You're Already in a War (And You Don't Even Know It)

There's a lot of talk about war, and many are feeding into the fear and falling into the fear. But we as Christians should never be afraid because God is in control. But you should be aware about the war in which you participate every single day. That war affects this world and the next world. When the enemy attacks you, he attacks you strategically, and every war is broken down into battles. These are the most common battles that you will face as you fight this spiritual war. Number 1, the battle for your mind. The battle for your mind takes place in many forms, but first and foremost, the enemy is going to try to rob you of peace. The Scripture tells us in Philippians 4:6-7, Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts. Listen to that. Will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. So we as believers have to fight that battle to not worry. The enemy wants you to listen to the headlines. The enemy wants you to listen to propaganda and allow that to affect your mind to the point that you're no longer receiving the peace that God has for you in the Spirit. Another way that the enemy fights your mind is in the area of your joy. Think about if you face a disappointment at work, but instead of responding with entitlement, instead of responding with cynicism, instead of responding with anger, you respond with gratitude and trust. Think about if you face some tragedy, maybe you lose a loved one, maybe you miss an opportunity, maybe something you worked hard toward. just simply falls apart. These things, if we're not careful, can get inside of our hearts and cause us to lose the influence of the joy of the Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, the scripture says in James chapter 1, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So in the area of your mind, the enemy will battle you. For your peace. He'll battle you for your joy. He'll battle you for your clarity. Think about how when a big decision comes your way, you have to ask yourself, do I first go to friends and family? Do I first try to figure it all out on my own? Or do I take those big decisions to prayer? When I feel like opinions are coming at me in all different directions, do I ground myself on the Word or do I simply drown in my own emotions? The scripture declares, but they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They're like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. In James 1:5, we also read, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. So, When you feel yourself becoming confused, when it seems like life is throwing all sorts of different ideas, all sorts of different paths before you, and you're wondering, which path do I go down? You're wondering, which voice do I believe? You're wondering, what exactly am I supposed to be thinking and feeling in this moment? You feel like you're just being turned upside down and everything around you is being shaken. That is when you ground yourself in the Word. That is when you become like a tree planted Along the riverbank. That is when you cry out and ask God for wisdom. And in so doing, you win the battle for your clarity. You win the battle for your mind. Another area that we battle, number 2, this is the battle for your purity. Now, of course, we understand that purity takes on many forms, but let's first discuss the area of sexual purity. When there's that battle that begins to rage within you, Your flesh craves one thing, but deep in your spirit, you know you ought to do another. When you're mindlessly scrolling on a social media platform where you know you can find some things that will satiate that ungodly hunger in you, that's when the battle begins to take place. Temptation is not an event, it's a process. Little by little, the enemy will reel you in. Little by little, the enemy will hook you. He'll put some bait on the hook and wait for you to take that which you desire. But when you say no, when you put away your phone late at night and say, I'm not going to scroll mindlessly because I know what that leads to. When you say, no, I'm not going to respond to that text message. No, I'm not going to go to that house. No, I'm not going to get into the social media messages and see what's been sent to me. Instead, I'm going to flee from that. I'm going to resist that. That is how you win the battle for sexual purity, by calling upon the Holy Spirit, saying, help me, Holy Spirit. And in those little moments, the Scripture tells us that it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. In other words, it's all those little compromises that ultimately lead to the big fall. The Scripture tells us very clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Run from sexual sin. No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. This is so important that you recognize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, because then it causes you to ask, what am I doing with the Holy Spirit's hands? What am I looking at with the Holy Spirit's eyes? What am I listening to with the Holy Spirit's ears? Where am I taking the Holy Spirit's being? Win the battle for your sexual purity by fleeing from temptation, not debating with it, not lingering and hoping that you can gain strength over it, But keeping yourself out of situations where you'll be tempted in the first place. And then in those moments where you can't avoid the moment of temptation, God will provide a way of escape if you simply call upon Him and flee from it. Don't even take a pause to entertain that. Also, when it comes to your purity, the enemy will battle you in the area of your speech. Ask yourself, when someone shares gossip with me, Do I participate in that gossip or do I shut it down knowing that it's ungodly? Or maybe somebody asks you to lie for them. Hey, cover for me. Even if it's something seemingly insignificant, they're still asking you to pervert your words, to pervert your speech, to compromise your faith simply to convenience them. Whether it be gossip, whether it be complaint, whether it be a lie, it doesn't matter. We must protect our speech. This is a battle you're going to fight daily. In Ephesians 4:25, we read, So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. Don't use foul or abusive language. I'll read it again. Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. He also battles you concerning your motives. Think about, about why you serve in church. When you serve in church, are you serving to be seen? Are you serving because you love God? If you're a preacher of the gospel, are you preaching to be celebrated by people? Or are you preaching with the motive to see people saved? When you ask God to prosper you, to bless you, are you asking to be blessed so that you can consume it upon your own lust, that blessing? Or are you asking to be blessed so that you might be a blessing to others? These are the things you have to ask yourself, and only you and the Lord know deep within your heart. In Proverbs 16:2, this is what the Word of God says. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. God knows your motives. He knows why you do what you do. Others see you doing something, but only God sees why you're doing it. And only you and the Lord know this. So you have to ask yourself, am I winning that battle for my motives? So in the area of purity, You're fighting for sexual purity. You're fighting for purity in your speech, and you're fighting for purity in your motivation. Now, if this is challenging you as a believer, if this is helping you to become more aware of the spiritual battle in which you are daily engaged, then make sure to leave a like on this video right now so that we can spread this video to other believers who need to hear it. And also, if you want to continue to receive my teachings, then make sure you subscribe to my channel. And do click that notification bell when you subscribe so that you can be notified of new content. Number 3, this is another area we battle. It's the battle for your relationships. Think about those friends that constantly pull you to compromise. They're constantly trying to get you to go where they go, think like they think, joke like they joke, act like they act. And instead of setting a godly boundary, instead of saying, no, I'm not going to allow you to have that kind of influence in my life, Sometimes we compromise because we don't want to offend people, or we don't want them to look at us as silly or naive or inexperienced. We want to be taken seriously by the world, but you have to set those godly boundaries. And especially if they're constantly pulling you in ungodly directions, especially if that's the whole basis of the relationship, you ought to cut it off. There's a time to set a boundary and there's a time to say goodbye. And this is where we have to win that battle. So the enemy uses these ungodly influences. The enemy uses these ungodly relationships to cause you to think like the world, to cause you to be weakened in your faith, to cause you to be weakened in your purity, to cause the influence of the Holy Spirit to be replaced by the influence of ungodly voices. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for bad company corrupts good character. The inverse of that would also be true. If you want to win in this area, you want to win in the battle for your relationships concerning friends, then you need to also be connecting with godly people. If bad company corrupts good character, then good company strengthens good character. Are you investing in the right friendships? Or are you hard to contact? Are you a hermit? Do you just go away at the end of the day and slip into the night, never to be seen until the following morning? Are you someone who ignores texts and calls because you're too lazy to go out and do anything, or you're too lazy to respond? Or maybe you say, I'm mentally and emotionally drained. And I understand there are moments when you need to rest. I understand that there are moments when you need a little me time. But that is no excuse to not invest at all in godly relationships. You ought to be making investments in godly relationships. And I'll tell you this, those investments are worth it. Because sometimes I think that we imagine that we're kind of just doing this life solo. Or maybe if we have a family, a spouse and children, we kind of just imagine that that's it. My spouse and my children, that's the totality of all the relationships that I need in this life. And while it's true that those are the most important relationships aside from the Lord, it's not true that that's all you need. And it's not healthy for you to isolate in that way. Biblically speaking, Christians are to live their faith in community. They're to live their lives in connectivity. And so if you're not investing in godly relationships, you're lacking accountability. If you're not investing in godly relationships, you're lacking needed support. Now, you can be prideful and say, well, I don't need it. I don't need the help. I don't need the advice. I don't need the correction. I don't need that kind