. And so alcohol was a part of that in Philistia, and a Nazarite can’t even touch the fruit of the vine. A Nazarite is to drink no alcohol at all—period. Some would drink table wine or whatever during those times, but it has 10% of alcohol in it, they were not necessarily getting drunk, but it was possible in those times that the wine was pretty weak, it was possible for you to have a glass of wine in those days and it would not be something that would be necessarily looked down upon—but God says, Samson, I don’t even want you touching it, I don’t want you getting close to it, I don’t want you to get near it—I want you to be completely abstaining—matter of fact, He doesn’t even want Samson to like grapes.

Samson is also wearing his hair long, he’s not to cut his hair as a Nazarite—this was a sign of mourning because they had been battling the Philistines and the Philistines had been their captors. And so Samson is the opposite of all of their feasts, all of their alcohol, he is the opposite—Samson is to touch nothing that is unclean at all. So if you’re going to defeat the enemy, what do you have to do? You have to be the opposite—be the opposite to the world, be consecrated, abstain, do not touch the unclean things. You will also have to be disciplined and focused (no distractions) as we looked at in the story of Samson—you will have to control your desires—exercise self-control. You will have to know your purpose.

If we know what our adversary is, if there’s a certain thing we’re fighting, there are going to be some extra convictions that God gives to us—for example, if this ministry is called to house the glory of God, there are going to be some convictions that God will give to us. You can’t do what the other Christian out there is doing, much less what the world is doing. And yes—these are the true requirements of spiritual warfare as we see here in the story of Samson—everyone uses this term ‘spiritual warfare’ but they do not even know what it means and what it requires—there are REQUIREMENTS.

There are some things that are general things that ALL Christians should operate in, but then when we are breaking something, when we are standing in opposition to something, God may add something to that. If you are interceding for a prodigal, if you are interceding for your marriage or family members, etc. Someone thought it this way: others may, but you may not. Sometimes you will see permissions that when other people do it, it’s fine for them, but then when God says “no, but for you, I want you to do this,” and it’s because of what we’re coming out of, it’s because of what is here in this region, and what we are breaking. So we need a Nazarite vow that says I don’t even like grapes—is there anything wrong with grapes? No, absolutely not—but you know what? Something comes from that—that unclean alcohol—so I’m not even going to touch that—you see what I’m saying? Many may say “oh that’s so extreme” but hey, that was the instruction given to Samson. God might put an extra barrier or boundary in your life and we say “thank you, Lord” because we are being the opposite. The things that are still remaining—the mindsets, the attitudes, the mentalities, and the habits still need to go.

For example, let’s say a spirit of depression is running in a certain region—it is going to manifest through health problems, family problems, and financial problems—and all these three things feed each other—so for example, you have a job and you get sick and then you lose the job—what happens? So now you’ve sabotaged the finance because of the health. The job is very stressful, a toxic environment, and you bring all that toxic stuff home and you work long hours and you don’t have a lot of family time and the family systems can start breaking down. So there are all of these cycles that can go round and round—if you have trouble in the marriage, it affects the job—if you have trouble with the kids, it’s affecting the health and it can be a round and round cycle and so what we need to do is attack all three things—we have to be opposite of in all three things.

This means we’re speaking faith and we are saying that we are NOT going to be under this oppression—we’re not going to live in despair, we’re not going to have anger turned inward—that’s depression, we are going to be the opposite of these things—people have a lot of joy at The Ark Church because that is part of what we are doing to show victory over the spirits in the region. We have joy—we’re happy—we’re unusually happy—there’s a marked difference you see—in His presence is what: fullness of joy so we’re the opposites…we are the opposite of…so this is what God’s will is for us—to be the opposite of. But there still is a constant awareness that when you are going into a territory and you are taking a new territory, there’s going to be some stuff that your flesh wants and you have to be careful that you do not let it seduce you or get you off from what your purpose is.

