Spiritual Warfare

For our wrestling match is not against persons with bodies, but against rulers with various realms of authority, against the world dominators of the present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12, freely translated).

The passage quoted above from Ephesians 6:12 tells us that, as Christians, we are engaged in total warfare against veritable armies of invisible spiritual beings – "persons without bodies" – all of whom take their orders from a headquarters located "in the heavenlies." The objective of these opposing forces is global conquest and their overall strategy is directed to this end.

Ø In recent years the rising interest in the occult and spiritual realms has brought Christians face to face with the need to be informed on the subject of spiritual warfare.

Ø Although most of the emphasis in the recent past has been on the activity of demons, many believers are now beginning to realize that these beings are not the main forces which opposes us.

Ø It is to the subject of these other forces and how to overcome them that I wish to address myself in this article.

Ø For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal" – but, by implication, spiritual. However, Paul continues, these spiritual weapons of ours are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (Satan’s, strongholds); Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God …"

Ø The supreme "high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God" is Satan’s spiritual kingdom "in the heavenlies."

As Christians, we alone on earth have the God given weapons that cast down this satanic kingdom.

In approaching this warfare, the first and most important thing for us to realize is that God, through Christ, has already totally defeated Satan.

Six items of armor - In view of the conflict pictured in Ephesians 6:12, Paul goes on – in the next five verses – to list six items of armor with which every Christian needs to equip himself:

1. The girdle of truth;

2. The breastplate of righteousness;

3. The shoes of preparation of the Gospel of peace;

4. The shield of faith;

5. The helmet of salvation;

6. The sword of God’s Word.

However, these six items of armour are primarily defensive.

Ø The sword alone is in any sense a weapon of attack – and even that is effective only as far as the arm can reach.

Praying … the Spirit – However, in the next verse – Ephesians 6,18 – Paul discloses a weapon whose effectiveness is not limited by space or time: "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit …"

Ø I suggest that prayer is the most powerful and far-reaching spiritual weapon committed to the Church. In fact, I like to call it our "intercontinental ballistic missile."

q the Word of God, the Name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus.

q All three are launched through one and the same channel – the mouth.

q All may be launched – through our mouth – in four main ways: prayer, praise, testimony and preaching.

q Of these four, the one I would like to discuss here is prayer: specifically two types of aggressive praying which I have proved in personal experience over the year.

The first is the prayer of binding and loosing. In Matthew 16:l9 Jesus says to Peter, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. By these words Jesus conferred on Peter the most tremendous spiritual authority – authority to be exercised on earth, but effective in heaven.

Ø However, God showed me one simple, practical reason why Jesus conferred this authority on Peter: he was going to need it! This encourages me to believe that if the rest of us should need similar authority, Jesus would confer it on us too. Sure enough, in Matthew 18:18-20, He repeats the same promise and extends it to all believer who meet the conditions:

Verily, I say unto you whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth touching everything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father, which is in heaven. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst.

The word "agree" in Greek in sumphoneo which gives us the English word "symphony." It doesn’t mean mere intellectual agreement; it means musical harmony. "If two of you can harmonize touching anything that you ask, it will be done." This is a harmony in the Spirit, not just a mental decision about an item on a prayer list – "Sister Jones in the hospital with cancer." How often we make such a mental decision in prayer, without true harmony – but Sister Jones is not healed!

Then Jesus goes on to say, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name." The Greek says, "Where two or three have been led together into My name." I use the word "led" because this demands a leader. The leader is the Holy Spirit.

Ø For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14).

Ø So Jesus is speaking about believers brought together by the Holy Spirit, around the focus of the person of Christ, represented by His Name.

Ø He says, "When you're led together by My Spirit into My Name and yon can harmonize, count on My presence."

Ø The exercise o of the authority depends upon the leading of the Holy Spirit and being so related to our fellow believers that we can harmonize with them.

The tenses in Greek and in English - Now, the Greek language is very subtle and refined in its use of tenses. A rather crude example from English would be the simple past and the present perfect tenses. In simple past, I would say, "The door was closed yesterday." But the present perfect is, "The door has been closed." The difference is that the simple past says nothing about the present situation – the door was closed yesterday, but today it may be closed or open – we don’t know. However, when I use the perfect, I tell you something both the past and the present. The door has been closed" implies that it is still closed now.

