Because Satan and his kingdom is against God and His purpose, there is a need for spiritual warfare in this universe; the purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God.
Throughout the ages since the creation of Adam there has been a spiritual struggle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan’s will is set against God’s will.
Even in the church and in God’s work, there is a chance that what we do for God would be in His name, accompanied by great works of power, and yet not be recognised by the Lord.
In Matt. 7:21-22 the Lord said that in that day many will say, Lord, Lord, have we not done works of power, prophesied, cast out demons, and did many great things in Your name? But the Lord will tell them, Depart from me, I never knew you.
The Lord may look at much of the Christian work done today and consider it works of lawlessness. All over the earth in this great realm of Christianity as a religion there are many lawless people doing lawless works.
All this has its source in Satan’s will being against God’s will, and Satan’s kingdom fighting against God’s kingdom. If we want to know how the church as the new man can be God’s warrior to engage in spiritual warfare we need to realise that in the universe there are three wills – the divine will, the satanic will and the human will. God’s will is the uncreated divine will, and Satan’s will is always against God’s will.
We as human beings have a free will, and we can choose either God’s will or Satan’s will. However, if we are passive, by default we choose Satan’s will and are part of his scheme.
What God wants is not that we exercise the power of our will but that we simply choose Him and His purpose, as He draws us to Himself and constrains us with His love. God created us for the purpose of dealing with Satan, recovering the earth back to God, and expressing God with His image.
Our great God wants that His creature man would deal with His creature Satan by man willingly choosing God and being on God’s side.
As we spend time with the Lord in His word and meet with the saints in the church life, we are infused with the Lord, He grows in us, we are being transformed, and something in us rises up to cause us to participate in the spiritual warfare of the church.
As we grow in life and are built up as the church, as we see God’s eternal purpose in creating man and are joined to Him in His desire, we will stand with God’s will and against Satan’s will, and we as the church will fight the prayers of spiritual warfare to cast Satan away from situations and places, so that the kingdom of God would come in. Oh Lord Jesus!
Unless we as the church participate in oneness with Christ in causing Satan to lose ground on earth and bringing in the kingdom of God, we do not fully fulfill God’s eternal purpose in creating man. May we realise that the purpose of spiritual warfare is that the enemy would be defeated and the kingdom of God would be brought in.
The Purpose of Spiritual Warfare is to Bring in the Kingdom of God on the Earth
As believers in Christ, we are the church as the one new man; our walk should be according to truth and by grace, and by love and light.
Our walk as the one new man should be according to truth and by grace, and as the bride the church should live in love and light. At the same time, however, we need to realize that the church is a corporate warrior, for God has an enemy which still causes Him trouble, so we need to cooperate with the Lord to defeat the enemy.
Even in the divine romance seen in Song of Songs we see the spiritual warfare, which goes on as the seeking one enjoys the Lord’s presence. Our walk should be according to truth and by grace, our living should be in love and light, and our work and fight is to subdue the satanic will.
As the church, we need to have a walk that fulfills God’s purpose, a living that satisfies Christ and matches His living, and a fighting that defeats God’s enemy.
Our fighting is not against flesh and blood; it may seem that it is people who cause troubles in the church or that stopped meeting, but it is actually the spiritual forces of darkness that cause these things.
For us to deal with God’s enemy in the spiritual warfare, we need to know the Body, be in the Body, be related to the Body, and know ascension.
The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God.
What God desires is to bring in His kingdom on earth and manifest His glory on earth even as in heaven. He wants to gain a beachhead for His kingdom in the church so that He may establish a model of God’s reign, and then expand His reigning sphere according to this model and through this model.
Therefore, we as the church need to let Christ rule and reign in us and among us, and we need to cooperate with Him to expand His kingdom. it is through the church that God will bind Satan and destroy his power.
Spiritual warfare is the warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan (Matt. 12:26, 28). As we fight in spiritual warfare, we rest in the Lord, we abide in Him, we enjoy and proclaim His victory, and we realize that the purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God doesn’t come in automatically; for the kingdom of God to come in on earth, there’s the need of spiritual fighting (Matt. 12:22-29).
If there’s passivity all over the earth, if no one prays the prayers of authority and spiritual warfare, if no one prays in a transcending way, if no one is fighting on God’s side, then the kingdom of God will not come on earth.
We need to do the work of God to cause the enemy to lose ground on earth; this will fully happen when the Lord returns, but there must be a substantial gain for the new man and a substantial loss for the enemy in this age.