V3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

In other words, are there no other beautiful women in Israel? You want to go over there and marry someone who is not in covenant? Why are you being drawn, and why do you like Philistine women—what is this? Why are your eyes looking in that direction? Why is that someone you want to marry when God is raising you up to be a deliverer? But Samson says: Get her for me.

In other words, Samson is saying, I like the way she looks, and it doesn’t matter to me. So he is operating completely in his flesh here. Now let’s go to the next verse, verse 4:

V4 But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

Now this is how grace works—God can even take our weaknesses and use them for His glory. Is this something that is smiled upon? Is this something that we should look at as an example and an excuse? NO! But God said that He was going to use it as an occasion against the Philistines. Watch what God does:

V5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.

Now what are vineyards? Vineyards are places that Nazarenes shouldn’t hang around, remember? Why? Because there are grapes there. So he goes ahead of his parents—Samson’s like, I can’t be here—I’ve got to get out of here because I’m not supposed to be here—I’m not supposed to be around grapes. I don’t want to be tempted at all because I made a Nazarite vow. Now what happened then? So behold, a young lion roared against him. Now what we’re seeing here is type and shadow—now first and foremost, understand that Samson is on his way to Timnah—he is not looking for a lion—he did not go out wandering through the forest looking for a lion. He’s not looking for the lion, ok? He’s on his way to Timnah, which is something that is assigned for them, but then he gets to a vineyard, and now there’s a lion that tries to stand in the way of him and what God is wanting him to deliver to Israel. So when we are in the will of God, on our way to do something that He has sent us to do to take new territory, that’s when the devil gets in the way—that’s when the lion comes out to stand in the way in resistance of us. So here’s just a simple maxim for us, ok: it is not my job to know the devil’s strategy or the devil’s will—that is the witch’s job—the witch’s job is to know all of the plans and strategies of Satan and to help him get all of his work done.

My job is to know the will of God—that’s my job—my job is not to find every lion that’s prowling in every forest and to hunt them down—that’s not my job—that is a distraction. My job is to take this territory that God has assigned me to and to stay focused. Remember last week we learned how people who are moving in the demonic will use all sorts of tactics to distract you? Pity, get you emotional, harassment, etc., to distract from the perfect will of God. And what else did we learn last week? How do we find out the perfect will of God (not even the permissible, and there’s a difference between the two)? By surrendering our will—the minute we surrender our human will—then we can find the perfect will of God—so not my way, my timing, what I think it should look like, where I want to go or don’t want to go, or not my people-pleasing, etc. If you want to find out the perfect will of God—surrender YOUR will.

When Samson got in the vineyard—let’s go back there—so when I get to the place where there may be temptation, I have to stay focused on what I am here to do, and that’s when the enemy comes to contend with us, to see whether we will stay on course, stay committed, and hold on to our convictions. You want to talk about spiritual warfare—this is it right here. So what happens is if I know the will of God—guess what? I’ll find out what the devil is up to because you know what the devil’s will is? To resist the will of God. Each time you resist the will of God for your life—you go with the devil’s will. I can find out what the devil is doing very easily, for if I find out what God’s will is, there will eventually be an exposing of the strategies and the will of Satan because he’s going to try and oppose me while I’m doing God’s will. But if I know the will of my adversary but I do not know the will of God, I have no authority. I do not have any authorization. If the Lord has promised us territory—something that the enemy holds right now but is destined to belong to us, a promise—so if you’re on your way to something and you have a prophetic word over your life—you have a Timnath—everyone say I have a Timnath. And I’m on my way there—I’m going to go there in the name of Jesus, and if a lion steps out in the way, then you know, oh yes, this is another confirmation that the enemy is afraid of my advances and he’s trying to keep me from what he already knew is the will of God. So what happens—a young lion meets him in the way and what happens?

