In the spiritual reality behind the scenes of the human world and things there’s a spiritual warfare raging: Satan fights with all he has against God and His people.
The fact is, however, that Satan has already been defeated by Christ on the cross, so now he fights to delay the fulfillment of God’s plan; at best he can delay it a little, but when the Lord gains a group of believers who stand on earth for Him and align their will with His in prayer, Satan will be defeated and put to shame.
Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan’s will is set against God’s will, and our fighting as the church is to subdue the satanic will and defeat God’s enemy. In the spiritual warfare the most important thing is being in the right position: we fight not from the earth but from the position of ascension, in the heavenlies, one with Christ.
If we lose the ground of ascension, we are on earth, under Satan, and we’re defeated; but if we remain in the heavenlies in ascension with Christ, Satan is under our feet, we see his plans, and we pray in oneness with the Lord for the enemy to be defeated and God’s economy to be fulfilled.
In our pursuit of Christ as His loving seekers, He calls us to live with Him in His ascension, and from here we can look down to the lions’ dens and the leopards’ mountains (signifying the place where Satan and his subordinates are). By remaining in the position of ascension we are victorious over the enemy: he is under us, and we have the heavenly authority and pray with authority to deal with God’s enemy.
Many Christians emphasize “spiritual power”, but what God gives the church in ascension is authority over all things, and the church can deal with the enemy by exercising God’s authority.
We need to realize that the spiritual warfare is NOT “to gain the victory” but “from victory”; Christ has already won the victory by destroying the devil on the cross, and all we have to do is proclaim His victory and apply His victory over Satan and his evil powers! Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ is Victor – He has won the victory!
Maintaining the Position of Ascension in order to Engage in Spiritual Warfare
In battle the position of the army is very important; if one party has the higher ground, they have a large advantage over their opponent. In order to engage in spiritual warfare, we must maintain the position of ascension (Song of Songs 4:8).
The spiritual warfare mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-12 is based upon the position of ascension mentioned in Eph. 2:6; in order for us to engage in spiritual warfare we need to be in the position of ascension. To win the battle, we need to know, be in, and keep the position of ascension.
When we are in ascension, we can both see the enemy and his plans, and we can attack him from above; if we are on earth, we fall into the hands of the enemy and cannot fight against him.
If we constantly have fellowship with the Lord, walk in spirit, and live in the heavenly life, we are heavenly and abide in the position of ascension. Then we can stay on higher ground over against lower ground and deal with Satan. At this time, should the church encounter difficulties, we can engage in prevailing prayer before God, demanding God to come forth to judge His enemy. We can rise to express our attitude to God, saying, “We will not allow these things to happen in the church.” We can also say seriously to Satan, “We are disgusted with this. We are against this.” When we make such a severe declaration and strong expression, the entire host of Satan will retreat. His work will also be completely destroyed. (Witness Lee, The Experience of Life, p. 339)
We all are learning to be in ascension and keep the position of ascension, realizing that the enemy wants to take us down from the heavenlies so that he may defeat us. When we are in ascension we not only see what the enemy is doing but also his intention, his deception, and his plans, and we see what’s really happening behind the scenes.
When we are in ascension we can discern between what God is allowing to happen and what is an attack from the enemy, who should be defeated. But if we’re on the earth, we are clueless and we cannot break through. We need to have the position and view of ascension; the Lord needs us to be in the position of ascension so that He may have a way to defeat His enemy through our cooperation with Him.
The position of ascension causes us to be victorious in battle because only in the position of ascension can we have heavenly authority and pray with authority to deal with God’s enemy. When we are in ascension we share the authority of Christ, our ascended Head, and we exercise to pray with authority for the enemy to be defeated and for God’s economy to be fulfilled.
We need to pass through death and resurrection and enter into ascension, the heavenly realm, and here we are one with Christ, our ascended Head, and as His Body we can exercise His authority to defeat His enemy. What causes us to have the victory is maintaining our position of ascension, one with Christ as our ascended Head.
Lord Jesus, we want to have a constant fellowship with You, walk in spirit, and live in the heavenly life so that we may abide in the position of ascension. Lord, may we realize how important it is to You and to us for us to be in ascension and maintain the position of ascension. We want to remain in ascension and be one with You to exercise Your authority to defeat the enemy and release Your economy. Lord Jesus, we want to learn to cooperate with You in Your heavenly ministry by being in ascension and exercising Your authority as Your Body on the earth, one with You!