Ø Jesus said, "Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be having been loosed in heaven." In each case, the effects of the past action continue on into the present. They are settled and irrevocable.

There are two ways to understand this and you may take your choice.

Ø If you want to emphasize man’s responsibility, the verse reads: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be having been bound in heaven." The moment you bind it on earth, it’s bound in heaven. Your action is decisive. Though you take the action on earth, its consequences are effective in heaven.

Ø The other translation says, "What you bind on earth will be that which has already been bound in heaven." You can only bind on earth what has already been bound in heaven. But it still places the responsibility on us, because until we pray, the binding is not effective.

Ø It requires earth’s action to make heaven’s decree effective.

Two different emphases of the same truth – That’s what they really are! In either view, we are given the responsibility for what goes on in heaven. This is absolutely staggering!

Ø We so easily adopt the attitude that we are waiting for God to act, but many times the truth is that God is waiting for us. In fact, He’s been waiting a long time!

An example – Let me give you an up-to-date example from a friend of mine who is a pastor in Denmark. He has been having a problem with marrying people who had been divorced. He refused to marry one couple, and then another couple came and he agreed to marry them – one of them having been divorced. There was some reaction in the church – some disapproval. So, he took a day to seek the Lord, and had two different encounters with Him.

Ø First the pastor said. "Lord, why didn’t You make it plain in Your Word so that everybody could understand just exactly what you meant about marriage and divorce?"

Ø And he felt the Lord answered this way: "Because if I had done that, you'd have used it as a legalistic rod to beat people with."

Ø But the Lord said, ''On the contrary, you tell Me what you intend to do and I’ll go along with that!"

Ø The fact of the matter is we have a much greater responsibility than we are willing to face up to. (Since we have touched the controversial issue of marriage, let me offer you my personal opinion: every single question of a doubtful marriage has to be dealt with individually by those with pastoral responsibility, not on the basis of some blanket regulation.)

Well, let’s return to the binding and loosing: the authority vested in believers who meet together in the name of Jesus and harmonize with one another.

Ø The whole essence of the teaching of this session of Scripture is right relationship.

Ø The authority is only given to those who are in right relationship. God has built a fence around delegated authority. As long as you’re not right in your personal relationships, there is no way in.

God has invited us to share the throne with Him (Eph. 2:6), but He has to take a few elementary precautions in order to preserve the stability of the universe.

Ø Take a newly converted Baptist; put him on the throne and hand him God’s thunderbolts, and he’ll blast all the Catholics out of existence. Or, the other way around.

Ø So, God says, "You're welcome to the throne and the thunderbolts, but first you’ve got to meet a few personal conditions."

Meeting God’s conditions – Let me point out to you that once the conditions are met,

Ø binding and loosing essentially cover any situation that you can think of.

Ø If evil or hindering forces are at work you can bind them.

Ø Conversely, if resources or provisions of any kind are needed,

Ø or if people are in any form of bondage, you can loose them. However, if anything should be left out,

Ø Jesus goes on to say, "If two of you can agree touching anything that you ask, it shall be done."

Ø So in those two verses is contained all the authority that will ever be needed in prayer.

But if I with the finger of God cast out demons, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger man than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

I believe there are two applications of this Scripture.

1) - The first relates directly to Jesus and the devil. Satan was the strong man armed who kept his palace. He had everything the way he wanted it, no one could resist him. The world was under his control. But Jesus, the one stronger than Satan, came upon him, defeated him and took from him all his armor wherein he trusted.

Ø This agrees with the statement of Paul in Colossians 2:15 that Jesus has stripped the principalities and powers of Satan.

Ø Take note of this fact: Satan is an unarmed foe. The armor is on our side. Having dealt with Satan, Jesus now divides the spoil. He points to everything Satan had in his palace, and He says to us, "Help you."

2) – But we have an important responsibility - However, as we have already seen, it is our responsibility to administer the victory of Jesus over Satan.

Ø Therefore we have a share in binding the strong man. This is brought out by Matthew’s version: "How can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man."

