Any sustained move of God calls forth a threefold cord that cannot quickly be broken. These cords woven together include the Power of God, the Character of God and the Wisdom Ways of God.
Life on planet Earth offers the most wonderful challenges, inviting us to taste glorious victory as we overcome it with faith and love.
The nature of a true warrior in the Kingdom is both created and seasoned through the responses of such virtues in the midst of resistance, offense, and persecution.
The Way of the Warrior imparts encouragement to those who are in the midst of trials and testings and will cause you to hunger for the very things that will establish you in the highly honored position of a true warrior of God.
Warriors of God know the ways of God.
Spiritual warriors forcefully advance the kingdom by intentionally invading enemy territory. They encounter enemy principalities and powers and find themselves in combat with these dark spirit beings.
But the ‘wisdom of the battlefield’ belongs to these warriors and even the principalities and powers will stand in awe at the unveiling of the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10).
Like Caleb, our appetite for battle continues to grow as we partake of the wisdom of God that only comes through seasoned frontline spiritual warfare.
As Solomon once said; “By wise counsel wage war” (Proverbs 20:18).
Father, thank you that this is our time and season to fight back—to war against a religious spirit that has bound up your people in legalism, judgment, and an earthly logic that prevents discovery of the realm of Your Spirit.
Thank you that we can war against a religious system that teaches rules, performance and duty but does not allow us to have ongoing encounters with the Living God.
Thank you that we have a joyful, legal right, because of Christ’s sacrifice, to wage war on the enemy wherever we may find him.
Thank you for favor and vengeance combined, that in our freedom in Christ you not only deliver us from being victims, but you give us a ministry in the very areas where we have been robbed and ashamed.
Everyone that we in turn set free is a sign of our payback on the enemy. To destroy the works of the devil is the evidence of Your power at work.
I pray that You would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, that You would cause our eyes to be opened into enlightenment of the glory of Heaven here on Earth—on Earth as it is in Heaven—no more, no less.
Be our tutor, lead us into a revelatory experience of the power of the Christ-life within. In His Name and for His glory. Amen.
The World is Crying Out for Heroes
In the world of entertainment, an entertainer’s life is but a picture of the influence of those named in the Bible who accomplished great things for the Kingdom of God.
For centuries people have looked to the lives of these spiritual heroes for guidance and inspiration. How did they do it? How did someone like that change the world?
Hebrews 11, one of my favorite passages of Scripture, lists some of these spiritual heroes. It leaves us a defining image of their greatness.
Abel, who offered “a more excellent sacrifice” than his brother Cain, and who had “God testifying of his gifts” (Verse 4).
Enoch, who “pleased God” to the point that he did not die, but “was taken away” by Him (Verse 5).
Noah, who “moved with godly fear” and became “heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Verse 7).
Abraham, who “went out, not knowing where he was going,” because he had a promise from God (Verse 8).
Sarah, his wife, who “bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised” (Verse 11).
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets: heroes, all of them.
“Through faith, (they) subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens,” as Hebrews 11:33–34 says.
And for everyone mentioned in this passage, there are five more left off the list. A new generation of spiritual heroes fills the pages of the New Testament:
Peter, the rock on which Christ built His church.
John, the Beloved, resting his head on Jesus’ shoulder.
The Apostle Paul, preaching the Gospel fearlessly, even while in chains.
John the Baptist, foretelling the arrival of the Messiah;
Mary, the gentle and devoted mother of a child that changed everything;
Barnabas, the encourager;
Timothy, the young pastor;
Luke, the faithful scribe, and doctor.
The list of Hebrews 11 is ongoing in the Father’s heart. This is the legacy that we as Christians walk in.
The heroes of the faith have passed there torch from generation to generation, and now it is time for our present-day spiritual warriors to carry it forward.
We are heirs of the same Christ that these heroes prophesied would come and redeem the world.
Every Christian is called at the very least to be a soldier in the army of God. Soldiers are called to counter evil with the overwhelming, overcoming goodness that flows from a heart in love with God.
No matter what situation a Christian soldier is in, they must live from their spirit. Soldiers bless everyone around them and contribute to a positive spiritual atmosphere.
The devil is the “prince of the power of the air” [Ephesians 2:2]. He lives in the atmosphere! He operates to change the climate of faith into unbelief.
He seeks to alter the mood of people away from the Fruit of the Spirit to something more negative and sinister.
He desires to be our substitute for God; therefore, to make us like him. Anytime he can release our flesh instead of our true spirit, he has achieved a purpose, however temporary.
The enemy knows he doesn’t have to beat the church, just deflect her from her own God-given destiny.
A person without inheritance have no substance. For people to grow properly we must first change the atmosphere and then create a new environment that produces people of quality, not just quantity. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” [Galatians 5:1].
Any church, ministry, or leadership that is not releasing people into their own destiny, identity, and inheritance cannot produce a warrior, and possibly, not even a soldier.
Warriors strengthen the atmosphere. They inflame passion by the way they live their own lives. What you are in your own destiny you exhibit quite naturally. Warriors are unconscious models of a kingdom that is far above all principalities and powers.
The first stage of warfare is to change the atmosphere around us, where we live, work, and worship. We do that by releasing as much of the blessing of God as possible each day.
We are ambassadors of reconciliation representing a joyful, gracious, merciful King who has paid the price for freedom and blessing to be bestowed on all people at all times. This is the Good News.
The righteous anger of God against sin has been satisfied by the death of Jesus. Mercy and Truth have kissed each other, and judgment is suspended on Earth until spiritual warriors are perfected in love and can objectively advance the kingdom of God on the earth when all authority on earth has been entrusted to them to rule with a rod of Iron.
Spiritual warriors fight so that all people may receive the blessing of the Good News. We seek to change the atmosphere over people’s lives so that they may experience the glorious benevolence of the rule of God.
Through our love, joy, and peace, we push aside negativity, unbelief, and selfishness, so that we can pray, prophesy, and spiritually bless everyone with whom we come into contact.
Spiritual Warriors Change Atmospheres
The plan of the enemy is to create misery, take away hope, and develop a climate of despair and helplessness.
We overcome evil with good. We must, out of necessity, position ourselves daily in Christ in order to reveal the nature of the kingdom.
Good soldiers fight the space around them to create a clearing where Christ can be seen. No Christian has an excuse to moan about the enemy. After all, as 1 John 4:4 says, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Every soldier should want to be a thorn in the side of the enemy. We can make a difference.
What is the prevailing atmosphere in your own heart? Identify positive and negative aspects that are currently influencing your view of God, self, others. How will you reinforce your positive mental, emotional, and spiritual internal atmosphere with God? What is the opposite of your current negativity, and how will you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you in these areas? In your home church or current spiritual environment, what is the present ruling atmosphere?
Working with the Holy Spirit and personal friends, develop an action plan and a strategy to transform your personal and corporate atmospheres.
Spiritual warriors play a different role than Christian soldiers; they are a completely different breed. They are on special assignment, charged with specific God led initiatives against the enemy.
Spiritual warriors are the special forces of the kingdom, going out against the enemy in advance of the Church.
Out there, they battle and hold ground until Christian soldiers—reinforcements—arrive to help them. They are out in front of that broader force.
Like David’s mighty men they are raised up to restore a nation. They fight for higher stakes than the local community. They have a zeal to take a city, a state, a region, a nation. They fight within the political sphere, the judicial system, the world of commerce and social justice to change laws and create legislation that is fair and equal to all.
