Spiritual warfare study continued......

This week we are going to continue our study of spiritual warfare and briefly discuss what to do when under attack. The enemy will try to penetrate you and there several ways this can be done. We already discussed what our “walls” are and the enemy will try and come over your wall. This is when he thinks he has you defeated and you will be overwhelmed by an attack. Secondly, he will also try and come through your walls by a constant pounding, being harassed and it doesn’t let up. Third, he may try and come under your walls. This is when the enemy tries to undermine you by imperceptible methods, trying to “tunnel” his way into your defenses by “digging” into your life trying to find a weakness he can exploit. If that doesn’t work he will try to get through your gates. Your gates are your senses and he will try to use your perceptions to control you. Last, deception is always a good tactic, a spiritual “Trojan horse” if you will. They will try to be your friend and get close to you. Then, in time, their real agenda will be unleashed and you won’t know what hit you. Accusations, falsehoods, friends turning on you will reveal the sad truth that you have let the enemy inside your walls, too close to you, and unless you get control real fast much damage will be done.

When under attack, the goal of the enemy is to keep from doing a work for the Lord. Just do it and don’t be distracted. Speed up and don’t slow down. An excellent example of this is the Book of Nehemiah. He is building the walls of Jerusalem and was under attack constantly, but he kept on working, even with one hand on a weapon and the other with a tool. This is where we study harder, pray and take action even when under attack. Keep up a steady pace, stay on schedule and keep on standing. Do the things that the enemy is trying to keep you from doing. But, don’t be stiff and formal, use “formulas or act like the next guy. Israel was disobedient in 2 Sam 4.1-22 and thought that if they carried the Ark into battle, God would give them the victory. It was like “magic” and sometimes people have a desire to do the same thing. They wave a bible, or wear crosses or stars of David thinking it protects them. In other words, don’t replace the Scriptures with anything else. When attacked, pray because that is your source of strength and have an attitude that you won’t back down. Do something like knowing your attacker, his strategy, strength and plans. Also what weapons he will use. Know your foundation and why the battle is being fought. Don’t be a “crusader.” Study, learn, pray and move when God tells you. Your devices of protection should not be a hindrance to you, streamline your “armor. During the Crusades, the Crusaders had so much armor on that the heat of the Middle east was bad enough but the Moslems would set fires, raising the temperature even higher and the Crusaders suffered heat exhaustion and heat strokes and literally fell off their horses. Don’t ignore the minor things when battling major attacks (Ladders at the back gate while there are battering rams at the front gate). During a battle, find a place to rest. You can’t fight, fight, fight without any rest. Cool it for awhile. Don’t talk about the battle all the time because it drains you and you can’t hear from the Lord. Spiritual battles don’t need to be centered in reason and don’t be surprised when those closest to you join in the battle against you. On the other hand, the enemy can’t sustain a battle against you forever either. Hang tough and keep going. Use whatever means you can to hold on. Wait and be confident. Also, be flexible and know when to “pull” back. During a battle you must protect your water source, which is the Word of God. If you are well protected, don’t let the enemy “draw” you out from behind your walls. An example of this is where one is really learning the Scriptures and is on fire, Then, they move away because of a job offer or they leave the congregation because they are “led of the Lord” when they really haven’t heard. They will soon be “cut off” from the “good city” from others and from their studies. How do you know when God speaks? First, does it line up with the scriptures. Second, if it is accompanied by a sign that you ask for. Here’s how NOT to put out a fleece. “I want to do…….. and if you want me to do it then give me….”
and name the sign. Here’s how to do it. God speaks to you and you are not sure. You want to confirm it, and it is then that you send out your sign. “If you are speaking to me about this, then……(name the sign). Many fleece their own thoughts. If the Lord is in it, He is not ashamed to confirm it.

The enemy will try to “thin you out” by having too many irons in the fire. He will try and draw you away from your “home base” which is where you are learning and are fed. You are then in his territory. What do you do when you haven’t heard from the Lord? You wait, study, grow and learn. How does God speak? You can hear His voice directly. Messengers, prophets, teachers, donkeys, unbelievers can be used to speak to you. Circumstances or the Scriptures are common also. There is His still, small voice or dreams, visions, mind flashes which are called “open speech.” Then there are puns and parables which are called “dark speech.” God is not limited on how he can speak and we must know that he does and believe that he will speak to us.

Next week we will go over what to do after a victory.

In spiritual warfare there will be times when we need to be on the offensive.

In spiritual warfare there will be times when we need to be on the offensive. Many people think that believers should be passive, turning the other cheek, and we should at times, but there are other times when we are to be aggressive and moving forward and “the gates of hell will not stand” indicates we are on the offensive. The key thing is to know the difference and to hear from the Lord on what to do. So, when and how to attack will be discussed in this article. Pulling down strongholds is a dangerous job and you must always count the cost before you engage. Many believers quote this verse about warfare but few realize what it is, so let’s look at that for a moment. As always, these concepts in warfare can all be applied to our spiritual warfare and how we fight our battles on an everyday basis. To pull down an enemy’s strong hold means we are going to have to get close to his defenses, up close to their “walls” and try to loosen the stones or dig under their walls to destroy their foundation so the wall will come down. This is dangerous and casualties will be high. The people who do this are called “sappers” and there are several things that are needed if you are going to do this. To be a sapper, you must be properly trained for this particular job and have the appropriate tools. Many get into “battles” and don’t know what they are talking about and get hurt. Then, you need a covering from other people and are fighting with you. This involves shields, barriers and protection from the enemy above who are trying to keep you away from their walls. They are going to throw everything they can at you. Secondly, you are going to have to know what you are doing and do it fast. Third, you are going to have to “look up” constantly and be aware of what’s coming at you. Lastly, you must know your limits and capabilities and also to know when to retreat (back-off). This type of battle is when you have to get close and personal with an opponent. You are going to have to attack his foundation and defenses and try to get him to “come out” from behind his walls. This can get very uncomfortable for both and there can be some rough moments. They will throw everything against you, and you will get hurt, no question about it, so this type of attack should be entered into with caution. When David wanted to kill Uriah the Hittite he gave orders for Joab to place him close to the walls of the city. Joab did, and Uriah got killed. Now, if it’s dangerous to attack the outer defenses, it will be even more dangerous to attack the “citadel.” This is where the enemy inside the wall falls back to for a last line of defense. The superior forces are usually concentrated there. This means we may get through someone’s outer defenses but they will fall back to old habits, arguments, logic that has worked for them for years and you will have to deal with their best reasoning.