Ø It is my impression that the Holy Spirit is seeking to show us that much of our activity, through God, will not be fully effective in any given situation until we deal with the strong man.

Ø We’re trying to take away his goods, but we haven’t bound him. Consequently we spend much of our time and strength still warding off his attacks, and this hinders us from spoiling his goods or delivering his captives. We may get some results, but they can’t compare with the victory we can achieve once we bind the strong man.

Let us face our responsibility – So in any given situation where God places with us the responsibility of ministry, the first thing we need to do is come to grips with the strong man – that is, Satan’s delegated representative watching over his interests in that situation.

Ø For example, in Daniel 10, before Daniel could receive the answer to his prayers for Israel, he had first to encounter and overcome "the prince of the kingdom of Persia" the particular "strong man" representing Satan’s interests in the Persian empire, which at that time dominated the people of Israel and their land.

Let us bind the strong men – Now I believe there are many echelons in Satan’s kingdom – many levels of authority. For instance, there doubtless still is a strong man over both Persia and Greece – the same ones who were mentioned in Daniel 10. But we aren’t living in Greece or Persia. We’re living in America, and I do not doubt that over America, Satan has echelons of strong men on ascending levels of authority – over a community, a city, a state, and the whole nation. Also I believe there are different satanic forces over different ethnic groups. For instance, the people of Spanish-American background have one type of strong man; black people whose racial origin is in Africa have another type; the American Indians have yet another. Likewise with groups of other ethnic backgrounds.

The Strong Man's Name

Knowing his identity – Before we effectively deal with the strong man, we must know his identity. At this pint we are dependent in large measure upon revelation – not merely general Bible revelation, but specific, word-of-knowledge revelation.

Ø In 1 Corinthians 9:26 Paul said: "I don’t fight like one who is beating the air." In other words, "I don’t just lash out with my fists and hope I’ll land over my opponent. I’m not a blindfolded boxer.

Ø I aim my blows where I know my opponent is and where it will hurt most." That’s what we must do with the devil.

Briefly, I want to give you three practical examples of what I mean.

1) Binding the revealed strong man - For some time past I have been closely rotated to a community – a group of Christians living in a covenant relationship – which for two or three years had grown and flourished with unusual success. Then suddenly it was torn apart in an incredible way. Two of the elders turned against the leading elders, condemned him for witchcraft and excommunicated him. The whole thing happened in a few days.

2) – Meeting first the condition of right relationships - The next instance I want to mention occurred in a council of ministers in Oklahoma City at which I was present. There were about forty charismatic ministers and leader there for a tense confrontation – the issue: discipleship; the vortex of the storm: Ft. Lauderdale.

Armed with this revelation, we joined our hands, united our spirits and bound the boar. The same brother who had seen him at first now saw him again in another vision – stretched out on the ground, the life gone out of him. From that moment on there has been an ongoing change for the better in attitudes and relationships that is extending to ever-widening areas within the Body of Christ.

Ø Only as we identify and deal with the unseen, spiritual forces behind human personalities, can we enter into God’s purposes for us.

3) – Overcoming member’s opposition I’ll tell you another situation related to me by a friend. He was involved in a big commitment – a major outreach for the Lord, which the whole counsel of his church, had agreed to support. However, when he began to make the financial commitments and plans, it seemed as though the church council vacillated and was indecisive – one day they would support, the next day they wouldn’t. They finally said, "We want you to withdraw this outreach." But he said, "I’m committed and I cannot withdraw because many other people have made commitments on the basis of mine."

So he and his wife, in a condition of spiritual desperation, went to visit another Christian couple who were friends of theirs and members of the same church. They began to pray about the situation, and the other man saw a mental picture of the church of which they were all members. He saw a meeting of the church council and little strings going up from some of its members into an unseen realm above.

Ø The picture was of people like marionettes, moving whichever way they were tugged by the strings. So he said, "Well, the only thing to do is cut those strings in the name of Jesus."

Ø They did, and the next day the council met and without further argument or discussion unanimously voted to support the outreach.

What I’m saying is we save ourselves a lot of hard work if we can come to grips with the strong man and bind him. That’s the first type of prayer

Holy Spirit-Given Prayers

Now let’s consider the other, which is specific, directed, persistent prayers given by the Holy Spirit. I want t take two illustrations from the Old Testament.