David’s men were identified by their strengths as much as their name: the incredible swordplay of Josheb-basshebeth who killed 800 men at one time; the indomitable courage of Eleazar who, after everyone had retreated, stayed and Standing in the Forefront of the Battle fought the enemy alone and won against the odds—a great victory.
Shammah, who defended a piece of ground alone and was unaided against a whole troop of Philistines (what a stand!).
Abishai could not be overcome by 300 men and won an amazing battle with just a spear;
Benaiah killed two lion-like heroes of Kabzeel—then for fun dropped into a pit on a snowy day to kill a lion!
Another time he killed a giant from Egypt using just a club against his spear [2 Samuel 23].
Great leaders produce mighty warriors. These men were not around in the time of Saul but appeared during the rise and rule of David—a man after God’s own heart.
The apostles and Hebrews 11 heroes were the foremost spiritual warriors of their time. They have given us a template for the greatness to which we are called. They took and held ground until God’s soldiers of their day could reinforce them.
When the teenaged David stepped forward and killed Goliath, his victory inspired the previously paralyzed Israelite soldiers to charge into the fight.
When Gideon accepted God’s call to lead the fight against the Midianites, others fell in behind—so many, in fact, that God had to cut down the number.
Noah was obedient to God in the days before the flood and saved humanity from extinction, but it was his children that fell in behind and repopulated the earth.
Moses and Aaron faced Pharaoh alone, but all of Israel walked across the Red Sea to freedom.
Joshua and Caleb spied out the Promised Land, but the entire nation had to take it.
Joseph went alone into Egypt but forged a place for his entire family.
Standing In The Forefront Of The Battle.
Spiritual warriors take the first and most courageous step—but soldiers are needed to come behind them and back them up.
What is the current battle in your church? What is the next step your spiritual community needs to take in alignment with the Holy Spirit?
What, by your attitude, faith, and vision, can you do to enable that step to be taken?
Align yourself with the Holy Spirit. Listen to His heart and affection for the local company of God’s people.
Step into the breach and become His hands and voice to effect true transformation.
A church that is top-down led—that is not permission-giving, that does not allow the people to dream or encounter God fully for themselves—can never produce a warrior.
In truth, people who want more of God are going to leave these inferior houses to seek the Lord and His greatness.
A church that has no concept of, or experience in the kingdom is not fighting on the right battlefield.
The church is the place of intimate devotion to the King. A place of fellowship, encouragement, dreaming and development. People are equipped and prepared for a life of destiny. They are released to discover their inheritance, to live in favor, and to move out of abundance—not poverty.
Great Leaders Produce Kingdom People.
People who are developed specifically to serve another man’s ministry can never rise to a place of sonship within that organization. They will only ever be servants to someone’s anointing.
This type of discipleship arises out of a task oriented, functional paradigm of Christianity that can disengage people from their own dreams and disinherit them from God’s desire for their life.
In a relational paradigm like the kingdom, our challenge is to produce sons and fathers who are like the Godhead in personality, character, and anointing. God gives dreams and sends prophets to confirm His desires.
Leaders, who are also fathers, are intensely interested and involved in the identity, inheritance, and destiny of the people that the Lord has committed to their charge. Otherwise, we are merely using people.
This is fertile soil that produces warriors and champions for the whole of society not just the world of the church.
One of the most powerful corporate transformations that has occurred in a local church is when the senior team leader, stood before the congregation and gave them permission to dream. the roof lifted off the church and an anointing came down that day that began to transform people’s lives.
Our journey as a congregation had been to rediscover and come under a relational paradigm of friendship, love, and meaningful relationship in line with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We wanted their level of loving interaction, involvement, culture of honor, and teamwork!
Out of that desire we began the process of reshaping the church, and our journey began to change to reflect the growing passion for intimate friendships with God and one another.
Our mindsets, culture, and ways of operating began to adjust accordingly. We began to make decisions that defined our identity as we saw it being adjusted by the Spirit.
We saw beyond the world of the church and its ministry and discovered the wider anointing and deeper power of the kingdom.
As leaders, we are becoming better facilitators, enabling destiny and inheritance to shape people’s identity. The prophetic began to grow and become a normal part of our life. We are no longer a church that loves prophecy; we are a prophetic community with a present-future dimension to all that we are and do.
The result of these decisions and that specific permission has been the release of a kingdom presence that has pushed us more into the supernatural realm. Healings, miracles, supernatural gifts, and personal encounters with God are increasing.
Look at the Godhead. What type of relationship exists between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? How can you duplicate that in the relationships around you? What conversations can begin; what decisions can be made that enable us to shift from a functional paradigm to a relational one?
Looking at your current leaders and other key people in the church, develop an action plan for the present future that includes: Kingdom conversations A paradigm shift towards relational Christianity The importance of training, equipping, empowering, and releasing people to fulfill their God-given identity.
Elisha was a powerful spiritual warrior in his time, leading the charge against God’s enemies. In 2 Kings 6, he single-handedly stopped the king of Syria from defeating Israel. The prophet kept receiving words of knowledge about the Syrians’ plan. He even knew what was being said in secret meetings in the king’s palace bedroom, as we read in 2 Kings 6:8–9, 11–12:
Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” Therefore, the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
Seeing Beyond the Natural Realm.
Elisha’s close relationship with God made him privy to the plans of the enemy. He heard the most private words of the king in his spirit.
The Syrians were incensed—they tried to attack Elisha, but the prophet simply led that army into Israelite territory and turned them over to his own king.
Imagine fighting someone like Elisha—you can’t kill him, you can’t legislate against him, you can’t even capture him. He was a thorn in evil’s side, just as a spiritual warrior should be.
Spiritual warriors see beyond the natural into a realm of the spirit where God lives. Elisha saw horses and chariots of fire all around the enemy. He had a level of perception not earthed in natural thinking or logic. “There are more with us, than there are with them,” he grinned, as he walked out to meet them—seemingly alone, yet powerfully backed up by Heaven.
Spiritual warriors have access to a different reality than the natural facts. This is what makes them irresistible and irrepressible in the fight.
To see from Heaven’s perspective opens you up to all the claims and desires of Heaven in the circumstances of life. Perceptions are powerful. Perceptions relieve oppression. They release provision. Prophecy arises out of perception. Promises are realized by a people whose awareness of God is greater than their natural vision.
Spiritual warriors stand out in a crisis because they have insight into God’s name and nature. Intimacy enables us to become preoccupied within our affections. When we set our heart on someone, our intimacy must go to a deeper level of love and trust. This is as true of human relationships as it is of God.
Insight releases discernment. When we are focused on the real, the false is always exposed. Intimacy cannot be faked. Intimacy intimidates the enemy. There is always intimidation in warfare.
Goliath tried it on David: When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance.
The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have mocked.
“This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” [1 Samuel 17:42–47]
Out of his own intimacy as a man after God’s own heart, David intimidated the giant before him and won an incredible victory that delivered a nation.
Saul and his army listened to Goliath and were rendered unequal to the challenge.
David knew only one voice. His identity as a warrior was rooted in his intimacy.
Praise is not an option. It is an absolute necessity, like air and water. Your revelation of God must result in a praise proclamation against the enemy.
In worship we declare to God. In warfare we proclaim to the enemy.
If we have no personal internal declaration of who God is for us, then we have no external proclamation to fight behind.
Spiritual warriors are men and women of passionate intimacy and forceful thanksgiving. They lead with their rejoicing. They inspire the assembly to see God’s majesty and to line up for battle knowing the fight belongs to God—victory belongs to us.
We fight from victory, not towards it! Soldiers need to line up behind spiritual warriors in times of crisis. It is in those crises that the purposes of God are most forcefully advanced.
