Dreams & Mysteries - The Mystery of Spiritual Warfare

when you think about heaven how do you picture it actually do you picture it as one place that might be a little bit presumptuous so that's typically what most people think the Bible actually says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth heavens yep plural more than one so what does that mean well we'll get to that in a moment but back to my original question how do you picture heaven there are surely places in the heavens that are like green meadows next to Stillwater's I guarantee you that's true but there are also places or like hardened battlefields in the heavens there's a time and a place for the harp and there's a time and a place for the blowing of the shofar what causes these battles this collision between good and evil well actually a lot of the time you do more specifically your prayers do how that's the mystery the mystery of spiritual warfare this is dreams and mysteries with John Paul Jackson you may have never heard of spiritual warfare but one way or another all prayer is in fact spiritual warfare in this way even though you can't see it when you pray you've ignited a war of a pray of warfare in fact you've called on an airstrike you've asked God to come in and strike from the air you've enabled God to answer that prayer through whatever sovereign act he sees fit he could command his angels to render aid he can respond to the work of the Holy Spirit he can move upon the heart of the man changing his direction prayer can cause God to send signs wonders or miracles your way prayer can do all these things and countless others your prayers cause God to act and the enemy to react this spiritual realm because of your prayer becomes a superhighway of collisions between good and evil this is the place that Jesus was describing when he said the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force there is a constant battle going on in the invisible world all around you even though you may not know it or even see it it still exists not only is it going on all around us you and I have a part to play in that very battle God created us to be part of that battle the moment he told us to subdue the earth we chose to make that job just a little bit harder at the fall but the mission remains the same we are to overcome evil with good God is waiting to help us do that very thing but he won't act without us asking all prayer is asking and all prayer in one way or another becomes spiritual warfare that's why Paul Anna's letter to Ephesus encourages them to put on the full armor of God that's not a physical armor because we're not battling against flesh and blood the full armor of God consists of spiritual tools necessary to defend ourselves when we're attacked by the enemy this allows us to press forward on the offense if when it takes place on the ground the sword the breastplate the helmet the shield the belt the shoes these are what you take out with you to the battlefield when you pray Paul's not mentioning the arm of God is some sort of poetic allegory or metaphor Paul is clearly seen into this invisible realm and he knows it's no picnic he asked God for battle instructions and he's passing those instructions along to us this is all part of the divine irony of spiritual warfare that's why we quietly and peacefully pray and all that time the battle rages on all around us you are not here to be average you were here to change the world you are here to take part in the miraculous in the spiritual living series listen to John Paul Jackson as he teaches you about the impact your life will have as you become the person that God has created you to be inherit all of God's promises and blessings recognize how the lives of others profoundly impact your destiny and purpose learn how to take risk and trust God the spiritual living series includes advancing to the next spiritual level regaining what you've lost your great purpose increasing your spirits capacity and matters of the earth their spiritual Living series is being offered for your gift of $60 or more to the ministry order today at dreams in mysteries.com or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five two understand spiritual warfare it helps to first understand the structure of the heavens so you have first heaven second heaven third heaven you have the place where man lives the place where the second heaven is where demonic forces are and you have the third heaven so we get a biggest clue to this structure when Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 12:2 that he knew a man who went to the third whether in the body or in the spirit he really didn't know now think about that for a moment the complexity of that statement alone that he knew a man that went to the third heaven you see that statement should be taken as Scripture proof that there are three heavens if there's a third heaven then there has to be a second heaven by definition right now does the Bible specifically mention a second heaven though not even once but that's what makes the Bible so mysterious there are some messages that are plain and clear like the message of salvation but then there are the Buried mysteries of 2nd Corinthians 12:2 mysteries that the clue that is given to us about the rest of the heavens is given in this context that's not even referring really to that issue so what do the scholars have to say about this 3rd heaven stuff there are some general arguments the first heaven is generally agreed to to be the earth and its atmosphere and the third heaven is generally agreed to be the abode of God our Father who art in heaven but the second heaven the second heaven is a matter of debate and often fierce debate as well you see there are two schools of thought on it the viewpoint you'll see most often is that the second heaven is outer space the space where you find the planets and the solar system that viewpoint tends to look at the three heavens as being separated by distance so you have first heaven second heaven third heaven distance-wise well I don't believe that point of view that's a physical way of describing something that I see much more of a spiritual place a real place but a spiritual place kind