What if you are in the open field and not close to the walls of your enemy. Well, we must attack the lesser enemy first before you take on the stronger (Joab and Abshai did this against the Ammonites and Syrians). We must take the cautious road, not the fastest and we must cutoff the outside “reinforcements” and then go for the main target. Pharoah Shishak cut off Sukkot, a major defense in Israel, before he attacked Jerusalem. Even when attacking we must always have a defensive position in case of a counter-attack. Julius Caesar attacked a city called Alesia in Gaul and set a siege mound around the city. He then built a second wall outside of that in case he was attacked from the outside, and he was. As a result, he defeated an enemy that was positioned defensively and offensively against him at the same time. In our spiritual warfare we should be fighting to defend the Lord and His Word, not fighting for God to defend you. David fought Goliath for the sake of God’s honor. We tend to get into our own battles then ask God to bail us out. When choosing when to engage, ask yourself is this for the honor of God or are you just defending yourself against personal attacks. If it’s the latter, just let it go in most cases. When your strategy is gaining minimum results with maximum effort, a change in strategy is needed. In a battle, you could lose or have major problems by being distracted or giving up too soon. We must be consistent in our walk. If the enemy has the high ground, don’t attack him. To move the enemy off the high ground you must give him something he knows he can take. Joshua did this at AI by drawing the enemy outside of the city, then a second group attacked the weakened defenses inside the city.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when attacking. Next week, we will deal with what to do when under attack.

This week we are continuing our study on spiritual warfare

This week we are continuing our study on spiritual warfare with a look into psychological warfare and how it applies. The essence of psychological warfare is to confuse the meaning of words and infiltrate the mind with conflicting concepts. This week, we will talk about some of the distinguishing marks of a psychological battle, things you can use and things that will be used against you. Before any battle begins the enemy will begin working on you, so there are things you can do also. Of course, we are not talking about literal battles but everyday confrontations and issues that come up where people are trying to control you, influence you and change you into something that is not what God has for you. We must, at times, speak loudly when you aren’t carrying a big stick. We sometimes must show our strength even more than it really is. A biblical example of this is Gideon and his 300 when he made the enemy think there were more soldiers than there were. Israel actually did this in the 1973 Yom Kippur war when they sent 300 radio operators into the field to make it sound like there were many more troops than there really were. We must be strong and show the enemy we are strong even when we aren’t. You must realize when you are under a psychological attack and one of the advantages of using a psychological attack is time is on your side and you can make the enemy work all the time., but this can and will be used against you as well. But, we should not carry “arks” into battle to assure victory. These can be things like good luck charms, crosses, statues, a Star of David, emblems, magic formulas and talismans, Bibles or whatever you think will assure victory. Israel went to battle at Aphek carrying the Ark and it didn’t save them because they were in rebellion against God to begin with (1 Sam 4) and the Philistines captured it. We must stay psychologically strong in God, not things. King Hezekiah listened to Isaiah and not to the Assyrian representatives of Sennacarib in Isaiah chapters 36 and 37. They were trying to get into the heads of the people. In the Civil war, there was a battle called Chickamauga and a confederate soldier said one of the reasons they lost the battle was “you Yanks got into out innards.”

We must be prepared to go out on a limb and get hurt in psychological warfare. Psychological warfare will always try to keep you at odds from within (groups fighting one another or to keep you busy, running, not resting) to weaken you. Rome did this against the Jews behind the walls of Jerusalem during the 1^st Jewish revolt. They will watch to see if you are disintegrating from within and then they will try to keep you in confusion. Spiritual battles don’t have to be centered in logic and the enemy you may have at times will be illogical in what they do and say. The Arabs, Palestinians, Iranians and certain political groups today are a perfect example of this. There are two key elements in successful battles. First, God told them to go and secondly He told them what to do. Doubt can be a killer in a psychological battle so don’t let the enemy discourage you or those around you. Don’t “hate” your enemy, you don’t need it to defeat them. Don’t talk to the enemy either, trying to strike back against their accusations. The Assyrians told King Hezekiah that they would be “drinking their own urine” if they didn’t surrender and Hezekiah didn’t say a word about the water tunnel he had dug bringing water into the city. The tunnel still exists today but how many Assyrians do you know? In battles like this, come before the Lord in humility because He directs the battle, not the believer. There is no such thing as “name it and claim it” because it is the Lord who does it, not us. Your enemy will accentuate the problems you may have and will try to speak to others around you to get them to influence you, especially if they think they don’t know what to do either. These mind games can include false promises, but that always ends in slavery and you will be worse off than before.

Hopefully, this brief look into psychological warfare will help you recognize it, using it to your advantage and not letting others exploit you. In the next phase of spiritual warfare we will talk about attacking and what to do and mistakes to avoid.