If we had just a few spiritual warriors stand up in every church in the land, nothing would stop the kingdom.
Only a very small number of spiritual warriors are needed to break through in a region. A spiritual warrior is someone who can kill a thousand of the enemy without blinking an eye.
Unfortunately, our churches are full of people too weak to kill anything! But one or two warriors can change all that.
The men and women listed in Hebrews 11 and other passages of Scripture first broke through for themselves and then led everyone else into that same dynamic place in the spirit.
What remarkable people those warriors were; Scripture records that “the world was not worthy” of them [Hebrews 11:38. Spiritual warriors make tough choices confidently about who, how, and where they will focus their internal attention.
They live from the inside—funneling the energy and revelation they receive from the Holy Spirit out into the world. They punch through spiritual opposition, allowing soldiers to pour in and occupy new territory.
Think about your current level of intimacy with the Lord. What needs to improve and increase in your praise, rejoicing and giving thanks?
What does living from the inside out mean to you?
What particular insight of God do you need in order to combat your present circumstances?
Cultivate that insight into a place of forceful rejoicing and thanksgiving. Produce a declaration of who God is for you now! Develop a proclamation that you can use on the enemy.
Spiritual warriors are not aggressive; they are assertive in a powerful way. When you partake of the nature of God you cannot be angry in the way you once were, which was subjective. You must tune into the anger of God objectively.
It takes a lot for God to get angry, He is very slow in this regard. If He does get angry, it’s momentary and always for a specific purpose that produces good eventually.
When most people get angry, they mostly assert the unredeemed side of their personality, what we term as our flesh.
That is because we have a soul and body learning how to submit to the nature of God in our spirit.
On days our heart (spirit and soul) can be divided. Our anger can be unreasoning and vindictive. God has no such problem in His personality. He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.
In our experience, anger is an emotion representing a change in one’s reaction. In that particular sense, God does not become angry. He only appears to do so in the eyes of men.
The difference Between Anger and Assertiveness “Be angry and sin not” [Ephesians 4:26] is how the Father works. This is a commandment from God which requires us to tune into the heart of God at the moment, it has nothing to do with our self or soul or human nature.
It takes an incredible amount to make God angry because His patience is overwhelmingly excellent. He only got angry with me once, when He spoke to me in an audible voice that sounded like thunder.
His goodness, kindness, gentleness, love, peace, and joy are all so huge that any anger can only ever be momentary, and then the beauty of His nature floods back into our relationship with Him.
In the new covenant of Christ within, and us living in Christ, God’s anger is appeased by sacrifice. Jesus’s soul became a sin offering which appeased(to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe )so that all of His anger dissipated.
God’s anger has always been developmental—necessary chastisement to enable His people to learn more effectively. A step on the way to full maturity.
A short, sharp shock that brings an awareness of how we have fallen short and makes us think about things a little harder.
Of course, there have been occurrences when the anger of God has been combined with His people fully reaping what they sow. In those instances, anger can look like punishment, but it isn’t. Discipline without development is punishment.
In the case of Israel not being permitted to enter Canaan (the promised land) the first time, we see that Israel had learned nothing from four hundred years of slavery. Her rebellion and disobedience had resulted in being overcome by the enemy and taken captive. The same stubborn characteristics prevented her from being free and inheriting the promise.
The options available were:
1. Allow them to enter Canaan where they would be killed because their rebellion makes them vulnerable in warfare,
2. Allow them to return to Egypt and a new oppressor who would slaughter them because of the plagues and to teach other nations a lesson about usurping Egyptian authority, or
3. Stay in the wilderness with God who would feed and clothe them, while a younger generation was learning how to walk with God properly.
In discipline, God stays present. You can feel His love in it. He committed Himself to forty years of presence in the wilderness with the whole of Israel, in order to teach a younger Israel how to be with Him.
God’s chosen anger is developmental and only occurs when we have repeatedly not given ourselves to learning about fellowship.
His anger is always a last resort. He will not always strive with the heart of man [Genesis 6:3].
The Father has this incredible, astonishing ability to be longsuffering towards humanity. That doesn’t mean He is permanently sad or grieved or heart broken. There are no tears in Heaven. The Father’s personal joy is so all embracing it covers everything, just as His love covers a multitude of sins.
His longsuffering is immersed in His joy [Colossians 1:11] and we can be the same. The Father’s ability to love combined with His joy in Himself is the cornerstone of our relationship with Him.
His goodness, kindness, gentleness, mercy, patience, faithfulness, grace, and self-control all combine to become longsuffering with joy.
Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a is descriptive of God’s nature: Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
His anger is not a reaction to our sin, it’s a response that aids our development. He has this intense desire that we should share in His holiness.
Righteousness, the lifestyle of thinking, speaking, doing, and living in a holy manner, is a key part of our walk with God.
We need training in holiness. Discipline and chastisement are two necessary tools that He uses so that we may learn the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
…you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. [Hebrews 12:5–11]
Every one of us needs discipline in our lives. Self control is an admirable part of our development process. Living in a vulnerable way before the Holy Spirit, being God-conscious before the Father as Jesus lived, “I only say what the Father is saying; I only do what the Father is doing,” having our hearts fixed on Jesus [Hebrews 12:1–2]—this is the only way to live.
The worst thing we can do to our children—apart from not loving and believing in them—is not to shape their lives in a disciplined manner. There is no greatness apart from self-control.
Development that does not include personal government will only guarantee our mediocrity.
God’s chastisement is not anger based but motivated by His passion for our greatness.
Similarly, spiritual warriors save all their anger for the enemy. They live to destroy the works of the devil. When they see God’s people trapped in sin, religious practices, and unbelief, they do not rage against the people.
Like Jesus they have a compassion that asserts itself but also a directness of speech and action that engages people with God.
We come to set prisoners free—not to sentence the warden and the prison guards. It is vital that spiritual warriors understand the difference between anger and assertiveness.
In discipline, God is asserting His holiness so that we might share in it with Him [Hebrews 12:10].
In warfare, we are hugely assertive against the enemy. If we have too much aggression, or subjective anger, it may be turned against us.
Our authority must stem from our submission to God, not from our internal anger. Anger that comes from the soul can be tracked back to it, making us vulnerable to a counterattack.
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” [James 4:7]. We cannot use our own soul against the enemy. Our soul must be submitted to our own spirit that is connecting with the Holy Spirit in our inner man.
Being led by the Spirit means we only do things the way God wants them done. Submission is where we make ourselves vulnerable, exposed, to the goodness of God.
Submission is a joyful act of surrender to a beloved sovereign (a supreme ruler) for His own purposes. The enemy cannot stand against that act of loving abandonment.
The first rule of warfare is that we cannot take ground from the enemy if he has ground in us.
Cleaning and clearing our own house is a vital part of our own self-control and personal discipline. God works in us and through us, and it is important that we know the difference.
Otherwise, we will project our own developmental needs onto others. “In me first” was the Apostle Paul’s principle for development [1 Timothy 1:16].
What is the Lord currently talking to you about in your personal life? What area of self control do you need to exhibit next? What is the difference between aggression and assertiveness?
What are you learning about the anger of the Lord and His unchanging nature?
Write down some key thoughts on that subject and share them with a friend!
It is not violence that propels these spiritual warriors forward. Paradoxically, they break through enemy lines through their own ability to rest in the Lord.
These mighty men and women live in a state of untroubled calm and rest despite every annoyance thrown their way.
While the enemy dishes out chaos and accusation, spiritual warriors are anchored by the inner life of the spirit.
