We are concerned with spiritual warfare. In order to be involved in spiritual warfare, we need to know who our Enemy is.
The Bible says,
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12).
“Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” 1 Peter 5:8-9).
“Resist” the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).
Our Enemy is the devil. He is assisted by principalities, powers, world rulers of this present darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness, demons, and so on. The devil may use human beings, but the human being does not constitute our Enemy. We must not fight with men. We must not hate men. We must not resist men. We must reserve all our weapons against the devil. Our Enemy is not capitalism or communism or socialism. Our Enemy is the devil. He may use these things, but these things are not themselves the Enemy. He may use Catholicism, Protestantism, Pentecostalism and so forth, but our Enemy is not any of these. He may use a Ger- man, an American, or an African to accomplish any of his designs, but these people used by him do not constitute the Enemy. The Enemy is the devil. If our Enemy is the devil himself, then the one who will make the most progress will wage war against the devil and concentrate only on him. He will not waste his blows elsewhere. Those who, instead of fighting the devil, fight with the people he has used or is using, have unconsciously played into his hands. THE DEVIL LABOURS TO ENSURE THAT THE BELIEVERS WAGE WAR AGAINST EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF FIGHTING AGAINST HIM. IN DOING THIS, HE IS FREE TO CONTINUE TO ATTACK THE SAINTS. Let us take an example in which he causes a believer to lie against another believer. The one against whom the lie is told is informed, “So and so has been lying against you.” If he were wise, he would say, “Satan has attacked my brother and overcome him and got him to commit this dreadful sin of lying. He is in a bad state, since no liar shall inherit the Kingdom of heaven. I will revenge; I will attack the Enemy. I will pray.” He would then go into prayer and pray, saying, “Satan, in the name of Jesus, I bring your activity over my brother’s life to naught. You seduced him to lie. In the name of Jesus, I bring your seduction in his life to an end. In the name of Jesus, I release him from your clutches.” He ought to keep on praying, thus, “In the name of Jesus, I release him from the chains of Satan. My brother X, I set you free from Satan’s power. In the name of Jesus, I give you a repentant heart and in the name of Jesus, I impart to you the spirit of repentance.” He ought to continue to pray, saying, “Lord, my brother X has been attacked by the devil. He has been made to lie. His salvation is at stake; for he could die without repenting. Lord, destroy that work of Satan. Lord, cause him to repent. Lord, open his eyes to see his sin. Lord, give him the gift of repentance and cause him to see his sin, confess it, forsake it, and seek restoration to you. Lord, grant that after he has repented, he should carry out the needed restitution.” This threefold battle:
- Before the Lord;
- Against the devil and
- In favour of the person, will bring results.
This is how it ought to be, but this is often not the case. Often, when a brother hears that some lie has been told about him, he forgets that the devil is around and wants to use the situation. He may cause the brother to think, “A lie has been told about me. My reputation has been damaged. I will do something about it. I will not see that brother again. I will not talk to him. I will keep away. I will expose his own weaknesses. May he not prosper! May some evil befall him so that he may know that he lied, and so on.” So negative thoughts fill his mind and he becomes increasingly bitter and gets out of tune with God. The devil has then separated two people from communion with God; for there can be no communion between the Lord and a man whose spirit is bitter, unforgiving and revengeful. The devil may play further by causing the bitter man to tell others what has been said of him, thus causing the liar to spread more lies. The result is that one may soon have a Christian community under the power of death. This always happens when a believer makes another believer the Enemy and fails to see that Satan is the Enemy. Reserve your blows against the Enemy. He is not flesh and blood. He is invisible. All that is flesh and blood is not the Enemy. It may be used by the Enemy, but the true Enemy is invisible. Come against him in prayer. When you overthrow him in the unseen realm, you will see changes in the visible. When you overthrow him in the spirit world, you will see evidence of his overthrow in the physical. If a man steals, see beyond the man. See the devil who caused him to steal, and fight against him. Do not fight against your brother. He is your brother. The Lord loves sinners without loving their sin. You can say: “My beloved brother has committed a grievous sin. I love him. I will hate the devil who led him into this sin. I will manifest my hatred for him by never allowing myself to fall into any sin. I will fight for my brother by at- tacking the devil wherever I encounter him.”