1. The first is in Joshua 8 and deals with the capture of the city of Ai by the children of Israel. In the middle of all the military operations, God told Joshua to do something that had no military significance at all.

And the Lord said unto Joshua, stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city (Josh. 8:18).

Ø Now that outstretched spear had no military significance; its significance was spiritual.

Ø In the verses that follow we are told that the Israelites completely captured and destroyed the city. Then verse 26 gives this comment: "For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Ø Joshua stretched out this spear when the battle began and kept it in the same position, directed specifically against Ai, until the victory had been totally won.

Ø The spear did nothing militarily. But in the spiritual realm Joshua was laying hold upon God’s promise to give them Ai, claiming it until it was completely fulfilled.

Ø That outstretched spear is a beautiful picture of God-given, persistent, unwavering, directed prayer.

Ø Generic and specific prayers – Many people wave the spear halfway around the horizon when they pray: "God bless all you missionaries." I don't know if anybody ever feels the effect of a prayer like that or not! The kind which works for certain is the prayer that’s specific. You've got your objective and you propose to take it and you aren’t going to draw back the spear until the job is complete.

There is great emphasis, especially in the psalms of David, on destroying our enemies, consuming them, not letting them arise. In Psalm 18 he says, "I beat them small like the dust in the street. I tramped on them until they couldn’t rise again."

Ø God does not approve of partial victory. So many times as Christians we win partial victories in prayer and then we withdraw the spear. Later we have problems with the objective we should have taken earlier.

2. The second Old Testament example relates to the death scene of the prophet Elisha. When Elisha was on his deathbed, Joash, the king of Israel, came down to see him. When he arrived, Elisha told him to do something that was related to the military situation in Israel at that time. Israel was being threatened on the east by Syria and before Elisha died, he wanted to make provision for dealing with the threat of attack from Syria.

Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horseman thereof.

And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrow. And he took unto him bow and arrows.

And he said unto the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it.

Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.

And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice and stayed.

And the man of God was wroth with him and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. (2 King: 13:14-19).

Ø All this provides a beautiful picture of Spirit-directed, Spirit-empowered prayer.

Ø The window opened eastwards speaks of direction – the Syrian attack would come from the east. Likewise the arrow aimed through the window. What is the significance of the king putting his hand on he bow and the prophet then putting his hand on the king’s? It signifies that the source of the prophet’s authority – the Holy Spirit – was empowering the king as he shot the arrow toward Syria.

Ø Thereafter, smiting on the ground with the remaining arrows signifies persistence in following through with prayer once it has been given by the Holy Spirit. Joash did not smite often enough. Had he smitten five times, his victory would have been total. Because he smote only three times, that was the limit of his victory (see 2 Kings 13:25).

Ø In other words, success in the natural realm is dependent upon spiritual forces. If you win the victory in the spiritual realm, it will be worked out in the military, political, social or economic realm.

But the spiritual realm is decisive, and our chief weapon in it is Spirit-directed, Spirit-empowered, persistent prayer. Joash partially failed because he wasn’t sufficiently determined in the spiritual realm. On the other hand, Joshua kept his spear held out until his victory was total.

Applied prayer power

Now let me give you three examples from my experience of what I would call Spirit-given, directed, specific persistent prayer. If you read my book Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting, you will find other examples there that are more fully dealt with.

At that time I was newly saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. I felt I ought to pray, but I asked myself, "How can I pray for such unworthy leadership – how can I ask God to bless it?" Finally I decided. "God will have to show me how to pray." After a while I felt God gave me this specific prayer: "Lord. give us leaders such that it will be for your glory to give us victory through them." From then on I prayed that prayer almost every day.

Ø Only after the war ended did I learn the full story of what happened.

Ø Shortly after I began praying, the British Government decided to remove the military commander in the Middle East and replace him with another commander. He choose a man who was serving out in the desert and flew him back to Cairo to take command. His plane crashed on landing, he was thrown out, broke his neck and was killed. So at this critical moment in the most active theatre or the war, the British forces were left without a commander.

