Spiritual Warfare is Necessary to Subdue the Satanic Will and Bring in God’s Kingdom

We need to see that spiritual warfare is necessary in order to subdue the satanic will and bring in the kingdom of God.

The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God; because Satan’s will is set against God’s will, there’s a conflict, and we human beings can choose the divine will or the satanic will, so we as the church need to fight to subdue the satanic will and defeat God’s enemy so that we may bring in the kingdom of God! Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Spiritual Warfare to Bring in the Kingdom of God and Living in the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love.

When we speak of the kingdom of God and living in the reality of the kingdom of God, we need to realize that spiritual warfare is necessary.

On the negative side, we need to fight the spiritual warfare to bring in the kingdom of God; on the positive side, we need to live a daily life in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.

Spiritual warfare is necessary in order for the kingdom of God to come in.

The kingdom doesn’t just come in; God doesn’t just bring in His kingdom, without us doing anything but rather, we need to cooperate with God to bring in His kingdom by fighting the spiritual warfare.

How can we fight the spiritual warfare? Are we equipped to fight the spiritual warfare? Are we mature in life?

Are we in the fourth stage of the experience in life? Did we deal with the self, the flesh, and the natural man?

In the first stage of the experience of life we deal with sin, sins, and our conscience; we deal with all the things that the Lord shines on, and we want to remain in fellowship with the Lord.

In the second stage of the experience of life, we deal with many deeper things.

It begins with consecration and issues in maturity in life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

And in the third stage of the experience of life, we experience the cross being applied to us experientially.

The cross is applied to the flesh, the self, and the natural constitution.

This issues us into the fourth stage of the experience of life, where we are in the heavenlies seated with Christ in ascension in our experience, and we, having no trust in the self, the natural man, and the natural constitution, stand with the Lord, putting the whole armour of God, and we fight the spiritual warfare.

We have the realization that this is a Body matter; we don’t fight the battle on our own, for we’re not spiritual giants but rather, we’re members of the Body of Christ.

As we know the Body of Christ organically and intrinsically, we will not criticize others but we will have the discernment to know whether someone knows the Body or not.

The Lord is gaining this among us today, especially as we live in the vital groups, growing in life, and being built up together.

We all need to advance with the Lord in our experience of life so that the Lord may gain a mature corporate bride who is one with Him to fight the spiritual warfare in the Lord and for the Lord.

Spiritual Warfare is Necessary to Subdue the Satanic Will and Bring in God’s Kingdom

Some pacifists may say that, since God is almighty and powerful, and since He is a God of peace and not of war, if He wants to bring in His kingdom, why is there the need for war and spiritual warfare?

What’s the reason or purpose for spiritual warfare? Is spiritual warfare necessary? Can’t God just bring in His kingdom and we just assist or pray for it?

The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:10).

When the Lord taught us how to pray, He mentioned right away the spiritual warfare; our first concern in our prayer is not our food, our needs, or our problems, but God’s kingdom.

Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan’s will is set against God’s will. In this universe, there are three wills: the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will.

If we want to bring in the kingdom of God, we need to realize that Satan’s will is set against God’s will.

God’s will is self-existing, eternal, uncreated, and will forever last and be fulfilled.

Satan’s will, however, is a created will, the will of a created being.

One of the angels of God, an archangel that was in a high position and having great beauty, became proud because of his high position and beauty, and he rebelled against God (see Isa. 14).

This pride gave rise to an evil intention, the satanic will, which opposes God’s will and wants to delay and frustrate the fulfilment of God’s will.

Spiritual warfare is necessary because the satanic will is set against God’s will (Eph. 5:17).

In addition to God’s intention, His will, there’s a second intention, a second will; Satan’s will is set against God’s will.

For the time being, God still tolerates Satan and his will, but He is looking for man to choose God, set his will on God and align his will with God, so that man would deal with the enemy of God.

As seen in Rom. 12:1-2, our soul is being transformed and renewed so that our will may choose God and be subdued by Him to be one with His will in the spiritual warfare.

We need to remember that the purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God and defeat Satan.

Spiritual warfare has its source in the conflict between the divine will and the satanic will (Matt. 6:10; 7:21; Isa. 14:12-14).

This is the essence of the spiritual warfare going on in the heavenlies and on the earth right now.

