Mark Driscoll - Win Your War: FIGHT in the Realm You Dont See for FREEDOM in the One You Do

Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

2 CORINTHIANS 2:11, NIV

IF YOU WANT to consider the possible presence of demonic work in your own life, we offer the following as a self-guided Bible study. To help provide greater clarity and understanding, we encourage you to spend some time alone with the Lord, pray, look up the following Scriptures, and journal about the things that apply to your life.

Please read Galatians 5:1921 and list each thing that has been a besetting or habitual sin for you.

Please read Colossians 3:58 and list each thing that has been a besetting or habitual sin for you.

Please read Mark 7:2123 and list each thing that has been a besetting or habitual sin for you.

Please consider the following list and write each thing that has been besetting or habitual for you: sexual sin or deviancy (anything outside of heterosexual marriage); bad habits or addictions (drugs, alcohol, pornography); rage; blasphemy (swearing or vulgar language); violence; depression; suicidal thoughts; self-harm; eating disorders; mental illness; other dark behaviors or mental states that come to mind.

Please consider the following list of sins that may have been committed against you and list each thing that has been a besetting or habitual sin for you: rape, incest, molestation, other forms of abuse (i.e., physical, sexual, mental, emotional), as well as anything else dark or shameful that comes to mind.

Please briefly explain any involvement you may have had with the occult, witchcraft, or anything spiritual other than orthodox biblical Christianity.

Please briefly list any activity of your ancestors involved in the occult, witchcraft, other religions, drug use, alcohol abuse, sexual deviancy, rape, incest, mental illness, or anything else.

Please briefly describe your sleeping patterns, including any inability to sleep and ongoing nightmares or disturbances.

Please briefly list any paranormal/supernatural experiences you have had.

Please briefly list any voices you hear and what they generally speak to you.

Please briefly list the main two or three things that you would like resolved immediately.

Please read 1 John 4 slowly, praying each part that strikes you and honestly speaking with God about the things His Holy Spirit brings to mind. You can also journal about these things. If you have trouble concentrating while doing this, please pray that the Holy Spirit would clear your mind and allow you to learn to read His Word and pray, and then continue.

CHAPTER 1: WIN YOUR WORLDVIEW WAR

. Mark Driscoll, Deepak Chopra, Annie Lobert, and Carlton Pearson, Nightline Face Off: Does Satan Exist?, debate moderated by Dan Harris, ABC Nightline, ABC, March 26, 2009.

. Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, trans. Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 104.

. Mark Rogers, Deliver Us From the Evil One: Martin Luther on Prayer, Themelios 34, no. 3 (2009): 340.

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. William Barclay, ed., The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 105.

. William Barclay, ed., The Gospel of Mark, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 161.

. William Barclay, ed., The Gospel of John, vol. 1, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 208.

CHAPTER 2: GOD WON HIS WAR

. R. K. Harrison, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library, ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1996), 21.

. Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), s.v. Angels, 23.

. Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 24. At Ugarit the divine council had three levels: the highest authority (El, who did most of his ruling through a coruling vizier, Baal), the sons of El, and messenger gods (malakim).... All of this will sound familiar to someone who has read the Old Testament closely. The Hebrew Bible uses these same descriptions for the abode and throne room of Yahweh. And where Yahweh is, he is surrounded by his heavenly assembly, ready to conduct business (cf. Isa. 6; 1 Kings 22:1328). The Old Testament has a three-tiered council structure like that at Ugarit. Yahweh is at the top. His family-household (sons of God) are next in hierarchy. The lowest level is reserved for elohim messengersmalakim (the word translated angels). Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 46.

. Since elohim is so often translated God, we look at the Hebrew word the same way we look at capitalized G-o-d. When we see the word God, we instinctively think of a divine being with a unique set of attributesomnipresence, omnipotence, sovereignty, and so on. But this is not how a biblical writer thought about the term. Biblical authors did not assign a specific set of attributes to the word elohim. That is evident when we observe how they used the word. The biblical writers refer to a half-dozen different entities with the word elohim. By any religious accounting, the attributes of those entities are not equal.

Yahweh, the God of Israel (thousands of timese.g., Gen 2:45; Deut 4:35)

The members of Yahwehs council (Psa 82:1, 6)

Gods and goddesses of other nations (Judg 11:24; 1 Kgs 11:33)

Demons (Hebrew: shedimDeut 32:17)

The deceased Samuel (1 Sam 28:13)

Angels or the Angel of Yahweh (Gen 35:7). Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 30.

. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 323.

. A. Colin Day, Collins Thesaurus of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009).

. Angels in the OT are often ranged in military and astral ranks known collectively as the heavenly host (Deut 4:19; 1 Kgs 22:19), or they are referred to individually as mighty ones. On occasion they intervened in Israels wars (Judg 5:20; 2 Kgs 6:17). They were led by a captain or prince, who appears as chief angel (Josh 5:14).... In Daniel the national guardian angels are called... princes (Dan 8:25). The prince of Persia opposes Michael, who is one of the chief princes (Dan 10:13). Michael is also Israels guardian angel. Willem VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 941.

CHAPTER 3: ADAM AND EVE LOST OUR WAR

. Yeonmi Park, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girls Journey to Freedom (New York: Penguin Books, 2015), 4849.

. Park, In Order to Live, 48.

. Park, In Order to Live, 48.

. Meadowdale High School, email message to parents, October 8, 2018.

. Meadowdale High School, email message to parents.

. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 44.

. In Genesis 3:16 the language for the husband and wife having conflict is the same as the conflict Cain had with sin in Genesis 4:7.

. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 12122.

CHAPTER 4: JESUS WON YOUR WAR

. C. H. Spurgeon, Christ Triumphant, The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol. 5 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1859), 38789.

CHAPTER 5: WIN YOUR WARS

. Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Pauls Letters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1992), 67.

CHAPTER 6: WIN YOUR WAR AGAINST DEMONIC INFLUENCE