Ø At that pint Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of Britain chose a little-known commander in Britain and had him flown out to take command. His name was Bernard Montgomery. We did not know anything about him at the time, but I would say now on the basis of personal experience and knowledge that Montgomery was a keen, committed, witnessing Christian – a man of integrity and a very strong disciplinarian.

Ø Montgomery arrived and turned those officers upside down! In two months he head totally changed the discipline and morale of the forces. Then was fought the battle of El Alamein, the first major Allied victory in the entire War; it changed the whole course of the war in Africa.

Ø About two days after the battle, I was in the desert beside a truck on the tailboard of which was a little portable radio. The news commentator, describing the scene at Montgomery's headquarters the night before the battle of El Alamein was joined, told how Montgomery came out, called all his officers and men together, and said, "Let us ask the Lord, mighty in battle, to give us the victory."

Ø When I hear these words, heaven’s electricity – if you know what that is! – went through me from the crown of my head to soles of my feet, and the Lord said to me quietly but clearly, "That is the answer to your prayer." In this way, right at the begging of my Christian experience, I learned that you can change history by praying.

Ø God gives you the objective, but it is your responsibility to stretch out the spear. Once you’ve done this, don’t draw it back. Keep it help out!

Other examples of answered prayers

I’ll give you two other examples.

An hindrance to the gospel - In the 1950’s, when I was serving as a pastor in London, England, it occurred to me that the alliance of the two largest nations and the two strongest Communist world powers – Russia and China – could not but be a hindrance to the progress of the gospel in the world. I’m not especially politically minded, but I felt God wanted me to pray.

Ø Once again I said, "Lord, if I’m to pray give me a prayer out of the Psalms – a prayer of David that says, "Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues" (Ps. 55:9).

Ø I saw that if God divides people’s tongues and turn them against one another, their power is reduced. So may be for two or three years, almost every day, certainly every week, I offered up that one simple prayer about Russia and China: "Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues." And what did God do? Just what I asked Him to do.

Ø Today these two powers are probably more afraid of one another and more hostile to one another than any other power. On the border between them Russia keeps one million highly armed men and China keeps two millions highly armed men. No matter what a threat they may be in other parts of the world, a great deal of their power to do harm is negated by their attitude toward one another.

Now the final example. When I came to the United States in 1963, I came as a visitor, intending to stay six months. But things happened that I didn’t plan.

Ø Quite soon after I came, it seemed as if the Lord began to hold me responsible for the government of the United States. In a way I resisted it. At that time I wasn’t even an American citizen and I said, "I’m just here for a short while – why me?"

Ø But God had begun to show me that the first specific prayer responsibility for Christians is to pray for their government. So once again I asked the Lord to give me the specific prayer that would represent His will – the spear that I could thrust out.

Promotion cometh neither from east, nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another (Ps. 75:6-7).

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him (Dan. 2:21-22).

Finally, let me suggest two prayers which we might use in the future. The first is based on Proverbs 10:9 – "He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely but he that perverteth his ways, shall be known."

Ø We can use the latter part of that verse to root out perversion and corruption in the government.

Ø In recent months more and more scandalous cases of corruption affecting public officials – immorality, graft, nepotism, etc. – have been exposed in the national media. That is not a disaster: it’s an answer to prayer. We need to continue praying until God has purged the entire governmental structure of this nation.

The other suggested prayer concerns the force of the world Communism, which now dominates about two-thirds of the earth’s surface. I’m not claiming that I have faith at this moment to pray this prayer, but it may be what the Lord wants to give us faith for. In Job 38:8-11 we have a revelation of how God controls and restrains the vast power of the sea:

Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors.

And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed (or stopped)

The Lord sets a boundary to the sea and no matter how it rages or roars, it just can’t go beyond God’s boundary. The thought occurred to me that God can also set a boundary on atheistic Communism and say, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here, shall thy proud waves be stayed." If the Lord quickens it to you, may be you can be the one to pray that prayer.

By this type of prayer – Spirit-give, empowered, specific, persistent – and by the prayer of binding and loosing, we can effectively administer the victory Christ gained on Calvary. Let us draw confidence from the completeness of His previous triumph and from His declaration that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against" us; and let us press on to the final defeat of the forces arrayed against us.

 

Aggressive Prayer - New Wine, March 1977