Our obedient lives close doorways
Our obedient lives close doorways of entry that Satan uses
The basis of our part through walking in obedience for guaranteeing God's protection from occult spells
The occult world and their activities of sorcery through spell casting and making their ways acceptable to people is growing, not diminishing. This is even what bible prophecy points to about the end-times.
Jeff Harshbarger, in his book From Darkness to Light, says, “Parents, the occult is being marketed to your children at an unprecedented level through movies, television programs, books, games, toys, and trading cards. It's portrayed as innocent, fun, and entertaining. To see the newest or latest in occult items for kids, turn on the television, browse the children's department at the local bookstore, or walk the aisles of the toy store nearest to you,” (Jeff Harshbarger , From Darkness to Light , p.131-132).
However, as Harshbarger points out, the association of occult related content among children does not invite demonic activity. It nonetheless can pose as an invitation for children to experiment with occult practices that tap into the spirit world and summon demonic activity.
In addition, the most important concern is not whether our children in society would experiment with occult practices that tap into the spirit world. The most important concern is whether or not we're doing enough to ensure they're under God's covering.
Doing enough is not measured by how much we monitor them - though essential. Doing enough is measured by how much we're connecting ourselves to God, our ultimate source of strength, protection, and everything good. You can see how much responsibility God entrusts us with. It impacts the lives of others in many ways. Our obedience to God is not just for our own sake but also for the sake of those we're entrusted with.
Those we're entrusted with include our immediate family, siblings, neighbors, those who're impacted through our talents (ministry), and so on. As said earlier, our obedience is a weapon of righteousness that enables God to fight our battles in the spirit realm. Through our obedience to God our prayers for others avail much.
“The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects,” James 5:16.
If you look at the moral depravity in this world today it sometimes seems like a punishment to have children. Their innocent lives are under so many temptations and appeals from the fallen world. The fallen world is so aggressive in recruiting them into one thing or another. Some parents are at a loss, leave alone having to deal with their own lives!
The fallen world is therefore not joking to bring down society with its depravity. We too ought not to be joking when dealing with it. We ought not to look at stuff being thrown at us (and those we're entrusted with) as just mere products, services, mere music, movies, advertisements, and so on. Some groups in the occult world are using these avenues to poison society spiritually, socially, physically, and materially.
They are very serious in their Satanic agenda. We too ought to be very serious in our God-sent agenda as his vessels of light, hope, salvation, and so on. We're in a spiritual warfare over our lives and over the lives of those we're entrusted with. Our obedience to God who deals with forces working against us is so crucial in winning this war.
Our salvation through Christ guarantees us a “plot” in heaven but it's our obedience to God that determines how we'll exist while still here on earth. It determines the level God will not just use us for his glory while still here on earth but also how much God will protect us from Satan's works against us. Our obedience to God can therefore not be emphasized enough. It's so important words cannot describe it. Obedience constitutes “weapons of righteousness” as will be seen below.
Putting on the full armor of God in our spiritual warfare
Putting on the full armor of God in the spiritual warfare comes with a mindset that we're in a spiritual war. The great part of it is that we're on the most powerful side. The most powerful being, God, is on our side.
In this spiritual war we use weapons to fight our battle. God has his weapons he uses in the realm of the spirit, we have ours in the earthly realm. God's weapons of warfare in the spirit realm are his angels. Our weapons of warfare in the earthly realm are “weapons of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 6:7) that represent to God that we've done our part for him to confront the enemy on our behalf in the spirit realm.
In the book of Ephesians the scripture covers on our spiritual amour or weapons of spiritual warfare. The spiritual amour in the Ephesians passage is composed of Truth, Righteousness, Gospel of Peace, Faith, Salvation, and the Word of God. All these are aspects of consecration, obedience to and fellowship with God.
The Lord uses our consecration and obedience to overturn Satan's legal hold over matters in our lives and the lives of those we've been assigned to minister to –spiritually, socially, materially and physically. “We will be ready to punish every act of disobedience once (when) your obedience is complete,” 2 Corinthians 10:6 (emphasis added).
The passage in Ephesians says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace .
“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith , with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God . And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints,” Ephesians 6:11-18 (emphasis added).
You'll notice that the entire armor of God is a call to a life of consecration, obedience and fellowship with God - truth , righteousness , gospel of peace , faith , salvation , word of God , prayers .
It is not meant for us to go out and start bombarding the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual or heavenly realms. My book Major Spiritual Warfare Principles: Biblical Do's and Don'ts of Warfare has more detailed info on this topic. Please see the book's Chapter 4, “True Biblical Spiritual Warfare = Indirect Confrontation.”
Notice too the forces mentioned that struggle against us (and ultimately struggle against God). They constitute forces on earth and forces in the spiritual realm. The forces in the earthly realm cannot be spirits since spirits do not have physical bodies. It is therefore people who are vessels of Satan who represent him and his agenda on earth. Just as we represent God and his agenda on earth there are people who work to represent Satan.
Here's the section of the scripture above that mentions that forces that struggle against us (and ultimately struggle against God) constitute forces on earth and forces in the spiritual realm:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms ,” Ephesians 6:12 (emphasis added).