of support. You're just lying to yourself based on your own ego. So I would say if bad company corrupts good character, then it's worth investing in good company so that good character can be strengthened. But concerning your relationships, I'm not just talking about friends. I'm talking about also, if you're a parent, your relationship with your children. You know, the enemy knows that your child is kind of like your heart walking around in this world. When you have a child, it makes you feel very vulnerable. I remember when my first daughter, Aria, was born, I had never felt so vulnerable in my life. And it was like, here is something that's so precious to me, that deeply affects my heart and soul, walking around with its own will. And I thought that was just the oddest thing. And it made me, again, feel very vulnerable. So the enemy, listen to this, parents, the enemy will often attack your children to get to you. If he can't find compromise in you, he'll find it in your children. If he can't find compromise in your mind, your heart, he'll look for it in your son or daughter, in your child, in your teenager, to see how he might negatively affect them. Now, I'm not saying this to make you paranoid. I'm saying this to make you vigilant because we have to pray for our children. And we have to be there for our children, and we have to teach them the Word of God, and we have to pray with them so that they can understand the importance of prayer. But also, Ephesians 6:4 instructs this: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. Do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. So it's not just children, honor your parents, but it's parents, Be careful of how you treat your children. Do you break your promises to them? Well, you're teaching them that authority figures break their word and it becomes harder for them to trust God. Do you parent out of emotion? By that, I mean, do you parent out of anger or do you correct with intention? Do you correct when you're grounded emotionally? Do you correct out of love? Are you impatient? Because your impatience today becomes their anxiety tomorrow. Your anger today becomes their frustration tomorrow. Your lack of praise for them becomes their insecurity tomorrow. So be careful because this is a, this is a very important battle. And I'm not saying this to make anyone feel guilty. I'm saying this to wake you up. That's a battle too, because the enemy wants you to lose that battle. in your connection with your child. Because in so corrupting that parent-child relationship, the enemy now has an open door for influence to wreak havoc in your generations. This is also true of your spouse. Now, this is interesting because when I talk about your spouse, I'm not just talking to married people. I'm talking to single people who one day want to be married. The enemy is destroying marriages that don't even exist. I want you to hear me now. The enemy wants to destroy your marriage before it even starts by planting seeds of corruption in you today, or by causing you to rush into marriage without wisdom, without laying proper foundations, and thus creating instability in your future. In 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, we read, Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And so if you're of the belief that that's some form of evangelism, if you marry that person, you can get them saved, that's unbiblical. Now, you may be able to point to a testimony or two and say, well, I know of a couple who One of them was saved, one of them wasn't. The other one ended up getting saved. That's great, but never mistake God's mercy for God's permission. Never mistake God's grace for God's best. In other words, sometimes he'll give you grace in an area because maybe someone didn't know better, and then there's another who knows better and they expect that same grace. But here we see that we are not to partner with ungodly people. Now, And this goes beyond just believer and unbeliever. We ought not to be unequally yoked with anyone, people who are of a different mindset, and they don't even realize that they've already got started on the wrong foot. So I'm talking to single people too. Do not rush into this because by rushing it, you may miss the voice of wisdom calling foundational issues out. And if you listen to that voice of wisdom, You win the battle for your marriage. You begin to win the battle for your marriage, I should say, before it even begins. Number 4 is the battle for your attention. Now, an example of this would be your time. Maybe you realize that you haven't prayed all day, but instead of praying, you spend another 2 hours scrolling mindlessly on social media. And again, Nothing wrong with social media. I've said that before, but we have to be careful with how we allow it to affect our lives. It's okay to have social media as long as social media doesn't have you. Ephesians 5:15-16 says this. So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Make the most of every opportunity. Time is fleeting. And especially in these evil days, it becomes very easy to be swept up in distraction, swept up in everything that's all around us. Psalm 90:12, very powerful verse right here. Teach us to realize the brevity of life. I love that. So that we may grow in wisdom. So one of the ways that you grow in wisdom is recognizing just how short your life is. That realization, that realization that you have a finite amount of time, it's very difficult to grasp that when you're younger because you're young, death seems so far away. But when you