V6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

This all happened while his parents were still looking around the vineyard. Samson was up the road, he threw the lion on the side of the road, and he didn’t even tell his parents that happened. Now the words ‘the spirit of the Lord moved mightily’—do you know what that means? The word mightily—it means empowerment, but it also means this: it means to agitate—the spirit of the Lord agitated—it stirred him up—it prodded him. When the Spirit of the Lord has come upon you—what’s happening? The audacity of that lion to get in my pathway—this is when you know that you’re going into God-ordained warfare—is that something in you gets agitated—Samson sees a lion and the natural instinct is what—FEAR—you see a lion coming at you—your first instinct is not “I’m going to kill you”—your first instinct is “ok what can I do—where can I go?”.

Samson had no weapon in his hand—can you imagine—he’s got nothing in his hand but when he sees the lion, something happens to him and this is what I have learned—this is what I have learned from prayer—when you get in this third level of conviction—when the Spirit of God is working in your life, this was our foundational scripture from John 16, ‘when He the Spirit of truth comes, He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment’. That third level of reproving or conviction is of judgment because the prince of this world is roaring to and fro—because there’s that thing in you that says I am going to judge this situation—the will of God—Satan you are standing in my way, you are trespassing—you should have stayed in the forest—you’re messing with me while I’m on my way to my destiny—you are going down—I am going to take you out. It was that agitation—that something in you that stirs you up.

This is why it’s very dangerous when there’s no conviction—those people who don’t feel any conviction—those people who feel numb—those people whose hearts are hardened—they become very spiritually dry—they’re stagnant. They go around in circles like the children of Israel. But Samson, when the Spirit of the Lord moved mightily upon him, instead of backing up, he ran to that lion and grabbed him by his mouth—now this is what we do by the Spirit—we actually take him by his mouth—take him by his words and we tear his capacity to speak—we tear the power of his roar—The only thing Satan has got is a roar.

1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

See, it’s a roaring lion—not as a lion but as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour—there’s a difference between can and may—he’s looking for a way in, for permission, so the roar is designed to create a doorway to get in. The roar is designed to inspire fear in you, and if you have fear, it gives Satan an entryway. When Samson heard the roar, the Holy Spirit said you’re going to take that. You see, you will be challenged as you enter into this arena of spiritual warfare; there will be intimidation—Satan operates in fear. So what faith is to God, fear is to the devil. Fear is faith in reverse—if you are moving in fear, you do not have faith. So it appears real that this lion can kill you—he is roaring, which seems to be evidence that he’s going to get you, but the Holy Spirit says oh no no, you’re not going to accept that fear, you’re not going to be intimidated because you’re in the will of God. You are raised up to do something about the adversary, and you’re on your way to go take new territory—that is the purpose and the will of God—and God knew that the lion was coming before you ever knew that you were going to be on this path. So you PUSH BACK. So we have to answer the fear with our own faith.

This is what the spirit of the Lord came upon him means—there will be these moments. You need to break that fear and intimidation in order to gain new territory. The enemy can recognize that you have fear, and that’s how he will shut you down. See, Paul told Timothy, “God has not given you the spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.” But what is he also saying? Stir up the gift! So your gift being stirred up and you facing down fear—that goes together. What’s the biggest reason that we don’t operate? Because there’s a lion that gets in our way. You see, Samson wasn’t a super spiritual person—his intentions weren’t even that great to begin with, but it was the will of God to take him to Timnah. The spirit of God came upon Samson and broke fear in him, so my thought is that if God did it for Samson, he will do it for anybody. Let’s lift our hands right now and let’s thank the Lord that we do not have to be afraid.