Rest is a weapon. As Christians, we should be incredibly peaceful, tranquil, and calm. The enemy cannot penetrate the armor of a person at rest in God.
Spiritual warriors know that part of their inheritance is complete confidence in Him. This confidence in His nature puts their spirit at rest. All of God’s promises are designed to inspire us in our dependence on Him. We are completely reliant on His grace and mercy. All we can do is joyfully and humbly live in that revelation no matter what comes against us.
As we see in Hebrews 11, Scripture is full of examples where ordinary people ran while warriors stayed and fought until they broke through. But to stay when everyone around you is running takes supreme confidence in who God wants to be for you.
These warriors carry an assurance of God’s heart toward them. It is not about how strong we are, but how powerful the Lord is in our lives!
Spiritual warriors know and have learned how to use their own weakness to become vulnerable (influenced) to the strength and power of God.
To rest in God’s power when your own weaknesses seem to be shouting at you—that’s grace!
To be confident in who God is for you when you feel overwhelmed by odds against you—that’s peace!
To stand alone against massive intimidation—that’s trust!
To know beyond any shadow of a doubt that God is bigger, and therefore you cannot lose—that’s the faith that moves mountains!
Spiritual warriors know who God is for them, and they are aware of the partnership they have with Him. This partnership in biblical terms is called a yoke.
Jesus used this term when He called His people to enter into a rest with Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:28–30]
There is a place set aside for us in the spirit where we can make the enemy tired. We can make him weary, discouraged, deflated, and intimidated by our intimacy and our rest in Jesus.
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Is there any weariness of soul in Heaven? Is there any mental tiredness or emotional depression? These things have been bound because joy and rest have been loosed!
The promise of rest instead of weariness is a huge gift from Jesus! “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” [John 14:27].
All our overcoming comes from the joy and peace in believing. The internal presence of God enables us to overcome the external pressures of life and warfare.
Jesus has already overcome these external forces. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. [Romans 8:35–37]
It is important to note here that the victory of Jesus does not shield us from the intrusion and impact of adversity and warfare. Nor does it mean that we will not suffer or even lose our life in the service of God. …but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. [2 Corinthians 6:4–10]
What it means is that despite what happens to us, victory is guaranteed as we remain in the faithfulness of God.
There may be a larger objective to achieve than the preservation of our own life. Our personal objective is always the glory of God. To achieve the privilege of presenting glory to God we need three things working together:
Firstly, we need to be able to stand joyfully in the blood of Jesus—to know its power for us over the enemy, and to rejoice in it.
Secondly, we need to proclaim our own personal testimony regarding the nature of God in the face of all opposition.
Thirdly, we need to love the life of Jesus more than our own so that we are never preoccupied with self preservation [Revelation 12:11].
The one who overcomes in this manner receives blessings in Heaven that are astronomical privileges for eternity [Revelation 3:21].
Victory—the purpose of God being achieved through our circumstances—is always present in Christ [2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17].
He has overcome the world and all of its pressures, oppositions and warfare. He has disarmed the ruling powers, thoroughly humiliating them in the process and displaying His power over them for all to see [Colossians 2:15].
Jesus now sits in the place of supreme authority with everything being subject to Him, and His Lordship being evident in and through His body on Earth [Ephesians 1:21–23].
Peace comes in the context of God’s overcoming nature displayed to us in Christ.
Jesus is supremely unworried. Peace enables us to lead an untroubled life. That is, when trouble comes we are not fazed by it. We know how to live above it in our spirit. We know how to calmly see through it to determine the purpose of God.
We are not subject to the pressure of events because we allow His peace to encourage us.
Spiritual warriors have courage because they have peace. We do not let our hearts be troubled, nor are we subject to fear. We believe in God; we know who Jesus is for us [John 14:1–27].
We rest in the overcoming nature of Jesus. We don’t have to understand everything in detail so that we are at peace. We are governed by peace to such an extent that it rules in our hearts, not our minds [Colossians 3:15].
As the peace of God guards our heart, we are able to cast down fearful thoughts.
Peace does not come through settled thinking, but it can be displaced by an anxious, fearful mindset.
Peace comes from our heart—the inner man of the spirit—our secret place where God lives within. Then it moves out of our spirit to guard our mind.
Peace dominates our heart and governs our thinking [Philippians 4:7], enabling us to take any negative thoughts captive and destroy unhelpful speculations [2 Corinthians 10:5] that make us prone to weariness and dejection.
The heart of the invitation of Jesus in Matthew 11:28–30 is for us to take His yoke upon ourselves.
A yoke is a partnership that enables us to fully cooperate with Jesus in the matter of rest. A young ox is yoked with a more mature ox so that it can be discipled in the role that it will occupy. So, with us; we take all of our leads from Jesus. His responses now become our responses as we submit to His intention and power.
Being led by the Spirit arises out of our union with Jesus. “As He is, so are we in this world” [1 John 4:17]. He that is in us is too powerful and much greater than anything or anyone we may meet in life [1 John 4:4].
This yoke relationship is of paramount importance to our rest and peace. Some people are unequally yoked to a negative.
Whenever we allow ourselves to become negative, we have been shifted from faith and obedience to a contrary place where it is possible for us to deny, oppose, and resist the promises, goodness, and power of God. We become our own worst enemy.
If we are not consciously partnering with God, who are we in alliance with? Jesus said, “He who is not with me, is against me” [Matthew 12:30].
Clearly this can occur at many levels. We cannot resist the grace of God without suffering consequences.
Negativity neutralizes faith and nullifies our peace and rest, making us vulnerable to fear, anxiety, doubt, and unbelief.
If we find it easy to be cynical, we have already traveled a long way down the road of negative thinking. If we are prone to being pessimistic or gloomy, our thinking and rest have already been compromised.
If our sense of humor is rooted in sarcasm that wounds people (rather than the gentle joshing of a loving friendship), then we have lost the heart of God and need to recover ourselves.
If we have become unenthusiastic about Jesus or uninterested in spiritual things, we have possibly been taken captive in our heart and mind.
Being unequally yoked to a negative causes a reversal of favor and leads to stress and difficulty. We lose our Heavensent confidence in Jesus and find ourselves out of position in the spirit.
Spiritual warriors never allow this to happen to them. Indeed, they know that rest is a weapon to be used on the evil one. Rest allows us time and space to wait on the Lord even in the most trying of circumstances.
The enemy seeks to pull us out of rest by getting us to act too quickly to events. When we allow that, we are reacting to the situation and not responding to the Lord.
Resting and waiting on the Lord is not inactivity—it allows confidence to come through positive reinforcement of our identity in Christ and His inheritance in us.
Spiritual warriors wait. They know that confidence comes from the Lord. His joy is a source of strength. “Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world,” echoes in their hearts and minds.
Warriors give assurance to the weak around them because they themselves operate in a dimension where access to God provides a guaranteed outcome of victory.
They rest in that assurance because they fight from victory, not towards it. These warriors are absolutely positive that God will help them. They are convinced that He is incapable of letting them down. Such thoughts never enter their minds—they are completely focused on the fact that God will save them.
In times of warfare and adversity, they have the courageous boldness to stand firm in God. This confidence enables a spiritual warrior to hold their nerve and be fearless in the face of any attack.
They live in the growing conviction that the Lord is pouring out His extravagant delight and affection on them.
Everything that is in God, is for these people. “Surely I will help you,” He says. These generous promises are the foundation upon which God would have us approach Him.
They are a pathway to Him, reminding us of our utter dependence on His nature. This, in turn, irritates the proper attitude and outlook we need in order to access those promises.