Take another situation of a brother who understands one doctrine differently from you. His mind may be closed to what he has not fully understood. There are three possible things to do
- You can send away the brother as a heretic and hand him over to the devil.
- You can pray for him until he sees.
- You can minister the ministry of reconciliation to him.
The first method will advance the cause of Satan. The second and third will overthrow him. Amen.
Attack Only the Enemy
If your wife is stubborn, do not hate her. Hate the Enemy who has made her stub- born. Pray for her deliverance from stubbornness. Recognize that the stubbornness is a work of Satan, and destroy it. Do not go away angrily. You will only be giving the devil more room to attack and control her. If she is disorderly, set her free from the spirit of disorder, but do not turn against her. She is not your enemy. Your Enemy is Satan, and he is just using her.
If your husband is an alcoholic. Do not waste your time day in and day out talking to him about how corrupt he is. This will not help. Attack the one behind the alcoholism. Attack the one who seduces him to drink. When the devil’s power in his life is broken, the alcoholism will end. If, on the other hand, you attack him, insult him and angrily expose him, you will only be fighting a spiritual battle with a carnal weapon. It will not do. It is like using a cane to beat demons out of a person. You will hurt the person, but demons do not respond to beating. They respond to prayer. They respond to the authority of Christ in the believer. They respond to the authority of Christ in the believer, released through the spoken word.
Demons Hear
Demons are spirit beings and they hear. They hear as if they had physical ears. Most of the time, they will stay until they are forced to go away. They are forced away by the presence or the word of authority of a believer. There were demons that cried out and came out of people immediately they saw Jesus. There were others that were unmoved until He told them to go out of the people, and then there were others that He had to force out; for they tried to resist. Demons will resist for as long as they can. Those who walk close to the Lord will reflect the power of Christ in such a way that demons will manifest themselves at the sight of them, or manifest themselves on command. Most of the time, they will manifest themselves, but not depart, until they are forced out by a word of command. Those believers who will not speak out to evil spirits, commanding them to manifest themselves and depart, will not see many people delivered. IT IS PART OF THE ENEMY’S TRICK TO ENSURE THAT MOST BELIEVERS DO NOT COMMAND SATAN, HIS AGENTS AND HIS ACTIVITIES, TO STOP.
Praying To the Father and Destroying the Enemy
The believer shall pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, asking the Father to do what only the Father can do against the devil, his plans, his strategy and his army. This is an aspect of spiritual warfare. The believer should also come straight away and speak to the devil, his agents or the situation created by them. Jesus asked the disciples to heal the sick. The disciples understood this and when Peter encountered the cripple at the Gate Beautiful, he did not pray. He commanded. He said,
“I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6).
The man walked. To Aeneas Peter said,
“Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” (Acts 9:34).
He rose immediately. The believer should be bathed daily in prayer, but when he confronts a situation of conflict, he should then turn to the situation and speak the word of authority, in- stead of pleading with God. AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE SAINTS. GOD EXPECTS THEM TO USE IT. IN THE USE OF AUTHORITY THEY WILL INVARIABLY SPEAK OUT. LET THEM SPEAK, AND IT WILL HAPPEN.
All Can Be Classed as Prayer.
In spiritual warfare, there is the situation in which one pleads with the Father, in Jesus’ name, to do something. There is the situation where one does not talk to the Father, but addresses the devil directly. There is also a situation where one does not talk to the Father, and does not command Satan, but addresses a situation directly. For example, the Lord Jesus spoke to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The sea obeyed, the wind ceased and there was calm. I have asked myself whether commanding the devil and the situation are also to be classed as prayer. I have decided, that these two, in addition to direct requests to the Father, should also be classed as prayer. For one thing, often one passes swiftly from one to the other in spiritual warfare, just as one may pass from praise to thanksgiving, and then to intercession in swift succession. One may even go forward and backward from one to the other as the battle intensifies, without a studied analysis that one is going from one to the other. Suffice it to say, one is before God, one is before the devil and one is before a situation, and one is at war. What matters is that victory be achieved! The crucial element in all this is that man must speak out to God, to the devil and to the situation. Without this speaking out, victory cannot be obtained. The Lord spoke to the devil. The Lord spoke to the sick. The Lord commanded demons. The Lord commanded winds. The Lord commanded dead bodies. They all obeyed Him.
