Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptural quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible. Spiritual Weapons To Defeat the Enemy: Overcoming the Wiles, Devices, and Deception of the Devil ISBN 978-1-937267-05-6 Copyright © 1993 by Rick Renner Ministries, Inc. P. O. Box 702040 Tulsa, Oklahoma 74170-2040 Published by Teach All Nations P. O. Box 702040 • Tulsa, OK 74170-2040 New Edition 2012 Editorial Consultant: Cynthia Hansen Text Design: Lisa Simpson, www.SimpsonProductions.net Cover Design: Debbie Pullman, www.ZoeLifeCreative.com Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under the International Copyright Law. Con- tents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written consent of the publisher. Contents Preface .................................................................................5 Introduction ........................................................................7 CHAPTER 1 Put On the Whole Armor! .............................................9 Th e ‘Whole Armor’ of the Roman Soldier ................10 Spiritual Weapons at Our Disposal ..........................13 A New Set of Clothes ...............................................29 How Do You Put On the Whole Armor of God? ....31 CHAPTER 2 Understanding Your Enemy .........................................37 An Eyeball-to-Eyeball Confrontation! .....................40 Taking a Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil ........41 Th e Devices of the Devil ...........................................43 Th e Deception of the Devil .......................................45 CHAPTER 3 Cutting Off the Giant’s Head ......................................51 Th e Hard Facts of Spiritual Warfare .........................56 Th e Flesh Counts for Nothing ..................................59 Moving Beyond the Flesh .........................................64 Prevailing Over the Philistines in Your Life .............67 Th e Devil’s Mode of Operation ................................71 3 CHAPTER 4 Wrestling With Principalities and Powers ....................73 Th e Survival of the Fittest .........................................77 Principalities and Powers ..........................................79 Th e Devil’s Rank-and-File Forces .............................82 CHAPTER 5 Who Is the Devil? .......................................................87 Satan’s Destructive Bent ............................................89 Satan’s Perverted Nature ...........................................90 Satan’s Desire To Control ........................................93 Satan, the Mind Manipulator ..................................95 A Prerequisite to Spiritual Warfare .........................100 Preface Many believers and partners of my ministry have expressed how much they have benefi ted from my book Dressed To Kill but wished I had a shorter version of the same material — something less than almost 500 pages! Th ey wanted to be able to be built up and encouraged reading a small book the same way they were when they read Dressed To Kill. For this reason, I have taken the portions that are the heart of Dressed To Kill and revised them to become this powerful little book called Spiritual Weapons To Defeat the Enemy. I pray this book will be a blessing to you! Rick Renner 5 Introduction When the Church of Jesus Christ fi rst emerged on the scene on the Day of Pentecost, it was born into a world very similar to ours. Nations were in revolt; national boundaries were disappearing; violence in entertainment was popular; and godly morals in the Roman world were nearly nonexistent. Th e Roman army was quickly conquering much of the civilized world of that day. Homelands were being seized, plundered, and occupied by this mighty army, and the world was being united politically and economically by the prevail- ing government of Rome. Meanwhile, the occultic paganism of the hour was far worse than any historian could ever state. Satan used all these factors as a part of his plan to destroy the Church before it could destroy him. Nevertheless, his plan to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ failed miserably, for God had another plan! Rather than being destroyed, the Early Church arose in the power of the Spirit to meet the challenge — just as we will rise in our own day to meet any challenge the enemy would attempt to put before us! Equipped with “the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10-18), these early believers lived victoriously for the Lord in the midst of the worst ordeals — predicaments more diffi cult than anyone reading this book has ever known. Satan buff eted 7 SPIRITUAL WEAPONS TO DEFEAT THE ENEMY the Early Church with unimaginable torture and outward persecution, but he could not destroy her! “Th e whole armor of God” that worked so eff ectively for these early believers is the very same set of spiritual armor worn by the Church of Jesus Christ today. Just as these early Christians were fully equipped with the whole armor of God for the troubles of their day, we also have the whole armor of God to live victoriously for Jesus Christ during our day. And this armor still works just as eff ectively as it did then! Each element of God’s spiritual armor — the loinbelt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and the lance of prayer and supplication — are still vital, eff ec- tive, and powerful weapons for the Body of Christ today. Second Corinthians 10:4 talks about these spiritual weapons: “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds).” With these “weapons of our warfare” in hand, we are more than able to defeat any foe or demonic stronghold that would challenge our faith! 8 1 C HAPTER Put On the Whole Armor! P aul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). Th e phrase “whole armor” is taken from the Greek word panoplia, and it refers to a Roman soldier who is fully dressed in his armor from head to toe. Since this is the example Paul put before us, we must consider the full dress, the panoplia, of the Roman soldier. Because of Paul’s many imprisonments, this was an easy illustration for him to use. Standing next to these impressive- looking soldiers during his prison internments, Paul could see the Roman soldier’s loinbelt; huge breastplate; brutal shoes affi xed with spikes; massive, full-length shield; intricate helmet; piercing 9