of like hell like another dimension I've heard the argument there is no such thing as a second heaven but I can't understand that and so I disagree with it because if there's got to be a third heaven there's got to be a second heaven so Paul mentions that then that say that that's the way it is it would be like me telling a real estate agent that I'm looking for a home in the third room only to have the agent present me with the house has two bathrooms and then trying to tell me the house comes with the first and third bathroom I don't believe the second heaviness outer space I believe the second heaven is the place the spiritual battles between angels and demons take place a spiritual realm maybe a spiritual dimension the second heaven is no-man's land literally where angels and other spirit beings must push through to reach us they have to do that from the third heaven to reach us in the first heaven you see the second heaven is the heaven that God created for demonic beings to inhabit it's the abode they left in Genesis when they found the daughters and then pleasing lastly the second heaven is a battlefield but it's not our battlefield the battlefield that belongs to God he tells us as much as I 115 verse 16 when the psalmist writes the heaven even the heavens are the Lord's but the earth he has given to man there is a battlefield that we belong on and that we should report to every day but there are also other battlefields that we have no place are no Authority entering what do I mean by that what do I mean by we can go some battlefields but not other battlefields well here's what I mean when we engage the enemy in the second heaven our safety cannot be guaranteed because we're leaving our abode the earth what do I mean by second heaven battle when you pray against or you rebuke a principality or a power over a region you're leaving your realm of spiritual authority because the Lord says the heaven even the heavens are the Lord's not man's though the Lord's so in my book needless Kazi is a war I tell the story after story of pastors and churches that have endured spiritual attacks against their families the one common denominator that they have is that they were engaging in 2nd heaven warfare I never would have made this connection if it weren't for a dream that I had the dream that define my perspective on spiritual warfare actually came at night the sky was an incredibly blue black huge horizon and on this huge horizon was an even larger luminous moon that filled nearly the entire sky there were figures silhouetted between me and the moon and these figures were beginning to rail the moon they began to shout at the moon and as they begin to shout at the moon there's platforms they were standing on and preaching from begin to just kind of rise up off the ground as they began to rise up more and more people would gather around them the more people that gather together the more the platforms would rise finally as that kept happening I was getting close for myself and I began to realize they had something on their hips kind of like gunslingers and all of a sudden they begin to take the whole stronger hip and they begin to throw it at the moon while they through as a hatchet they just simply threw a hatchet at the moon while they the hatchet had no chance of hitting the moon and it just literally went into the distance of the darkness beyond but the people applauded and the people that that were on the platforms of platforms continued to rise as that happened they begin to get tired they begin to get weary and they begin to lay down from their fatigue on their platform and they fell asleep on that platform it was then that something really really undetected happened I could see it but they couldn't see it because they were asleep figures begin to drop from the moon to the earth all of this could happen in a dream but dreams tell us so much figures dropped from the earth they were dark figures they dropped to the earth they began crawling up the pole which held up the platform that these people were standing on that had been yelling at the moon throwing hatchets at the moon soon when they these demonic forces climbed over the edge I heard this blood-curdling cries that came from these leaders cries for the family cries for their children cries for the church just cries for the ministry say we're saying somebody helped me somebody help me I'm dying somebody help me my children somebody help me it was a terrifying horrible sight and it even worse sound then like a movie the dream faded the black and then the stillness that followed God spoke to me and this is what he said to attack principalities and powers over a geographic area is as useless as throwing hatchets at the moon and it leaves you open to unforeseen and unperceived attacks unforeseen that's what happened these pastors they were asleep these leaders they were asleep unperceived they thought something was attacking them okay but they had no clue why or how or who unforeseen and unperceived attacks God's Word echoed in my mind these leaders didn't see anything coming they didn't see the principalities it didn't see the counter tax they believed they were doing something great for God but they failed to comprehend the nature of the enemy's authority to retaliate with fierceness because they had left their god-given Authority and gone into an arena they had no authority to go into made a little lower than the Angels they decided they were going to attack demonic powers that were equal in their structure and in the created order to the angels the Lord then went on to also say one more thing to me and he told me to read job 41 in Isaiah 27 concerning Leviathan and who has been given responsibility over the tacking or taking Leviathan and the dangers of attacking Leviathan when you don't have the authority given to you by God to do it God has the authority he has not given that authority to man well this gimme as I mentioned gave me courage and the courage was basically this I had pastors had been calling me asking me what is going on in my church I've had five women that I've miscarried I've got four more women that are spotting I've had the five that miscarried all miscarried in