We are expected by Him and received by Him. “For the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught,” says Proverbs 3:26.
God is the most powerful ally in the universe, and a spiritual warrior keeps that fact in mind at all times.
We stand before God the same way a much-loved son or daughter stands before his or her father. There is no fear or worry, only the love and confidence that comes with being your dad’s beloved child.
We are totally accepted and have complete access. God is very confident in Himself; He never doubts anything He is doing. It is this confidence that He seeks to build into the people He touches with His grace.
Are there negatives in your own life that the Spirit is seeking to change into a more faith-filled perspective?
If so, isolate the negatives and examine them. What would be the opposite spirit to them? Write that down and practice renewing your insight and thinking until it is adjusted.
Think about the areas where, by habit, you have become prone to negativity. What does it mean for you to set peace as a guard in your mind and heart so that negativity is denied entry?
Practice pushing away a negative, taking deprived thoughts captive, renewing your mind with the help of the Holy Spirit.
The ability to still the clamor within our heart and mind is a key part of a spiritual warrior’s character. To be quiet in God, even in the face of adversity, is a challenge. But warriors cannot move out of panic; they must operate out of peace and rest.
Demons can roar, people can scream, panic can reign, but peace can live in every one of us and break the power of darkness.
When we allow ourselves to relax in that peaceful embrace of God, we learn more about being confident in His great strength.
As we develop this understanding of resting in Him, God will send us into places where only His grace can protect us.
This is the astonishing and breathtaking call of a spiritual warrior—to go where others fear to tread, but to take that ground with the confidence of God in us.
He calls us to a Luke 10:3–9 existence: Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house.” And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.
Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
A spiritual warrior is sent out as a lamb among wolves—but our best friend is a lion. His all-consuming power turns our tiny hearts into a fortress that cannot be taken.
In a vision, you can see an army of hideous, plundering enemies charging toward you. They are beasts—ugly, twisted, vile beings. Naturally, you will begin to panic. But suddenly, a curtain comes down around you. It surrounded you like a circle; you can only dimly make out the shapes of the enemy on the other side of it.
Inside that small, excluded area, the secret place, you feel God put His arms around you. From outside the curtain, you can hear the enemy rant and rave, threatening you with every bit of malevolence in their being.
To be embraced by God’s kindness in the midst of the fury and crazed curses of the enemy is a profound experience. Our King is totally unconcerned about what is happening outside that tiny space.
“This is our secret place,” “The enemy will never know where it is. All of this is on the inside of us. We need to know how to step back into your spirit man and live with the lord when we are troubled in our soul.”
God is calm in the face of ferocity and His confidence is transferred to us when we learn to live in the secret place.
Our awareness of the presence of the Lord teaches us everything we need to know about standing firm in Him.
This quiet confidence gives us the strength and energy to fight on. We can relax in His presence, focusing on Him in quietness.
Understanding His statement in Psalm 46:10— “Be still, and know that I am God,”—is vital to the development of a spiritual warrior.
God will speak more to a person in silence than He will in conversation; He has a way of inhabiting an environment that speaks volumes.
True stillness involves the destruction of fear because it opens our eyes to the majestic provisions of God on our behalf when everything is against us [Exodus 14:13–14].
In quietness before God, we find a confidence, a strength, and a power not available to us outside of stillness [Isaiah 30:15]. Without stillness we cannot see in the spirit.
Experienced fishermen caught in a raging sea were completely undone by the power of the peace of Jesus over the weather. Out of our inner stillness we get to release peace and cause stillness to affect our surroundings [Mark 4:39].
When Elijah was learning stillness, it was for the express purpose that his ability to listen and hear God’s voice could go to a deeper level of perception [1 Kings 19:12–13]. He heard the whisper of God. “A word is brought to us silently and our ear receives a whisper of it,” [Job 4:12].
The still small voice of God comes to people who learn stillness as a way of life. The Hebrew word “still” that describes Elijah’s experience of God’s voice is the word “dananah,” which is itself a derivative of the word “dahan,” meaning to be dumbfounded or astonished—literally, to be astonished at the sound.
The power of God in a whisper is overwhelming. Most of the deep revelation we receive does not come from the study of books, but in a place of meditation—waiting on the Lord.
We must practice quietness because the Lord finds a quiet spirit so irresistible. It gives Him enormous pleasure when we learn stillness and quietness [1 Peter 3:4]. David learned to commune in quietness on his bed [Psalm 4:4].
Spiritual warriors do not react. They revert to their inner place of practical stillness. It is their custom to cultivate rest, peace, and stillness as a way of life before God.
Life in the spirit is one of developing godly routines that arise out of our spirit when we most need them. We cannot manifest what is not present. “Be still and know that I am God,” [Psalm 46:10] is the best advice you will ever receive on spiritual warfare.
Spiritual warriors go into their place of refuge to discover God so that they may exit from the fortress of His presence to combat the enemy.
How quiet is your life? How still is your mind? How peaceful are you on difficult days? What are you hearing and seeing in the spirit over your own circumstances?
Write down the above into a simple declaration of peace and stillness and proclaim it to your own heart and mind.
Scripture and revelation are two key confidence builders in a spiritual warrior’s life. God carefully puts His word into our spirits to provoke us to look at Him.
All too often, we get distracted by His hand, wondering what He is doing. But He wants us to look Him in the eye, to talk with Him, to be with Him. “I want you to see who I am,” He says.
As Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:12, “We have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.”
Spiritual warriors know how to walk humbly with God, because they understand that they are nothing without His greatness.
Humility, however, is not the same as timidity. We do not have to be nervous when we approach God; the sacrifice of Jesus must instead result in a boldness of approach. This confidence in our standing with God should be an unshakable conviction in our hearts.
How can we stand outside the throne room when He has swung the door wide open to us? Instead, we must walk into His presence.
Boldness and Humility
After all, we belong there—because He is there. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth, and He has given us His name. We are heirs of God, as explained in Romans 8:12–17:
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Paul continues this thought later in that same chapter (verses 31–39): What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing on Heaven or Earth can separate us from the love of God. Walking humbly in this knowledge means we can come boldly before God.
A spiritual warrior doesn’t come into the throne room resentfully or crawl in miserably; he comes with a paradoxical mix of humility in who he is and confidence in who God is.
It is so important to be confident in God—to be unashamed and uncondemned. Grace makes us vulnerable to the majesty of God’s loving-kindness toward us. We are a work in progress.
We are learning how to be changed from glory into glory in the likeness of God [2 Corinthians 3:18]. We are moving from that first prime glorious state of salvation to our destiny as manifested sons of the Most High.
Each stage we pass through; each season we successfully navigate in the Holy Spirit—more glory is revealed of God’s nature that we get to exhibit in Christ.
Walking in the spirit and becoming Christlike are glorious experiences and also experiences of glory.
Confidence is part of the glory of God revealed to us in Christ. As He is, so are we in this world. Boldness and humility form a beautiful paradox.
A paradox is two apparently conflicting ideas contained in the same truth. In the matter of our ongoing transformation into becoming Christlike, there are two extremes at work.
Firstly, there is how the Father sees us in Christ, as a finished work.
Secondly, there is how we see ourselves as we go through the process of change.
God is future-present with us.
That is, He deals with us in terms of who we are already in Christ. This is an eternal work and is already completed in Jesus. The Father deals with us through the context of eternity.
The Holy Spirit works with us in the context of the here and now. We are presentfuture with God—in Christ, learning to be Christlike. Jesus stands in the gap between our present and future, interceding for us [Hebrews 7:25].