Spiritual Warfare is based on the Victory of Christ: Satan has been Defeated and Christ is Victor!
Regarding the spiritual warfare we need to realize that we don’t fight to gain the victory – we fight from victory! Spiritual warfare is based on the victory of Christ: through His death, the Lord Jesus destroyed the devil, bringing him to nothing (Matt. 27:51-54; Heb. 2:14), and we are here to stand in His victory and proclaim His victory.
Spiritual warfare is not “slashing the enemy” and “smashing the devil” or anything like that – these are fleshly and natural thoughts; spiritual warfare is standing in ascension with Christ and proclaiming His victory over Satan!
When the Lord Jesus died, the earth shook (the base of Satan’s rebellion was shaken), the rocks split (Satan’s strongholds on earth were broken), and the tombs were open (the power of death was defeated)! Hallelujah! Christ destroyed the devil on the cross, and He put him to open shame!
Now we know this fact and proclaim it to the whole inhabited earth! Satan has been defeated by Christ on the cross, and his destiny is the lake of fire for eternity. Our destiny is to reign in life with Christ for eternity! Jesus the Nazarene defeated Satan on the cross; the evil spirits and authorities were swarming around Him, trying to hold Him down, but He stripped them off and put them to open shame!
Then Christ ascended to the abyss and proclaimed His victory to the spirits bound there, and He walked out of death with the keys of death and Hades! Now all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, and He is the Head of the Body, and we are the Body of Christ, standing in His victory!
The Lord has won the battle, and the church is here to maintain His victory. Our work is not to bind the strong man – the strong man has already been bound and defeated; our work is to not let the strong man be loosed.
Our fighting is not offensive but defensive – we stand upon the victory of Christ, seeing that Christ has already overcome, and deal with Satan by trusting in the Lord.
Hallelujah, Satan has been defeated by Christ on the cross, and Jesus Christ is victor! Lord, we proclaim Your victory over the enemy and we stand in Your victory! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ has overcome Satan and his evil authorities, and He put them to shame openly on the cross. Lord, we stand in Your victory, one with You as the Body of our victorious ascended Head, and we maintain Your victory over Satan! Praise the Lord Jesus, the One who has overcome the enemy, conquered death and Hades, and destroyed the devil!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Experience of Life, ch. 16 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 6 / msg 6, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Ascension (3) Living with Christ in His Ascension as a New Creation in Resurrection to Engage in Spiritual Warfare for the Kingdom of God (you can buy this morning revival book here via LSM and here via Amazon).
- All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible. Further reading on this matter: see ch. 3 in, The Glorious Church, by Watchman Nee (vol. 34, Collected Works of Watchman Nee).
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Hallelujah! Christ is Victor, / Tell with every breath, / That the Savior still is conqu’ror / Over sin and death. (Hymns #890)
# Fight, saints, for Jesus our Lord! / Take in His life, stand in one accord! / Never fear God’s enemy; / Tread on his head triumphantly! / Pray that the daily church life be strong, / That all the saints in spirit press on, / Fighting as the one new man, / Fulfilling our Lord’s great plan! (Hymns #1283)
# In the Overcomer’s Name / Be an overcomer too! / Stand and put the foe to shame / All the livelong battle through! / Jesus is the Name to sound, / Name to rally fainting hearts! / To recapture “forfeit” ground, / Lost awhile through Satan’s arts. (Hymns #883)
# In the heav’nlies more than conqu’ror, / In the power of His might, / As a soldier in the army, / In the Lord the battle fight. (Hymns #885)
The spiritual warfare is defensive, not offensive, because the Lord Jesus has already fought the battle and won the victory. The work of the church on the earth is simply to maintain the Lord’s victory. The Lord has already won the battle, and the church is here to maintain His victory. The church’s work is not to overcome the devil but to resist him who has already been overcome by the Lord. Her work is not to bind the strong man—the strong man has already been bound. Her work is not to let him be loosed. There is no need to attack; simply guarding is sufficient. The starting point of spiritual warfare is standing upon the victory of Christ; it is seeing that Christ has already overcome. It is not dealing with Satan but trusting in the Lord. It is not hoping that we will win the victory, because the victory has already been won. The devil can do nothing. The church’s work and responsibility is spiritual warfare. (Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 34, p. 61)