the same month and now these other four women are about to miscarry and and they're approaching the month that the others miscarried in this is what am I going to do I had a pastor call me it will all within the same week and they all then the pastor said my son has run away my son has been incredibly submissive has been a great son he's in his teenage years not a problem high school athlete and he's run away I had another pastor come I said my daughter has disappeared I can't find her I'm going to have to go to the place and she's just disappeared and they asked me what has God told you anything about my church has God told you anything about my son has God told you anything about my daughter I had others that had called me as well and so I was seeking the Lord about that trying to find the answer to the missing son or daughter or to the to the the miscarriages that were happening in the church and then this dream came and I understood what had happened so I called the pastor's the next day I've got on the phone called the pastors I called the pastor first pastor I called was a church up in the Chicago area and I said brother have you been doing anything have you been like coming against principalities and powers he goes yeah man we've been really going after him or coming against the spirit of abortion in the city sexual perversion s today we're really pulling them down and I said that's the reason why your women have lost the babies that's the reason why the four women are spotting and if you'll repent of that and I went into the dream told him the dream gave him the Bible verses we talked a little bit about it talked about the Hebrew passages the five things that we talked about earlier we talked about those and I said if you'll repent God will stop the spotting this going on the woman right now the woman within 24 hours we'll stop the spotting and they will go full term had their babies and all for the babies will be healthy but you violated the authority structure that man had been given by God I then called the pastor that had the daughter that was missing in the Sun that had run away and in talking with them I also asked him the same thing and they had been doing the exact same thing they had exceeded their authority structure they had rebelled against God's created order they had rebelled on what God had given man to do and in the process the Lord spoke to me said their children also rebelled just as they had rebelled against God's order the Father in Heaven's order the children had rebelled against the father on earth solder there so there was this metaphor going on talk to them what had happened and told him if you'll repent of doing these things your son will be back home in 24 hours your daughter will turn up in 24 hours everything will be fine they believe that they've repented and that's exactly what happened to the church that had the miscarriages the next morning by noon all the woman had reported everything was fine they went on to have healthy babies the daughter that had disappeared and come back home the son that had run away had come back home everything was fine and years later everything was still fine what I found is that God is really serious about what he has given us to do and what he is do yes we will have one day the authority to judge angels absolutely but that's in the age to come Ephesians 2:7 tells us it's not in this age when we exceed the authority that God's given us then the enemy has an avenue of attack that it never had before over the last 30 years John Paul Jackson has studied how God speaks metaphorically through dreams parables and proverbs in the Bible God wants all believers to understand their dreams and that includes you for your gift of $60 or more we'd like to send you the season to dream bundle a 2-cd set teaching the basics of dreams and visions John Paul's advance six CD set understanding dreams and visions in a three CD set on the biblical model of dream interpretation also included the moments with God dream journal plus four dream cards to help you understand your dreams order your season to dream bundle today visit dreams in mysteries.com or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five virtue warfare isn't anything that you or I should be afraid of you have to have faith in God and you have to have faith that you are son or daughter of God and you have been given tools of warfare you were made to pray for the sick and the result of that prayer should be that they are healed you were created to pray for the demonized and the result should be that they were delivered and set free you are made to pray for the brokenhearted and the result of that should be that the hearts become mended to the power of the Holy Spirit this is all spiritual warfare you're doing what you were created to do destroy evil with good but all this warfare is what I call terrestrial warfare earthly warfare first heaven warfare it's all done here on earth the demonic presence you're commanding to leave a person is here on earth God has given the earth to man but not just a physical earth it includes the first heaven as well the first heaven is the spiritual dimension that exists right here around us the spiritual reality this coexisting spiritual realm when a person is demonically oppressed that spiritual being is in our jurisdiction the jurisdiction of we've been given to rule however a power or principality located over a geographic area is an entirely different matter that is a second heaven entity second heaven then Bible is clear that we should leave those beings to God that's not to say we stand by and do nothing it simply means we address our prayers to God and ask God to change things here's the difference you can rebuke the spirit of abortion over a woman who is having a miscarriage or being being taken along that direction but you can't rebuke the Principality of abortion that's over a particular City so to be completely Frank with you that principality over a city has a right to be there over that city until the hearts of the people of that city are changed and that's exactly how you wage spiritual warfare against powers and print polities you pray for God to change the hearts and