The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us and Christ in us as the hope (confident expectation) of glory. In the Father’s eyes (seen through the lens of Jesus), we are complete in Christ and welcome in the throne room of His presence. “Through Jesus, we have both access in one Spirit to the Father” [Ephesians 2:18].
“We can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” [Hebrews 4:16]. We can be bold in our quest for mercy and grace. We can be bold about being in Jesus, and humble about our current place of growth in becoming Christlike.
It is a wonderful and unique place of favor in which the Father has placed us before Him. He treats us as complete while we are still a work in progress.
This means that grace, favor, and inheritance can come to us because of His acceptance of us in the Beloved, not because of our performance [Ephesians 1:6].
This alone gives us huge boldness to come before the Father, knowing that He has gifts and favor to bestow upon us as He would bestow them on Jesus.
Humble on Earth, confident in Heaven. Humble for the present, bold about the future. Bold in the here and now, humbled and awed by who we get to become. We are confident to enter the most Holy Place in Christ, and we can do so in full assurance of faith.
We are so welcome, accepted, and beloved [Hebrews 10:19–23]. We are learning how to abide in Him so that our confidence is always high, and there is never even a possibility of our being ashamed in His presence.
Confidence is concerned with certainty! It is about something definite—a firm assurance, a total reliance, an absolute belief, and an unbreakable conviction that provides us with positive security. There is a yes and amen in God’s heart for us!
1 John 2:28 28 And now, little children (infants), abide in him; that, whenever he shall appear (to render apparent literal or figurative), we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him in his coming (the time of His presence, which is occurring now).
The word appear is in the aorist or momentary tense, the subjunctive mood which refers to something that is conditional and the passive voice which refers to God initiating it and our receiving it)
So, this is not referring to the second coming, but the appearances the Lord makes literally or in the spirit to us in the time that we are living-the end of the age.
When we become a spiritual warrior, the Lord may appear to us as the captain of His army.
In Christ is our starting point. Christ in us is our finishing point. We are a work in progress. What is the Holy Spirit showing you about your own confidence levels in Christ? Explain the difference in your own words between humility and boldness. Explain what it means to be accepted in the Beloved and complete in Christ, and how the Father loves and provides for you as you become Christlike.
Warriors are people who confidently make choices about where and how to focus from the inner man of the spirit, through the outer man of the soul.
Despite external realities that are adverse and chaotic, spiritual warriors live in a state of untroubled calm and rest by which they are bound to the inner life of the Holy Spirit.
They view troublesome, annoying circumstances as opportunities to either defeat the enemy or to practice their own inner spirituality before God.
They do not react to events because their focus in training and warfare is to respond to God from their inner man.
They know that part of their inheritance in their walk with God is that they enjoy a complete confidence in Him.
Confidence is the Hallmark. A hallmark is a distinctive feature, signifying excellence. It is the stamp imprinted onto gold and silver that declares its purity and, therefore, its value.
Similarly, it is a huge indicator of a spiritual warrior’s true worth to the community in which God has placed him.
Spiritual warriors realize that all the promises of God are to enable us to be inspired in our dependence and reliance upon Him.
They know that new life events are always followed by an advancement of God’s presence and provision as they pass God’s tests.
Many people get promoted at work or find a new job but never think to upgrade their rest and peace.
A new job or a major change will involve the stress of new people, new learning, larger expectations, and possibly bigger opportunities to fail, as well as succeed. All these can cause pressure not only on us, but also on our family.
With every new situation there is a fresh provision. The God of peace is with us to bring us into a deeper, broader experience of rest that enables us to overcome [John 14:27; 16:33].
People take on new responsibilities but don’t raise their faith to a new level. We battle through circumstances that we feel ill-equipped to tackle but do not look for the provision that improves our capacity to receive under pressure.
Many people are unaware that God always uses foresight in His relationship with us. He knows what is coming down the road for us on our journey. He knows where life plots against us. He knows the ambushes of the enemy. He can see the difficult terrain we will have to cross, and He provides for all those eventualities.
People pray as if they are begging God to do them a favor. They forget that He always sees the end from the beginning. He knows all things!
The God who knows our journey better than we do has strategically placed a provision next to every problem, obstacle, and opposition—human and demonic. This is called favor. We rejoice in who God is for us, pray joyfully for the favor that is present, and give thanks for the Father’s foresight and intentionality. This is being led by the Spirit.
What you think about God is the most important thought you are ever going to have about anything! How you perceive Him is how you receive Him in your day. We must never have a thought about God that does not magnify His love. He is good; therefore, His goodness must be exalted in our thinking.
“I would have despaired unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living,” said David [Psalm 27:13].
This is what it means to be a man after God’s own heart, like David. It means that we have a confident expectation of God’s nature toward us when circumstances are against us.
In difficult situations we seek out God’s heart for us now, and we hide in who He is for us. He is our rock, our fortress, and our hiding place.
To step back into His kindness will be our salvation in countless circumstances. That’s why God gives us a revelation of His kindness! It is our access point, our doorway into the secret place of His presence.
I can escape into His nature for me and live in a higher place than my circumstances. In this way, I get to go through my situations in rest, in faith, and in favor. They become opportunities to overcome something and to declare the nature of God to me personally. We fight from victory, not towards it.
Therefore, we are never staring defeat in the face; the enemy is when he looks at us.
Some obstacles take longer to overcome; in those cases, we are also learning about patience and persistence.
The point is this: victory, whether initially or eventually, is never in doubt in our hearts and minds. We focus on God, not the event.
Spiritual warriors joyfully and humbly count on God to come through, no matter what situation they find themselves in. For that to happen, our confidence must first be in God’s nature, not just in His power.
What is God really, really like? Who is He for you? How do you see His nature, character, and personality?
Every circumstance reveals to you who God is and what He wants to be for you. This is the first thing that we learn to focus on.
In fact, we do not initially focus on the situation at all; we do that eventually. It’s the difference between what is urgent and what is important. Every circumstance has a sound.
Difficult situations have a way of clamoring for attention; they have an urgency. However, there is always another sound at work. It’s the sound of God speaking in our spirit —the still small voice, the whisper of peace: “I Am is with you;” “I will never leave you nor forsake you;” “Come to Me, I will give you rest.”
Why does God whisper in moments like this? It’s because He is teaching us to come aside and listen. God is always speaking; warriors are always listening.
Never allow the noise of your circumstances to drown out the sound of the Spirit. Situations are urgent; communion with God is more important.
The best way to commune is to step out of your circumstances altogether. Step away from them and come to a place of worship, rejoicing, and thanksgiving.
If we try to worship in the situation we may not get to a place of breakthrough before God, and the urgency of the event will bring us to prayer too soon.
There is a reason why prayer is part of a celebration sandwich. “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” [1 Thessalonians 5:16–18].
Real prayer is preceded and followed by a celebration of who God is for us. Majesty is vital when we are in extreme circumstances. We are created to magnify.
God put this stamp on all creation: seas roar, trees clap, even the rocks can cry out in exaltation of God.
We will magnify— it’s in our human DNA—even if we magnify the wrong thing. To magnify means to see something bigger than it actually is in reality.
The enemy, through intimidation, always tries to make himself as big as God to us. He tries to magnify a molehill into a mountain regarding our circumstances. He wants the problem to become greater than our faith—the pressure, bigger than our peace, the issue to become larger than God’s presence.
To magnify also means to see someone as big as He really is. To become overwhelmed by God’s sovereignty, not in relation to your problem, but in proportion to who He is in Himself.