The Lord wants to gain a beachhead, a landing point for His return, in the church that is the new man, the corporate warrior fighting to defeat God’s enemy.
Lord Jesus, save us from being passive in what regards spiritual warfare. May we rest in You, go in Your name, take You as our shield and defender, and fight the spiritual warfare in the Body. Lord, Thine is the battle and Thine is the praise! We stand in Your victory, Lord, and we proclaim Your victory over the enemy! Make us those who pray the prayers of authority, praying in a transcending way, to fight the battle and bring in the kingdom of God on earth. Amen, Lord, may Your kingdom come and may Your will be done on earth as in the heavens!
The Church must Continue the Victorious Work that Christ has Carried out against Satan
Christ came as the embodiment of God, and He did the work of God, spoke the word of God, sought the glory of God, and fought the battle for God. Christ defeated Satan in all the aspects of His living, and through His death He destroyed the devil on the cross.
Now He is in resurrection and in ascension – He is our ascended Head, standing in victory and leading us in victory.
The church occupies a very important place in God’s eyes, because the church is joined to Christ, and the responsibility of the church is to continue the warfare that Christ fought on earth.
The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God, and as Christ defeated Satan, He also brought in God’s kingdom on earth. Now we as the church, the Body of Christ, are His propagation, and we continue His stand and work to fight against God’s enemy and bring in the kingdom of God.
The power that operated in Christ in raising Him from the dead, seating Him at the right hand of God in the heavenlies, giving Him to be Head over all things, and subjecting all things under His feet – this fourfold power now operates in us to fully enable us and qualify us to deal with God’s enemy.
We as believers in Christ have received God’s life through Christ’s resurrection with its power, and now in ascension the church assumes the position of authority and inherits the kingdom.
Our ascended Head, Christ, has received all authority in heaven and on earth, and we as His Body are joined to Him and we exercise this authority to deal with God’s enemy. When we stand in the heavenly position, we transcend all things, and all things are under our feet.
This age – this present age – is the time for the church to practically realize and participate in the victory of Christ. Christ as the Head has already overcome, and now it is our turn: we as the Body of Christ also need to overcome.
Christ has already destroyed the devil on the cross, and He has produced us as the church with His resurrection life; now we as the church are responsible to fight one with the Lord in His victory to bring the kingdom of God on earth.
We as the church are the means and instrument through which God is establishing His kingdom, and for this we must continue the victorious work that Christ has carried out against Satan.
We as the church are responsible for bringing heaven’s will down to earth and for carrying it out. We do not fight for victory: we fight from victory, in Christ’s victory, and we carry out His victory and apply it in particular situations.
The Lord needs the church on earth to cooperate with the ascended Christ to proclaim and apply this victory to the evil one in this country and over so many other countries, to open the way for the gospel and the building up of the church.
As the church prays and fights, God opens countries like North Korea and Iran for the gospel of the kingdom, so that millions of young seekers would get an opportunity to hear the gospel!
As we pray one with the Lord prayers that shake the heavens and the earth, the way is open for the white horse of the gospel to gallop all over the earth.
Lord Jesus, may we realise that the responsibility of the church is to continue the warfare that Christ has fought on the earth. Hallelujah, Christ has won the victory, He is now enthroned in heaven, and we are one with Him in His victory to fight against the enemy! We as the church today continue the victorious work that Christ has carried out against Satan to bring in the kingdom of God. Amen, Lord, release the fighting prayers, the prayers that shake the heaven and the earth, the prayers that open the way for the gospel to be preached, the saints to grow in life, and the church to be built up so that the Lord may return and bring in His kingdom on earth!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Experience of Life, ch. 18 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 1, The Church as the New Man Engaging in Spiritual Warfare to Defeat God’s Enemy and to Bring In the Kingdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
# We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling, / And needing more each day Thy grace to know: / Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing; / We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go. / We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender: / Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise / When reigning in the Kingdom of Thy splendor; / Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days. (Hymns #881)
# For Christ the Lord we then would stand, / He is the Conqueror! / For Him we would endure the pain / Until the fight is o’er. / The hour of triumph soon we’ll see- / The Lord will come again; / If now we suffer for His sake, / Then we with Him shall reign. (Hymns #887)
# 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. / Keep on wrestling in the Body, / Mighty vict’ry you will see, / Bind and loose, God’s will fulfilling, / And the foes your food will be. (Hymns #885)
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