begin to realize, my time is short, this is gonna go by fast, and every year that goes by seems to go by faster than the previous year. And before you know it, you look up and 20 years have passed, 10 years have passed, 15 years have passed. But wisdom begins when you recognize that this life is short, that time is so limited. And so by grounding yourself in that reality, and really, I think it's ego. I'm just gonna be honest with you. I think it's pride. Pride is what causes us to believe that we have all the time in the world. And it's pride that causes us to waste time because we treat it like it's an unlimited resource. It's this assumption that we're just gonna have another day. That's why we waste so much time. So we win the battle for our attention, specifically in the area of time, by grounding ourselves in the reality that time is precious, it's finite, and we only have so much of it. Or think about your energy. You should budget your energy like you budget your time and your money. Many people budget their time through a schedule. Others budget Their money through a financial plan. But are you budgeting your energy, your mental energy, your emotional energy, or do you expend it on every little thing that comes up? Do you read a headline on social media and give all your focus, pour out all your worry, pour out all your anger, pour out all your frustration, get all worked up for that one thing? Well, you've probably wasted half the energy for the day on a single headline. No wonder we're so tired all the time. 'Cause we're just giving ourselves to so many things. You need to learn to say no. Again, I'm talking here about the battle for your attention. First, I mentioned time. Now I'm talking about energy. 1 Corinthians 10:23 tells us, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. And Psalm 37:4-5 says this, take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desire. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. So it's all as unto him. Also, the battle for your attention has to do with your resources, your finances. Think about how many Christians are afraid these days. They're so afraid by the headlines. They're so afraid because of what we're hearing about wars and rumors of wars, economic this, financial that, job market this, stock market that. And Christians get all worked up into fear, and we think that we're excused from being generous. Believer, we ought to be generous in every season. This is something that Jess and I practice regularly. We are generous in every season because we know that God will provide in every season. Sometimes you're tempted to buy something that you don't need, but when you're tempted to buy something you don't need, think about it. Instead, you can give that money to a ministry that helped you, thus advancing the kingdom. Or maybe you're in the area of your resources, you're battling for that. And there's this tension within you, this grip of greed where you're saying, I can't let go. And by the way, greed doesn't always look like excess. Sometimes greed is just fear. We like to stockpile, hold it, and then we hold in fear. Well, that's not generosity. That's not the biblical way. We as Christians ought to be generous in every season. No excuse, no matter what we're faced with, we as believers ought to be generous in proportion to what we have in every season. Matthew 6:19-21, don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also. Number 5, the battle for your calling. I'm talking about your general assignment. What has God given you to do on this side of eternity? Well, maybe you sense God telling you to speak up. You sense God calling you to start that Bible study, to start that church, to take that ministry position, to start that podcast, to start that channel, to write that book, to write that song, to release that poem, to start that school program, to start that feeding program, to start that homeless shelter, whatever it may be. God has given you a calling, an assignment, something specific that you know you need to do. Yet often we battle in this area because we're battling the fight between faith and doubt. Now, when I say faith and doubt, immediately we think of things like, well, I don't know if God is willing to do it. Or, I don't know if it's all going to work out. That's not even the biggest battle for most Christians. Most Christians know God can do it, God will do it, and that's not even their issue. Their issue is their own insecurity. Their issue is their own sense of inadequacy. That fear and doubt doesn't necessarily have to do with the questioning of God's ability, but the questioning of God's ability through them. In other words, they're so aware of their flaws, they're saying, He couldn't possibly want to use me. I couldn't possibly be the one for this task. Maybe someone else would do. We point to the YouTubers, the Christian YouTubers we like, and we say, well, they're the ones who are called. Or maybe a pastor we see in the pulpit, we say, well, that's the guy that God wants to use. Or someone who's very polished and very charismatic and very intelligent. And we point to all these individuals and we say, well, those are the people surely that God has called, all the while missing the deposits of greatness that God has made in us. simply because we are overlooking it and we're fighting that battle between faith and doubt because of our own sense of inadequacy. Moses felt something similar. In Exodus 4:10-12, we read, But Moses pleaded with the Lord, O Lord, I'm not very good with words. Sound like