Before the archangel of God rose up to contradict the divine will, there was no war in the universe; the rebellion of Lucifer was the beginning of all the fighting that is now taking place among nations, in society, in the family, and within individuals (see Rev. 12:3-11; Gal. 5:17).

All warfare has its source in this conflict of wills.

The controversy in the universe began with the rebellion of Satan.

At one point after the rebellion of Satan, God created man with a free will, and now man can choose either Satan and his will or God and His will.

Throughout human history we can see rebellion after rebellion, war after war, and conflict after conflict, for man rebels against God, chooses Satan’s will, and God has to deal with all the rebellion.

There are wars between nations, conflicts between groups of people in society, and frictions and problems even within families.

There is an inner warfare in each human being, for the lusts in us fight against the reason in our mind.

All the different kinds of warfare have their source in the controversy between God’s will and Satan’s will.

When we look at Gen. 2 we see a triangular situation: God was there with His will represented by the tree of life, Satan was there with his will represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and man with his free will was between the two.

We may think that God was not wise in creating man with a free will, for now man can be and is easily deceived by Satan to choose him, while God may not be that much prevailing on earth today.

But God is great; He gives man freedom of choice, and He respects man’s free will.

The controversy is between two parties: God and satan; the crucial issue is whether man chooses God’s will or the satanic will.

Today we are in the middle, between God and Satan, and there’s a spiritual warfare going on because Satan still rebels against God, doing his best to frustrate God from carrying out His purpose.

May we choose the Lord and may we stand on the Lord’s side in our daily life, allowing Him to spread in our being and saturate us.

May we say Amen to His dealings and the process of the subduing of our will so that we may choose His will.

As we realize that the purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God, we stand on the Lord’s side and choose His will.

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the conflict between the divine will and the satanic will. May we see that the purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God and subdue Satan and his will. We love You, Lord, and we open to You. We choose You. We stand on Your side. We pray that Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Oh Lord, amen, Your kingdom come! Amen, Lord, Your will be done on earth! Your will be done in our life. We give ourselves to You and we choose Your will in us. Work Yourself into us. Renew our mind. Subdue our will. Subdue any rebellion in us. Oh Lord, we fully open our being to You. May Your kingdom come in us. May Your will be done in us. We stand on Your side today. We stand in the Body and with the Body for Your will to be done on earth and for the enemy to be defeated. Amen, Lord, may Your kingdom come on earth today. Subdue Satan’s will in us and around us. Bring in Your kingdom in us and around us today!

The Church fights to Subdue the Satanic Will and Defeat God’s Enemy

Why doesn’t God deal with Satan directly? Why doesn’t He just obliterate Satan, since He Himself created Lucifer, and this one rebelled to become Satan?

Many wonder along these lines and many believers in Christ ask the Lord to do this for them, that is, to defeat Satan for them.

But God is great; He has an economy, an eternal purpose, and He wants to accomplish His purpose.

For His will, He created all things and all creatures, and we are here because of His will (Rev. 4:11).

In His economy, God intends to gain a group of people into whom He can enter to be their life and everything, so that He may fill them and live in them to be expressed through them.

Also, He wants His creature, man, to deal with His fallen creature, Satan (Gen. 1:26; Matt. 26:39; 12:30; 7:21).

God is too great for Him to deal with Satan Himself; He wants to gain a group of people who stand on His side and who defeat His enemy for Him.

God will not lower Himself to deal with a creature; He wants man to deal with Satan. For this, the human will must stand with the divine will.

As we go on with the Lord in our daily Christian life, we realize that there’s a spiritual warfare going on, for Satan’s will is set against God’s will, and even more, there’s something in our very being that is against God.

Satan has a few agents in us, including our natural man, our flesh, our self, and our entire fallen being, such as our unrenewed mind, our unsubdued will, and our unbalanced emotions.

By His mercy and grace, we believers in Christ have seen something of Christ and repented and believed into the Lord Jesus, and He is in our spirit.

But our soul is fallen and our body is corrupted; instead of the soul expressing God, it expresses itself and Satan is embodied in the self, and instead of the body magnifying God, the body is transmuted to be the flesh, full of sin, lusts, and death. Oh, Lord!

Here we are, as believers in Christ, having God in Christ as the Spirit in our spirit, and having Satan in our self and in the flesh.

