Slaying Dragons Bible Study
Slaying Dragons Part 7: Victory through the Holy Spirit
Victory through the Holy Spirit
Did you know the Holy Spirit fights with you and for you? Read more to understand how He gives you strength in times of spiritual warfare.
The Holy Spirit is so vital for our survival that Jesus even said it was better for us to have the Holy Spirit than for us to have Jesus in the flesh here on earth. It’s an amazing statement—so astonishing in fact that I would find it unbelievable if Jesus had not said it Himself.
It is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. . . . There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, “The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.” - John 16:7, 12–15 (NLT)
The Holy Spirit is the one who brings awareness of both Jesus (the living Word) and Scripture (the written Word) to us in the midst of spiritual warfare. Jesus told us, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). If we will be faithful to put the Word in our hearts and minds, the Holy Spirit will be faithful to bring it to our remembrance at the right moment. He anoints and works with our diligence to deposit the Scriptures into our hearts. The more we store in our hearts, the more He has to work with. Then when we pray, He opens our hearts like a treasure chest to pull out the right passages at the right time. This is one of the most effective ways to pray in spiritual warfare. As we worship or pray in the Spirit, certain texts will come to our mind. Once this happens, the Spirit will give us that inner sense on how to pray it through. We may have to labor intensely as we pray a passage line by line for a person. Or we may simply be directed to read a psalm out loud as a declaration. Perhaps the Spirit will take us to a story from the Gospels that gives us insight into a certain enemy attack. We then ponder the story prayerfully to discern what the Spirit is saying. This may take some time. But over the days and weeks, as we continue to pray according to our growing insight based on the Word, we notice the situation getting more and more breakthrough until the victory comes. God’s Word is the Spirit’s touchstone. When we allow the Spirit to search for the treasures within us and allow the Spirit and Word to work in tandem inside our hearts and prayers, we will overcome many attacks and strongholds. Further, sometimes the Holy Spirit Himself will pray the will of God through us. Paul reveals, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Rom. 8:26–27). Sometimes we do not have a passage of Scripture or any other known words we can pray. Rather, the Spirit heavily influences our emotions over a situation. In times such as these we have far more feelings than words—yet the prayers must still come. We give ourselves fully to the Spirit’s weighty, emotional presence on our hearts and can do nothing more than make sounds emanating from our inner person. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me” (Ps. 42:7). This is when the Spirit taps our deepest feelings while totally bypassing our minds. We feel the burden, but words cannot express it. When we align with the Spirit on such a deep, emotional, and inarticulate level, we carry tremendous power in prayer—a power that in the end will transform creation itself (Rom. 8:22–27). That means our shorter-term breakthrough will surely come. The Holy Spirit ensures that the believer always fights Satan from a position of advantage. He provides us with the Word and at times our very prayers. The Holy Spirit gives altogether the armor, sword, and shield—power beyond our own means—and allows us to communicate our greatest needs and desires directly to God.
We pray that this devotion encourages you to be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. With Him even the most terrifying dragon seems like a mere garden snake.
This Bible Study has been taken from Evangelist Daniel Kolenda’s book, “Slaying Dragons”. This book will show readers what the enemy is trying to accomplish and how they can slay every dragon they encounter—in their lives and in the world.
