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Mission Statement
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STRATEGIC LEVEL SPIRITUAL WARFARE What it is: Strategic level spiritual warfare defined is Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. What it does:
How battles are chosen:
How battles are fought: 1. Never done alone. Principalities and powers are strong. We don’t need to be fearful but we’d better be respectful of their power and ability and in touch with who we are and where we are spiritually. The sin of presumption and the sin of arrogance will do us damage every time!! We wouldn’t send one or two men up against the whole Iraqi army because it would be suicide. Yet many people think they can tackle a strongman over a whole area by themselves. It doesn’t make sense - especially when we need others to help us tackle a strongman inside of ourselves!!! A second reason to be in a group is because God wants you to intercede according to who you are and according to your gifts and how those gifts motivate and move out of you. For example:
A third reason to be in a group is because God never pours all that He has or what He wants to do into any one individual. A fourth reason is because, in corporate intercession, you can link arms, focus on God and be in unity. When you are one heart and one mind, God always commands a blessing. 2. With diligence and preparation. Do the research. Spend the time. You fast and pray but then you have to do the “stuff.” 3. Knowing God’s objectives. 4. With God’s strategy. Luke 10: 3 “Go your way…” Everyone will not go in the same direction. God will give direction both personally and for the group. Prayerwalking and praying on site is praying at the place where we believe God is going to work. Because of our weakness, we get close to where God’s going to work. We pray publicly before God works because He doesn’t want to be anonymous. You also receive extra discernment when you’re actually there. 5. In God’s timing. Time is not all the same. Luke 10:1 “After these things…” We must be in His timing. 6. With God’s resources. 7. With humility. John the Baptist discovered the secret of ushering in the kingdom of God. He knew the secret is “He must increase and I must decrease.” When we do not see others as God sees them, we bare false witness. 8. With repentance. The spirit of government is arrogance; the spirit of Christ is humility. We must struggle to kneel. The New Testament equivalent to death in the Old Testament is repentance. The height of the spiritual change we receive will be the depth of our repentance. We are not responsible for the sins of our ancestors but God is looking for people who will identify spiritual strongholds which are places of guilt and wounding. Sin is that which violates relationship. The root sins of the man who hurt you are your sins. That’s how we can identify and engage in identificational repentance for a person or territory. 9. With a holy handicap of dependence on God. 10. With good listening skills - to hear God, our brothers and sisters, the lost and the Spirit. 11. With victory in mind. Strategic prayer always has the purpose of victory. Rules and prerequisites for personal involvement: 1. You have stepped into the offering plate and are zealous for the things of God. 2. You are committed to be involved extensively in the harvest. 3. You have experience hearing God’s voice, acting on what He says and having an active prayer life. 4. You have a deep conviction and sorrow - with tears - over sin. 5. You have experienced victory over the demonic in your own life and have walked in that victory long enough to be comfortable with your freedom. Getting involved in strategic level spiritual warfare too soon after your own deliverance, especially if you were involved in a cult or the occult leaves you open for attack, vulnerable to spiritual pride, and a possible hindrance to the success of the group. We all make mistakes, but when a too-young person joins a strategic level prayer group, the group often has to shift focus from a task at hand and minister to the young person. 6. You are able to lift up holy hands without anger or division. 1 Timothy 2:8 7. You are under authority - personally and as a group 8. You are submitted to one another. Jesus wasn’t involved with titles; He got involved with towels. 9. You have God’s leading that you are to be involved. Tips for success: Let the Lord tell you how vital your role is. We need a boldness to believe that God will use us. We are not along for the ride. But we must also help one another keep in that balance between faith and boldness and humility and meekness. Guard against perfectionism. Don’t feel like you have to have all your ducks in a row. The strongholds of indifference, disunity and selfishness don’t need to be pulled down, just cracked so that, in time it will tumble. Example of National Day of Prayer 1998 when Ann saw the crack in the rectangular-shaped clouds. Do not cross the boundaries God has for you. Be quick to bless. Ed Silvoso: “A hand of blessings always beats a hand of curses.” Be full of grace first, then truth. Dr. Cho tells his church, “Don’t witness to anyone until you’ve blessed them three times.” Don’t be afraid to ask God for a power encounter for the people you are praying for. There is a tension between power and wisdom. Satan causes us to reach conclusions that are beyond scripture. Christ crucified is the power and wisdom. When it is in this order, then the message becomes a set of intellectual principles that will set people free. But when the order is reversed (wisdom then power) problems can be created because we convince people instead of convert them. Let them have a power encounter. This is why we want to be free to pray for people. Run to reach for the big prize - HIM !! Pray God’s will instead of your will; don’t get caught in witchcraft which is the desire to control. If you pray your will, then what you can tear down in one hour in prayer, Satan no longer has to use time, sinners or resources to rebuild. If you are unable to hear what He wants you to pray, then pray in tongues, worship Him or just sit in silence with your mind focused on the Lord. Alice Smith of Mission America says, "Don’t address the enemy with your eyes closed. It gives him the deference you give God so don’t do it." Don’t address Satan unless you know that you know that you know he is present. (Usually he’s not.) Addressing him attributes omnipresence to him and he’s not. He’s a created being; only God is omnipresent. Don’t puff up the demonic by calling them by their master’s name. Don’t rebuke either Satan or his demons. Jude 6-10 “…the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, (they got outside their boundaries), He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; (God’s got big, bad plans for them.) ….Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries (glorious ones). Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them!… We have permission to bind, gag and cast out. Let the Lord do the rebuking and punishing. The protocol of God is always polite. There is no biblical warrant for making fun of the devil or of calling him names. He has plenty of legal names we can choose from: Liar, Thief, Destroyer, etc. Seek God for a strategy for how to hold the ground once you’ve won the battle. Results: Light and Life cannot be controlled. Insights: The only reason people don’t come to the Lord is because they are blinded. He who brings the most hope, leads - Ed Silvoso Dead people are the only ones God can trust. He who gives up last, wins. “Ain’t hardly never been nobody saved ‘cept what’s been went after.” Promises: Jesus says “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do” three times. What was the context of these promises? John 14:13,14 - Jesus is talking to Philip about believing in Him for the sake of the works themselves (vs. 11) so that they (and others) would know the Father. (Get saved!) John 15:7 Jesus is talking about bearing much fruit, being His disciples, loving others to the extent of laying down your life for your friends (vs. 12). John 16:23 Jesus is talking about having sorrow turn to joy, full joy and believing in Him. Right before He makes the marvelous proclamation, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” before He is crucified. Rev. 3:14-22 He’s talking to a church but then He says, “If anyone opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” We can open the door to our church or anywhere we have spiritual authority. Conclusion: The formula for success in Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare is spelled out in the Word of God: 1. Sanctified hearts 2. United hearts in relationships 3. Fervent intercession. Ephesus was won to Christ and the entire province carved the furniture of the church. Walk through Ephesus before you engage in Ephesians 6.
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