The easiest way to separate the problem from the Provider is by putting them in separate places in your heart. When faced with a problem clamoring for attention—I go into my prayer room (just another place in my spirit) and lay the problem down before God. Then I step out of that room, close the door firmly, and go to another room to rejoice and worship.
The act of shutting out a problem in this way enables me to focus my attention fully on the nature of God, and who He is in Himself—for me. The most important part of every situation is the presence of God over you and the revelation of God for you in that situation.
Whatever you see and hear of God in worship is who you get to become in the situation you find yourself in at that time.
Situations are not just there to resolve. They are allowed, to bring us into a revelation of God and an experience of Him at that point!
Our goal is always to become a partaker of Christ. “We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” [Hebrews 3:14].
To be a partaker means we must become engaged and involved in Christ, for Himself. We do not live in our circumstances; we live in Christ.
Give Jesus the total pre-eminence of your focus and attention. Allow the problem to take a lesser place. By shutting it in another room, I am physically free to receive Christ and appropriate Him.
Never focus on the situation. Focus on Jesus. The circumstance is a means to an end. God knows the end that He wants you to receive.
There are two of them: firstly, for you to grow into Jesus, using this particular event—for you to become Christlike.
And as we partake of Christ, then secondly, we get to partner with the Holy Spirit in the provision of God.
We live in two realms; therefore, every situation has two solutions. We live in heavenly places in Christ; therefore, we must put on growth in this dimension.
Also, we inhabit the Earth; so we must bring from Heaven to Earth the provision that God has set aside for us. It’s called inheritance. On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Spiritual warriors are absolutely convinced that the Lord wants to reveal Himself to them, as well as help them in their circumstances. As I go to another place in my heart, I am free to concentrate fully on who God is in Himself.
As I rejoice and worship, faith and conviction begin to rise up within me. The Holy Spirit, by His initiative, begins to declare to me the Lord’s favor and provision.
Then, when He is ready, I can enter the space where my problem is and begin to pray and declare all that the Father has revealed to me. I can pray and make a confession or a declaration of it then.
Prayer is finding out what the will of God is and then speaking it into existence.
Spiritual warriors are totally convinced that the Father is utterly incapable of letting them down. Therefore, in times of warfare and adversity, they draw anointing and power from their own personal crisis and use it to stand with boldness in corporate situations.
This enables them to take a stand and be fearless in the face of enemy attack. They are partakers of Christ.
What the Father reveals to us in the beginning, will not be the solution to the problem. Firstly, He will show us what we can become in Jesus because we have this situation to empower us [Romans 8:28].
When we see that and receive it, then we get to stand in that as our place before God. We get to put on Christ and hold fast to that revelatory experience all the way through the issue [Hebrews 3:14].
At some point the problem will have to bow to Jesus because of His irrepressible and irresistible nature. This is our contribution to corporate problems and attacks… warriors supply confidence. We inspire it. We give people a radiant idea of God. Warriors live with a growing conviction that the Lord is delighted to pour out, with extravagant abundance, the certainty of His affection for them. God is disposed to love and care for us.
The scriptures refer to that certainty with a series of extravagant promises which the Lord is pleased to fulfill. These are written to give us a foundation for our pathway of approach to the Lord. This is how God makes a straight path for our feet—to inspire and empower us to come to Him with the right attitude and outlook.
His words to us enable us to position ourselves before God in supreme confidence that we are expected and will be received by Him.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. [2 Peter 1:2–4]
Grace and peace are being multiplied to us as we live and move and have our being in Christ. Everything we need to become powerful and godly has been supplied in Christ [Philippians 4:19].
We are called to inherit Jesus, just as He has inherited us from the Father [Ephesians 1:18]. It is His own glory and excellence that is willingly bestowed upon us.
The promises of God are given so that we can fully participate in the nature of Jesus. We share in all that He is and all that He has in Himself. Making us partakers of the divine nature is a wonderful expression of the Father’s affection and attitude towards us.
It’s the evidence of fullness—to be fully like Jesus. We are called to an abundant life, and the sheer size and scale of the promises are designed to convey the wonder of it all. That we would become as confident in life as the Father is in creation!
What would it take for us to live a life of supreme confidence in God—where in His great love for us, we could not fail, just simply learn to be better next time; one where the enemy has no power to deceive us because we have left immaturity far behind?
We are no longer children tossed to and fro by lies and false perceptions. We are steadfast, immovable in our trust and assurance of the nature of God to us. Grace surrounds us, peace is increased to us. We are multiplied in the favor of God. “For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught” [Proverbs 3:26].
God is very confident in Himself. He seeks to build that confidence into the people He touches with His grace. We can stand before the Lord with the manner of a much-loved child in the presence of a loving Father.
Examine your current circumstances and describe them. How difficult are they? How do they affect you? What is the provision of God for you in your relationship and experience of Him? What is your elevation in the spirit? What favor is God bestowing on you at this time? What will your prayer and declaration look like and sound like as you proclaim it to the problem?
Work through the above exercise, then deliberately enter into the problem of a friend and teach them what you have discovered.
Enduring in the face of overwhelming odds is only possible because of the strength of God’s hold upon us. This is the source of our confidence—we know He will never let us go, no matter what.
The will of God is to be for us, as we read in 1 John 5:14–15: Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. With this in mind, we can set our hearts to joyfully endure.
The Lord spends a lot of time and effort preparing our hearts to listen to His will. Through this process, we improve our ability to discover His voice, understand His heart, and detect His will.
The turnning point in this journey comes when we learn to listen more than speak. When we are in the presence of God, we need to choose our words carefully. “Do not be impulsive with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in Heaven, and you on Earth; therefore let your words be few,” says Ecclesiastes 5:2.
This will sound odd, but I think we sometimes do too much praying. If we would simply listen more, we would know exactly what to pray.
Instead of using our mouths to try and find God’s will, we need to use the ears of our heart. By waiting on God, we will hear His word. We need to remain attentive.
Prayer is finding out what the Father wants to do, then standing in Christ before Him and asking Him to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We pray with God, not towards Him; we pray with the answer, not to try to find one.
We are the third part of a three-fold chord of answered prayer. Yoked with Jesus in partnership, we rest in God’s incredible heart toward us as we joyfully pray His heart back to Him.
When we discover God’s will and pray for it to occur, we position ourselves to be part of that answer. We wait, we listen, we determine what to pray, and we pray it—this is how a spiritual warrior works with the Holy Spirit.
Prayer is a discipline, preceded by the foundation of listening. A correct revelation of what the Lord wants to do puts us in the right place at the right time. We then operate with the faith that He hears us, and we know that prayers that reside in the will of God are always answered.
Spiritual warriors labor to develop a certainty in prayer so they are not perpetually stuck in petition.
As Jesus said in Matthew 21:22, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” This is the kind of faith with which a spiritual warrior walks.
Or as 1 John 5:14–15 puts it: Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Prayer is our opportunity to agree with what the Lord wants to do. When we pray in the will of God, we build the faith and confidence needed to further declare God’s plans.
Spiritual warriors declare, “This is the will of God,” and proclaim the truth of God’s victory over every adversary.
A mature Christian moves in thanksgiving and praise even before the answer comes. We translate our prayers into worship and gratitude, pushing the enemy back with our cheerful, declarative faith in God.
When a spiritual warrior combines the will of God with confident prayers, there comes a huge increase of faith. This, in turn, draws God’s presence near—He rises up in our heart.
Warriors stand their ground confidently and can turn an entire battle with how they pray. We see this principle in the life of Moses.
