Spiritual Warfare and Kingdom Conduct

II Corinthians 10:4-5   For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,


As believers, we all go through trials. Even people who are not believer's in Christ face trials. But we have a wonderful savior, who loves us and will never abandon us.

Our trials can come in many ways. Some are physical infirmities, some are with strong temptations and addictions. But it has been my experience that most of my trials are with people and emotions.

Believers are constantly in spiritual warfare situations. Many times we try to handle things in our own way without even thinking about praying over the situation. We don't stop and think that these battles are really on a spiritual level. And our first response is  generally of the flesh. Self-pity, feelings of overwhelming temptation, and despair. Mine is usually anger and I want to give full vent to it!

But Kingdom Conduct  works differently. And it begins with loving the Lord with your heart, mind, soul and strength. We are to pray without ceasing. That is difficult and likely something we will not conquer this side of Heaven, but we must try!

When faced with a conflict, we need to take one of those quick moments and pray. "Lord help me.  I need to have the mind of Christ over this!"  Remember Jesus is always with you! That is loving the Lord with your heart and emotions.

Then your Kingdom Conduct kicks in and it starts with the Holy Spirit bringing the Word to your mind. He will bring to your mind attributes of godly conduct. For example, "love is gentle, it doesn't demand it's own way." or "the wisdom from above is first peaceful." I find a lot of "reminders" come from the book of Proverbs, and usually has something to say about my words. Proverbs 15:1 has come to my rescue, (my breastplate of righteousness and behavior) many times. "A soft answer turns away anger but harsh words stir up strife."

We can not have kingdom conduct without spiritual weapons. And when it comes right down to it... the whole armor is the Word of God.

 Ephesians 6:1-9 Deal specifically with conduct.
Verses 10-18 Give a complete description of our armor.

Here are the highlights:
Our strength comes from the Lord and our trust in Him.
Our armor gives us the strength to withstand the attacks of evil.
We need the belt of truth which is the Word and that belt holds everything together.
The preparation of the shoes equals prayer.
The shield of faith is what we use to parry the jabs to our emotions.
The breastplate of righteousness is our behavior. It protects from without and within.
(It does that by keeping our conduct in line with the word.)
The helmet is the word that is in our mind.
The sword of the spirit, the Word is how we are able to apply it.

Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength! (Mark 12:30)
Love never fails!