minds of the people in charge of those cities when the high places in the natural realm are changed the second heaven powers and principalities are removed and godly powers and principalities are set up that's exactly what Jeremiah 17 is talking about when a city does right God removes the evil when the city does wrong God places evil in charge it's our hearts that determine what rules in the second heaven we don't tear it down unless we tear down the high places in our own hearts so perhaps the hardest part of the mystery of spiritual warfare is to grasp what Ephesians 6:12 is really saying we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places everything Paul is mentioning in this passage exists in the second heaven the context of Ephesians 6 is to pound home the importance of putting on the armor of God and having done that stand your ground but where do you stand your ground you stand it right here on earth the armor of God prepares us for spiritual warfare and truth we do wrestle with Satan's inventory every day we don't wrestle with Satan himself the main point the Ephesians 6:12 is to stress the need to prepare ourselves for battle that battle comes through demonic forces driving and and pushing people that come against us and what we're called to do we prepare to the knowledge of the Word of God we prepare by increasing our faith we repair by maintaining an atmosphere of peace along with the understanding of truth and righteousness and of course with the realization that Jesus has saved us from the everlasting effects of Hell a place that was created for Satan and his minions not for humans the only way that we go to hell because we choose to follow Satan and when he follows in the Pitts we go right after him because we follow him blindly along the way learn how to protect yourself from unforeseen and unperceived spiritual attacks in a battle of the millennium the dynamic prayer series includes two of John Paul's best-selling books in his book needless casualties of war John Paul and rabble's the subtle distinctions between waging warfare against the enemy and becoming an unnecessary casualty of war in unmasking the Jezebel spirit John Paul speaks with wisdom and authority pinpointing exactly where the enemy is operating also included a 2-cd set on effective spiritual warfare John Paul reveals some startling insights that will uncover spiritual strategies of the dark side for your gift of $30 or more to the ministry we will send you needless casualties of war unmasking the Jezebel spirit and companion CD or for your gift of $50 or more to the ministry we will send you an audio version of the books and companion CD order today at dreams and mysteries.com or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five you want to learn the deeper mysteries of God but feel overwhelmed with your schedule introducing John Paul's online classroom attend his classes without leaving your home explore subjects like dream interpretation hearing from God living the spiritual life prayer and spiritual warfare to begin your journey go to Dreams in mysteries.com and click on John Paul's online classroom or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five God created you as both the physical and spiritual being through His Son Jesus he placed in you the very DNA of deity John calls this his seed and Peter calls us the nature the divine nature of God he's given you spiritual gifts and attributes to operate in both the physical and spiritual world simultaneously how does that work by exercising the gifts God's given you and the right you have as a son and daughter of God every time you pray you're exercising those rights every time you lay hands on someone who is sick and ask God to heal them you're using the tools God has given you those tools just aren't plain tools they're weapons and you've been given the right to use those weapons to destroy the work of the evil one they don't destroy the evil one but they they do destroy his works that task of destroying the evil one is left to God you may not consider yourself an evil destroyer but you are and everywhere you go just your presence causes the enemy to rethink his battle plans when you walk into a bank the dark spiritual beings of greed and manipulation are instantly aware of your presence they see your spiritual armor they see your breastplate which identifies you as a follower of Christ and as someone who can instantly make them to leave if they so much as make a peep these drug beings become agitated at your presence at what you might do you keep them at bay for you pray for the teller who's battling depression they're wondering where you treat the angry security guard with kindness and begin dismantling the tense atmosphere these evil beings have spent all morning trying to build up inside of them what are you going to do they wonder why are you here this is the battlefield you walk through each day and most aren't even aware of it you weren't created the tiptoe around in this battlefield you were created for the battle remember the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force all prayer in one way or another is spiritual warfare but is all prayer equal in its effectiveness never focus on a lower power never focus on a lesser power because God the greatest power is the one who answers your prayer why focus on something that has less power than the ultimate power source the one true God what should be our focus during prayer are the things we should pray for and other things we shouldn't pray for is it possible that we're simply praying wrong and because we pray wrong or amiss God is not hearing us the answers yes not our prayers are equal there are vital principles that must be understood about prayer before you could expect your prayers to have maximum impact but that that type of prayer is a mystery for another time

Channel: Dreams & Mysteries

Views: 638,585

Rating: 4.8358345 out of 5

Keywords: John Paul Jackson (Person), Dreams & Mysteries, dreams and mysteries, Streams Ministries, daystar, Jesus, Christianity, Spiritual Warfare (TV Subject), dreams, dream interpretation

Id: jG2rnSSC08M

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Fri May 02 2014