The Right Way of fighting Spiritual Warfare
When physical war is taking place, the aim is always to take possession of a thing and people. The target is made to be subjected to the value system of the attacker whether good or evil. If the target is overcome by an evil attacker, he becomes obligated to do evil and if otherwise, he becomes a slave to good. Whether you like it or not as a believer, you are in the middle of war. A spiritual war!
"And the Dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children- all who keep God's commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus" (Rev.12:17).
Devil has declared war against you. He has a lot of captives and he is not stopping to conquer more free men and women. So, many believers who have been set free by our victorious captain- Jesus have surrendered themselves again as captives in the camp of the enemy. The only reason I have realized to have cause this is that they don't know the strategy with which the Devil fights his war. Now, when you find yourself a captive in the camp of the enemy, you become obligated to join his army that will be firing arrows against the rest who are not yet a slave to this evil warrior. Whether you are a pastor, prophet, apostle or first class Christian, you won't be able to help it but to do his bidding.
"Lest Satan takes advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Cor:2-11).
Let me begin to unveil some of the strategies of the enemy through some revelational knowledge given to us by our Captain.
"You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also" (Matt:5-38-39). Also, this place says:
"Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.
Devil's strategy in winning a warfare against you is to make you do evil and so become a captive to him(evil). Of course I know that no believer will want to do evil because they know anyone who is given to evil is of the Devil. Devil's way of doing it is to first of all raise an evil person against you, this can be in your family, at work place, in the neighborhood or at church. He only wants you to press the button of retaliation and by doing so, he has succeeded in recruiting you as a captive of war. The only way to win this is to follow the word of God which happened to be one of the armors to stand against the Devil in your spiritual warfare. This we must always put at the back of our minds that people who rise against us in evil are not actually the problem, they themselves are unfortunately captives of the enemy. This is why Jesus said that we should pray for those who persecute us and bless those who curse us. This is our winning way. Space will not permit me to explain this matter deeply but I must quickly point this out that winning a spiritual warfare requires that we be defensive and offensive in our strategy.
"13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion" (Eph:6:13-18).
If the Devil is not using the first strategy, this scripture passage explains the other strategy he will use which necessitates the kind of armor we must put on to win the warfare. Let me talk about "truth".
Truth as a defensive armor tells us that Devil makes captives through lie (heresy). Knowing the truth and living by the truth will make you stand against him. For instance, a believer can be lied to that sex outside marriage is nothing wrong. Any believer who believes this lie will soon become a captive to sexual immorality, such will not know when he or she will soon begin to jump from one bed to another. Thus, becoming possessed by all kinds of demonic spirits such as filthy spirit, manipulative spirit, spirit causing spiritual laxity, hardened spirit e.t.c.
I will like to just say something about righteousness as a defensive armor and round it up with Gospel of peace and prayer as an offensive weapon.
Righteous life which makes you holy (uncommon, untouched, clean, different) is a great defensive armor. Somebody will say, how come you are talking about spiritual warfare and you never mentioned a situation where a person is attacked in the dream by charm, enchantment or divination to run mad or to get sick. I will say it is part of spiritual warfare but it is actually the punishment a captor gives to his captive to satisfy his pleasure and demonstrate his superiority over his captives. But such arrow of oppression or affliction will not enter if a believer lives righteously.
I Peter 3:10-11 says, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it".
Holiness and righteousness are great defensive armors that protect us against satanic oppression.
There are many more to write but space will not allow me to do that. But let me wrap up this write up by these two offensive weapons- Gospel of peace and prayer. There is a saying that the best form of defense is attack. It is actually good to be defensive but it is better to be offensive in this spiritual warfare. Let us imagine Devil alone fighting against a thousand good people, you will realize that his achievement will be minimal unlike having a thousand evil people in his camp (captivity) that he has recruited to do evil with him against us. In a situation like this, the best way we can reduce his victory is to set his captives free to reduce him to himself alone, then we can all unleash our judgement against him. How can we achieve this? It is by preaching the gospel of Christ that bring peace to all his captives and we empower our preaching for effectiveness through a weapon of prayer. The weapon of gospel of peace is aimed at emptying the camp of the enemy of good people that have now become evil. When we refuse to preach, the enemy wins more souls into evil and uses these same souls to do evil so that we the good people can join his captives. The gospel of peace bring salvation. Salvation is also an armor for spiritual warfare. If you have not received salvation through Jesus Christ, you can't but be a captive of the evil one, the Devil. And as a believer, we must continue to grow in our salvation. This is a way we can continue to live as a conqueror in spiritual warfare everyday. May you continue to grow in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Pastor Femi OGUNDELE,
GOFAMINT,
Nigeria.
+234 818 907 1594