We are in a triangular situation, and we need to choose God’s will. As we come to the Lord in His word, we love Him, we are infused with His heart’s desire and His element, and we join ourselves to Him through His word.

We have been not only created but also redeemed and regenerated, and now we live under the perfect will of God.

We want that our will is in harmony with the will of God, and we hate being lukewarm; we choose God and His will!

Because there’s a spiritual warfare going on, we as human beings and believers in Christ choose God and His will, and we stand with the divine will.

We have many transactions with the Lord, asking Him to flow in our inner being and opening to Him for Him to saturate our inner being.

And we just give Him the consent for Him to renew our mind, subdue our will, and spread in our emotions.

He gives us the experiences we need – though they may not be the experiences we want – for us to be more one with Him to bring in the kingdom of God.

As we look back on our Christian life with our experiences, we realize that, even though we went through things that were not that pleasant, God was behind all these things, and He took us on with Him, making us more one with Him for His kingdom to come.

As the church, our fighting is to subdue the satanic will and defeat God’s enemy.

As seen in Eph. 6:11-13, our fighting is not against blood and flesh, for we do not fight with people but with the spiritual forces in the heavenlies.

As the Body, we put on the whole armour of God so that we may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.

May we open to the Lord’s training and equipping us so that we may wrestle in the Body, having the armour of God on us, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.

Lord Jesus, thank You for all the experiences You give us in our Christian life. We open to You today. Gain in us what You are after. We choose You. Amen, Lord, our human will stands with Your divine will to defeat the satanic will and bring in the kingdom of God. Bring us to the point where we do not hold back but give You the full ground in our being to defeat the enemy and subdue him completely. Oh Lord, we stand one with You in the spiritual warfare against Satan and his evil forces. We put on the whole armour of God so that we may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil! Praise the Lord, our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, the authorities, the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies! Amen, Lord, as the church, we fight the spiritual warfare one with You to subdue the satanic will and defeat God’s enemy! Praise the Lord, we stand one with the Lord in the Body and we fight from victory to put the enemy to shame and bring in the kingdom of God on the earth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 33, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 7, Spiritual Warfare to Bring In the Kingdom of God and Living in the Kingdom of the Son of God’s Love.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Subduing the will, a portion from, Spiritual Man, The (3 volume set), Chapter 35, by Watchman Nee.
  – God’s Faithfulness and Our Perseverance in Prayer, via, Living to Him.
  – Warfare to deal with the spiritual enemy, a portion from, Life-Study of Ephesians, Chapter 63.
  – Prayer and God’s enemy, a portion from, Lessons on Prayer, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
  – New Jerusalem: Night Will Be No More! More via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Spiritual warfare, a portion from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 13: The Spiritual Man (2), Chapter 10, by Watchman Nee.
  – The spiritual warfare and protection of the Body of Christ as the whole armor of God, article by Ed Marks via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Ephesians (Program #58) – The Application by Prayer, via, Bible study radio.
  – 04 – Spiritual Warfare to Bring In the Kingdom of God and Living in the Kingdom of the Son of God‟s Love, a video sharing via, Heavenly Foods.
  – Why Read the Bible? To Slay God’s Adversary! More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Man’s Creator has a purpose / For our being here on earth. / In His image we’re created, / To express His rule on earth. / But man fell to Satan’s tempting; / Thus God’s goal was hid from view. / Still our God will have His kingdom, / For His Son will see it through. / Jesus Christ will get His kingdom / Notwithstanding Satan’s plans; / He’s obtaining something real by / Growing in the hearts of man. / Nothing like religion teaches: / “You must wait until you die”— / For the kingdom Christ is building, / Is on earth before our eyes. (Hymns #1299 stanzas 1-2)
  – Body, house, new man the Church is, / Bride, and temple, and yet more: / She’s the army too which fighteth / All God’s foe to triumph o’er. / She is clothed with all God’s armor, / In His mighty strength is strong, / Standing in the Lord, resisting, / With all prayers she fighteth on. (Hymns #823 stanza 9)
  – Fight the battle in the Body! / By the virtue of the Head; / Standing firmly with the Body, / Into vict’ry you’ll be led. / For the Body is God’s armor, / Not for anyone alone; / When you wrestle in the Body, / All its benefits you own. (Hymns #885 stanza 2 and chorus)