There May Be A Spirit Behind Everything
The Lord spoke to demons because they could hear, and they heard. He spoke to the sea, winds, trees, fevers, and so on. These also heard. Could it not be that He spoke to the spirits behind these things and when the spirits obeyed the objects also obeyed? Could there not be a spirit behind diseases, rebellions, greed and all the other sins? Of course, we know that the devil is the master spirit behind all these, but could it not be that he has spirits behind each thing, and when the spirit is rebuked and put out, his power over the thing is broken? If that is the case, and I think it is the case, then it makes total sense that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, not against habits and articles, not against things that have been learned or not learned. Our warfare is against spirits. Let us come against them. Let us labour until we win there. When we win there, we will see the victory manifested! If this is so, then for someone who is oppressed by a spirit of gluttony, mere discipline will not do. The person should be set free from the oppression by the spirit of gluttony, and then discipline applied to produce lasting results. The same should apply to adultery, theft, and the like. I am not saying that these are not activities of the flesh that need to be crucified. I am suggesting that evil spirits behind these things incline the believer to them and weaken the desire, either in part or in whole, to have the flesh crucified. If that is the case, then the spirit’s power needs to be broken, and then the flesh crucified for lasting victory. This does not mean that the believer is helplessly waiting for help. He has authority. He should set himself free from the oppression, and then deliver himself completely. He should then go out and deliver those who are oppressed or bound, who cannot deliver themselves! Glory be to the Lord!
My Resolution
- Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, the wicked one, the Enemy, the Accuser of the brethren, the Dragon, the Serpent, the prince of this world, the prince of the air, the father of lies, is the only Enemy that I have. I will keep all my weapons for fighting against him. I will fight only against him
- Everyone on Planet Earth who has truly received the Lord Jesus Christ, as his Saviour and Lord, is my brother in Christ and an heir of God, and a co-heir with me, to the throne of God. I will one day sit with every believer on the throne of God and His Christ. Every believer with me constitutes the Body of Christ. I am an inseparable part of each believer and of the Body, and each believer is an inseparable part of me and of the Body. Every sin committed by any believer is, in a sense, my sin. Any failure of any believer is, in a sense, my failure. I commit myself solemnly never to fight against any believer, regardless of his weakness or error. I will fight the Enemy who causes these errors. I will be furious against the devil, who dares use my brother or my sister in such a way. I will intercede for any brother or sister who hurts me, or who is in error. I will intercede with love, even if that one does not love me. I will not rest but pray until he is restored to the fullness of God. I will rebuke all who come to me to tell me something evil about any believer. I recognize that those who ex- pose the sins and failures of any believer are thereby exposing my sins and failures. I will rebuke all such with love, and I will rebuke them to their face. I will say nothing negative about any believer behind his back. I belong to each believer. I belong to all believers. Each believer belongs to me. All believers belong to me. We are bound together for ever. We have one common Enemy and only one. All our weapons must be reserved for fighting against him. We shall attack him. We shall attack only him. We shall conquer him. We shall conquer only him.
- Every unbeliever on Planet Earth is a potential saint. It may not be long before the Holy Spirit has moved and converted the potential saint into a real saint. The devil is the one hindering the potential saint from becoming a saint. He is the one causing the potential saint to do the ungodly things he does. That being the case, I will not wage any war against any unbeliever, I will wage war against the devil. I will not accuse any unbeliever, I will accuse the devil. I will not attack any unbeliever. I will not complain to man about what any unbeliever is doing. I will report the devil to the Father. I will protect all unbelievers, and I will attack the devil mercilessly. I will attack the devil violently and unceasingly, until I have plucked the unbelievers from his hands, and transferred them into the Kingdom of the Lord and His Christ. In this way, I will fight a good fight, the good fight, successfully. Glory be to the Lord!
Excerpt from: Practical Spiritual Warfare Through Prayer – Z.T. Fomum