you, maybe? I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied and my words get tangled. The Lord asked Moses, who makes a person's mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say. Notice here, he says, I'll be with you as you speak. You got to obey. You got to go to be guided. You have to step out in faith. So if God's given you something, you got to do it. And, and again, our excuses may sound great. We may be convinced by them. That doesn't make them valid. They may feel real. They may feel right. But that doesn't make them true. In Luke chapter 9, verses 23 and 24, we read the words of Jesus where he said, if any of you wants to come be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. It's the battle between comfort and sacrifice, what is familiar and what requires faith, what we think is certain versus what we think is risky. That's the battle you're, you're going to fight every day concerning your calling. So the battle for your mind takes place in the areas of peace, joy, and clarity. The battle for your purity has to do with sexual purity, purity in speech, purity of motives. The battle in your relationships has to do with friends, children, and spouses. Beyond that, but that's what we covered here today. The battle for your attention has to do with how you spend your time, your energy, and your resources. Number 5, the battle for your calling. It's the battle between faith and doubt, comfort and sacrifice, familiarity and faith. How are you doing in these areas? Are there ways you can improve? Are you losing these battles? Are you winning these battles? Were you completely unaware of these battles? Does it get intense? Either way, the Holy Spirit wants to help you. Say this simple prayer. Say it out loud. Say, help me, Holy Spirit. Help me to be aware of the battle and help me to win the fight. Amen. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Type it in the comments because you believe it. Type a big amen. Now, I'm going to challenge you here to support this ministry. This ministry has helped you. We need your help. Our ministry is expanding even in these times. The work is expanding. We cannot take a day off. The devil's not taking a day off. We're not taking a day off. The events are growing. The media is growing. The needs are greater. There are more people to serve than ever before. People are getting saved, healed, delivered. They're having encounters with the Holy Spirit, and I need you. It's time to enlist in this ministry. It's time to enlist in God's army. Now I'm calling on you, my brothers and sisters, to respond in faith. There's an old saying, and I believe it to be true: If you have a need. Plant a seed, and by that it simply means that generosity invites the blessing of God in the area of our finances. This is something that Jess and I have practiced for years. Whenever we found ourselves in a difficult financial situation, we would sow a seed. We would give. I watched my parents do it. I watched my grandparents do it. My grandma and grandpa were the ones that taught it to our family. They grew up in poverty. They grew up struggling, but every month they would sit down around the family dinner table and they would show the children, look, we're giving to the work of God. And every single month God came through for them. And I believe that God wants to bless you, and I believe that God wants to increase you. Now is not the time for fear. Look, I know what the headlines are saying. We don't go by headlines, go by the word. And so I want to challenge you To give to this ministry so that we can continue our work. I need your help. I need you to be a part of it. So if you want to become a monthly ministry supporter, go to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Think of all the ways that we spend monthly on things— the streaming platforms, the gaming systems, the gym memberships, the movie memberships, whatever it may be. Just look at your resources and say, If I need to, maybe I'll make a little sacrifice here or there in the area of entertainment or in the area of wants so that I can support this ministry. Maybe you don't need to make any changes, but you can just add ministry support. That's great if the Lord has blessed you in that way. But either way, I'm asking you to sign up today. Would you consider becoming a $30 a month partner today? You can partner with us on a monthly basis for any amount by going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Also, I want to challenge those of you who can to give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. If God has blessed you, if God has increased you, give in proportion to how he has blessed you. If you're believing for a breakthrough in finances, you're believing for God to bless you and prosper you in those areas, then it's time to step out on the word of God. Paul the Apostle wrote that if we give sparingly, we reap sparingly. He was talking about finances. But if we give bountifully, we reap bountifully in God's timing, according to his will. So I'm challenging you now, step out in faith, join our cause. One more time, partner by going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. If you have a need, plant a seed. And if you enjoyed this message where I talked about the various battles that you face on a daily basis, And you're gonna love 6 Ways the Devil Uses the Bible to Deceive You. In that lesson, I show you verses that are commonly warped by the enemy to spread his lies. So make sure to check that out. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.