In Exodus 17, the wandering Israelites battled the Amalekites in Rephidim. Moses stood atop a hill, watching the battle; whenever he lifted his arms in prayer, the Israelites triumphed, as the will of the Lord wanted.
When he lowered his arms in fatigue, the battle turned against them. Eventually, others—Aaron and Hur—came alongside Moses and helped him hold his arms up.
When Moses partnered with the will of God in prayer, the Lord moved. It’s not as though the omnipresent God vanished from the battlefield whenever Moses put his arms down—He was still there.
But His will was victory over the Amalekites, and He wanted Moses to partner with it. Without that partnership, the Israelites would have lost that fight.
Moses did as much fighting by praying as any soldier in the fight did. Confidence, or the lack thereof, can be the difference between breakthrough and defeat.
In Hebrews 10:35–36, we receive a fascinating caution—“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”
Too many of us cast away our confidence in the face of adversity. In fact, most Christians toss it overboard as soon as the waves and winds of life stir up.
Spiritual warriors, on the other hand, prize their confidence. They protect it. They let it develop by using it in every circumstance.
In the past I have lost things. I have had to make it a habit to check and keep these things with me. It is a conscious, deliberate choice.
In the same way, Christians need to make it a habit to check and keep their confidence with them. We must hold on to our confidence as we would a passport or wallet.
We cannot allow the enemy to pickpocket our confidence in Christ. We must not throw it away; we need to keep a firm grip on it at all times.
The disciples, in the early days with Jesus, were notorious for abandoning their confidence at every turn. Peter took his eyes off Christ and sunk helplessly into the sea. The disciples wondered if a sleeping Jesus even cared that their boat was being battered by a storm.
Peter denied even knowing the Lord. Thomas would not accept his best friends’ testimony of His resurrection. They constantly squabbled over who would be first in the kingdom.
But these men grew into apostles who led with confidence. Their faith became unshakable, even at the point of death.
The confidence a spiritual warrior carries cannot be pried out of their hands by anything, anytime, anywhere. We are called to hold out for our reward from God, but confidence and endurance must live together within us in order to obtain that reward.
Confidence must become our great ally. Endurance must be our best friend. We are called to be patiently confident and confidently patient. We can hang on in the face of any storm, knowing Jesus is coming.
Spiritual warriors are patient people who learn how to silence themselves before God and simply wait for Him to move.
The glue that holds confidence and endurance together is praise. When we choose to praise God for His hand on our life, even when things are rough, we grow quickly. We become stronger than we ever imagined we could be.
We have to fight to receive in warfare. Too many people are willing to give up and just receive whatever they can get; a spiritual warrior contends to get the blessing God has for him.
If we throw away our confidence, there is no breakthrough. The enemy knows this better than anyone which is why he constantly works to undermine the confidence of Christians.
While most people just want to survive a war, spiritual warriors want to thrive. They want to win, to stand atop the enemy’s defeated carcass, and to celebrate.
It isn’t about being rescued from a tough day. It is about breaking through it into what God has for us. Warriors love pressure. They want to make the enemy pay for attacking them.
They have a special equation: favor plus vengeance equals payback. This breed of warriors have strongly resolved to stand no matter what.
They have the tenacity to hold on to the Lord even when everyone else runs away. Obviously, endurance means no quick victory.
Many Christians have been raised on this type of evasion and have no stomach for a war. They are largely event driven.
Important spiritual disciplines such as fortitude, persistence, stamina, and perseverance are not part of the vocabulary of many modern churches.
We have mostly an escapist theology that means we back down at the intimidation stage or don’t even show up for the real fight.
As part of our ongoing training and development, the Lord must, out of necessity, allow us to experience life issues that are protracted and not easily solved. That is, He prolongs some situations in order to develop us at a much deeper level.
It takes time to go deep; ask any deep sea diver! We simply must have an experience of holding onto the Father through a continual delay as we walk towards eventual resolution.
We learn more things about the Father, as well as ourselves. Suffering develops in us a much deeper level of humility and trust.
We learn gentleness, forbearance, patience, and steadfastness. There simply is no easy, quick way of developing such powerful disciplines.
If we aspire to be real warriors, situations containing the learning about endurance are an absolute necessity.
Real warriors are tough. They know how to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ [2 Timothy 2:3].
“If the training is easy, then the player is weak” There is regular fitness training, and then there is conditioning. The latter means that we put everything into training.
When we are warriors, we expect to win. People like Eleazar, one of the three mighty men with David [2 Samuel 23].
Attacked by the Philistines, most of Israel ran. Eleazar fought until his hand was weary and stuck to the sword. That is, his hand gripped the sword with such force, he could not easily unclench it later. He won a great victory and Israel returned in time to plunder the spoils. I want him on my team!
Likewise Shammah, left alone when Israel ran (again!), defended a patch of lentils and won a great victory. We can rightly think, “Goodness, it’s only a patch of lentils.” To a warrior though, the fight is the thing, not just the territory.
Josheb, killed eight hundred soldiers with a spear at one time!
David won and established the kingdom because he had warriors around him, men who knew how to endure, living in caves, moving around the wilderness, constantly being hounded and pursued by a megalomaniac and his army.
Living rough, eating rations, going hungry, never sleeping in the same place for too long—it toughened them up. They learned how to persevere, how to persist in a cause. They were faithful men—loyal to the king, dangerous against the enemy.
Many Christians cannot tell the difference between warfare, adversity, the work of the Cross, and training for reigning. They don’t persist; they crumble.
An instant society depletes our strength. People are in huge amounts of debt because they cannot wait; they have no patience to save money, then purchase.
To say yes to Jesus, we must also say no to something else. A yes is always accompanied by a no. To be a world class musician, athlete, or actor, it means we have to know what our distractions are going to be and have a plan to overcome them.
We have to affirm the need for personal discipline and develop a desire for it. We have to endure hardness, learn to persist when people around us want to give up, cultivate perseverance as a way of life.
Ordinary people call it obsession because it suits their own purpose. It’s passion—an intense enthusiasm for something, and it requires disciplined pursuit, a focus of intention that mediocre people never attain. Only people who are strong, solid in their relationship with the Father, firm in the faith, and with an appropriate intensity in the spirit, can have the potency to force a breakthrough against the odds.
Warriors wait for the right opportunity in a battle of wits with the enemy. We have to stay in the fight long enough to see the opportunity in the crisis, and then have sufficient stamina to rise up and grasp it.
Enduring tough times in the right spirit enables us to combat effectively. Being in tough circumstances for an extended period, without learning or becoming what is required, means that we have waited out the Lord—not waited on Him. We have not produced anything that we can use as a resource later.
Warriors can sustain others from their own spirit. The qualities produced under pressure will, like a diamond, be of immense value to us and to the situations we encounter in the service of the King.
Endurance is about abiding in Christ in such a positive way that His attributes become ours. We literally “put on Christ” [Galatians 3:27].
Until Christ is formed in us, we remain children [Galatians 4:19]. The word children here is Teknion, which means an infant that has just been weaned off milk. An army needs soldiers.
However, battles are won when soldiers become warriors. Study any military breakthrough in history, and you will discover a warrior at the heart of the conflict.
Examine any major breakthrough in science, medicine, or technology, and you will find more people of persistence that kept going when others dropped out.
What is supposed to be formed of Christ in you, through your present circumstances? For what is the Holy Spirit training you? What prophetic words, dreams, or visions has the Father released in your life? How do they describe your identity and destiny? What kind of person must you become in Christ in order for them to be fulfilled? What strategy are you going to cultivate in order to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in your own development?