Behind every fear is a treasure

Every time you win that victory, there’s something sweet that you will find inside—what happened? The Bible says in the cavity of the lion, there were bees and there was honey. We’re now in verses 7 and 8. So when he came back from his way to Timnah, he reached in and pulled out the honey to satisfy himself, and he got a taste of something sweet from the carcass of that lion that he had killed by the Spirit of God—there’s always something sweet that comes out of a victory. There’s always honey that you pull out of the enemy that you defeated—there’s always a victory or a treasure that you win behind every fear—Satan only puts opposition around things that he’s trying to protect. So he actually is giving you a clue about where his treasures are—he’s sort of like saying ‘nothing to see here’ ‘don’t look in this direction’—whenever he’s telling you that—that’s the target right there. There’s something you should be aware of right there. So when you are praying, if you start feeling great resistance, you’re on to something—you’re touching something in the spirit—that means you need to get your armor on and be after—why is the lion coming out now? There must be some plan and purpose of God here. There must be some grace at work in this situation. Let’s say you push through—sometimes it’s a lot of pain, sometimes it’s tears, sometimes it’s a deep problem, sometimes it’s sleepless nights—that’s where there’s something that’s missing, something that I wasn’t aware of—until the problem came, but once it’s broken you’re like “oh now I understand” and you get mastery over it. Now you’ve got a key. Now you know how the devil works. Now you’ve got a treasure, and so then we have a directive from the Holy Spirit based on a victory we won or a revelation that came—and then we teach and preach it—this is where even this teaching series is coming from.

It’s from things that I have overcome, things the Lord has taught me, revelation which He has given me—keys and strategies which He gives me—the deep things of the spirit which He has caused me to master—this is where it comes from. Satan is trying to control an environment by keeping back knowledge you see—for example, the battle with Daniel—what was the battle with Daniel about? Daniel already had the dream—Satan couldn’t keep him from having the dream, but why is the Prince of Persia fighting while Daniel is fasting? To keep the answers from his prayer from coming through. So Daniel is saying I have a vision, but I don’t understand it, and Gabriel says I’m on my way—God answers him the first day of the fast—21 days the Prince of Persia is saying you’re not getting through until Michael, the Bible says, comes and pushes back the Prince of Persia—then Gabriel gets through and gets the answer—so he gets a revelation now—every time you win a victory—that’s when you get the revelation breakthrough, that’s when you get the understanding—now you go “Oh now I know why”—so why is there a contention? Satan is trying to hold back something from coming through. Why is the lion in the way? He’s trying to keep you from realizing that Timnath is ultimately going to belong to you and your people someday—he’s trying to hold you back—so every time you have resistance—that is a sign that you have something there that you should go after—that’s why the Spirit will always bear witness and instead of you backing up, it will agitate you.

Reflect on who causes the resistance

Sometimes you cause the resistance, and that is totally different from what I am talking about. Understand the difference between the two. People like to always blame Satan for every resistance, but sometimes it’s us causing it. You need to know what resistance is genuinely coming from Satan. Many people just tend to put up with the resistance. But when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon you, you are agitated to ACT. That’s when God says enough is enough—everyone say enough is enough. This is where God wants us to get—He wants us to get to that point where instead of us being afraid, instead of us being discouraged, or instead of us feeling pressure, instead of us feeling depression, something comes upon us and says, “Wait a minute, I don’t have to live with this—why are we dealing with this?” I am not going to accept this. I know God sent me into this city to take territory. I am here because God sent me. So, in the name of Jesus! You have to get to that point in your life where you get frustrated enough—where you get agitated enough—where you get pushed to your limit enough—where there’s something in you that says it doesn’t matter what it costs, I will shut this thing down. The reality is, every time you go into battle, it’s going to cost you something. I’m just being honest with you. I’m not saying this to discourage you, but I’m being real with you—it’s a real battle.

But it’s worth whatever the cost is to win that victory! You have to ask yourself, what will it cost if I don’t win? What is the consequence if I don’t fight this spirit? What am I going to lose if I let this thing keep continuing? If you don’t fight back—if you don’t push back, it’s over—and it’s not just over for you, it’s over for everyone that you could have reached—think about it. It’s over for everyone that you were sent there to win. So the stakes are always high when you’re going into new territory. There’s always some kind of angle that the enemy is looking at to try and sabotage you—Satan will always try and find something that he can use against you—he will find your weak spot. Whatever is not submitting—whatever part of your flesh that is not given to God, that’s where you fall—the prince of this world comes and attacks it. So even though Samson was anointed, he was strong, he was a deliverer—his birth was foretold. We have to stay focused, and we have to understand all of the different components that are here as we are doing this battle.

Let’s Be Encouraged

The Bible says that God is still in it—God knows how to take our weaknesses and our failures and still use them for His glory. Otherwise, none of us can win anything. Amen? Psalms 103: He knows our frame. He knows where our weak spots are. But He also trusted that Samson knew how to yield himself to God, and he still had a Nazarite vow. Because he had a Nazarite vow, he was still resisting the wine, and he still hadn’t cut his hair even though he was being tempted. Samson should have learned his lesson from the first Philistine girl before Delilah came. In this particular case, God is trying to teach Samson something—to help him take the glamour out of what he thinks is beautiful. He’s trying to show him the backside of it and let him see that it’s not going to end up as he thinks it is, because sin never ends up the way it looks like it’s going to end up. It is never glamorous—the trailer is always better than the movie—the commercial is always better.

The pleasure of sin only lasts for a season; then there’s the consequence, the pain of sin, the problems start coming. You see, in the end, the army comes to capture just Samson, and that’s when he puts him in a robe and sends him out and says don’t worry—he knows what he was about to do. God had to make it personal—he won against the Philistines, he was about to take out the army of the Philistines because it was personal. Some of the victories that we have to win sometimes take exposure of our flesh, take some pain because we realize we made a bad decision and something comes up in the process that says I didn’t know that that was going to be the consequence—I’m seeing the backside now of the pretty face. Samson was seeing how she really feels—she was just in it for opportunity, Delilah never loved Samson. This woman that he was going to marry never loved him. It was an illusion to him, and it’s not until you have some consequences sometimes—it’s not until you realize what the enemy has done that it becomes personal—and when it’s personal, there’s something in your spirit—there is a conviction that comes in your spirit so that you will never be put in that situation again.

It’s personal now—it’s real now—this is where real spiritual warfare happens, when the rubber meets the road, when it’s hitting your house, when it’s hitting your family, your world, and it’s touched you, there’s a whole different kind of passion, there’s a whole different kind of energy, there’s a whole different kind of determination. And when somebody tries to tell you otherwise, what rises up? No—I’ll still fight for this. Sometimes you just have to go through.

God’s grace will keep us and guide us when we have zeal to do the will of God. See, we have the complexity of Samson who’s raised up to be a judge, who can kill a lion, and still struggles with a woman—and that’s all the same person—that’s all in the same story. But God gives him grace. Aren’t you thankful for grace? Never abuse it. Talking about spiritual warfare, we have to understand the whole radius of spirit, soul, and body and how it works. We’re thankful that grace is still there. After you’ve experienced the pain, the love you have for the Lord is still going to be there, and that’s all that God is interested in. After Peter messed up, the Lord asked him, “Peter, do you still love me?” and Peter answered, “You know I love you.” But that pain—now it’s personal—but enough is enough—we’re taking it out!

God is protecting you today

He’s keeping you from even more self-destruction. He’s protecting you while you’re waiting for revelation to come. While we’re in that period of struggle, God protects us and covers us just as He did Samson. I want you to thank the Lord for grace while you figure it out.

Prayer

God, cleanse the perversity that is in my mind today. As I have gone through the suffering of the poor choice, help me to learn from it and rise up and be better than I ever was before. Lord, let there be a determination in me that it will never happen again in Jesus' name. Help me to reconsecrate today, Lord. Help me to die to myself today just as Samson did. I understand that is where I will win my greatest victory—that’s where Satan will have nothing to use on me again. In Jesus’ name, Amen.