How We Wage Spiritual Warfare — Stephen Kaung

The Armor of God and the Reality of Spiritual Warfare

Will you please turn to Ephesians chapter 6. We begin with verse 10 through verse 13. For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength. Put on the panoply of God, that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of the darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies.

For this reason, take to you the panoply of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having accomplished all things, to stand. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3, 4 and 5. For walking in flesh, we do not walk according to flesh.

For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God, to the overthrow of strongholds, overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ.

And finally, the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 5, verse 13, 14 and 15. Joshua chapter 5, verse 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man before him, with his sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went to him, and said to him, Are thou for us, or for our enemies? And he said, No, for as captain of the army of Jehovah, am I, and I have come. Then Joshua fell upon his face to the earth, and worshipped, and said to him, What has my lord unto his servant?

And the captain of Jehovah's army said to Joshua, Lose thy sandals from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we want to thank thee first of all for allowing us to partake of thy table.

Lord, we consider it such a high privilege that thou should invite us to thy table. We thank thee for thy body broken for us. We thank thee for thy blood shed for us. We thank thee for the love that's behind it all.

Lord, our hearts do bow and worship. As we continue in thy presence, we really feel we are standing on holy ground. Lord, we want to bow down and say, Lord, what does thou want to say to us? Open our understanding that we may know thee in a way that we have never known before.

In knowing thee, Lord, that we may know thy victory. We commit this time into thy hands. Our confidence is in thee. We ask in thy precious name. Yesterday morning, we shared together on the nature of spiritual warfare.

Spiritual Warfare as a Corporate Battle

Now, since this is spiritual warfare, it must be spiritual. In other words, it is not a war against flesh and blood. It cannot be fought with arms of flesh. It is a spiritual warfare. It is to be fought in the heavenlies.

Even though we do find that the war seems to be on earth, and yet in reality, it has to be fought in the heavenlies. What you see on earth is just the appearance. The root of that war is in the heavenlies.

It is a war of the ages. I think there is no war on earth that can be compared with this war. It has been fought through the ages, and it is still going on. Also, you find that it is a war that cannot be fought individually.

It has to be fought cooperatively. You know, in Ephesians chapter 6, the warrior actually refers to the church. The church is the warrior in this spiritual warfare. Now, even though sometimes we do see individuals are involved, maybe we will find even the attack from the enemy comes upon individuals.

And yet, brothers and sisters, you find that this is always related to the body of Christ. It is not just directed upon one individual, or a few individuals. Even though the attack may be on one of you, and yet it is in relation with the body of Christ.

Now, as we look into church history, probably we will remember how the enemy appeared to Martin Luther, trying to accuse him. And we are told that the enemy came to Martin Luther, and in his hand was a scroll.

It was written both inside and outside. All these things, the shortcomings, the faults of Martin Luther, true and false. It was full. And we were told that the enemy said to Martin Luther, how dare you do the work of reformation?

Who are you? Such a great sinner. You are not qualified to do such a work. And yet, Martin Luther, he took up a pen. He wrote over that scroll, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sins.

And Satan disappeared. We are also told that one day Satan appeared to Martin Luther, and Martin Luther threw the ink stand to him, and the mark is still there on that wall. So you would think that it is an attack upon Martin Luther.

But no, brothers and sisters, it is in relation with reformation. And if you have ever read that book, The Spiritual Man, our dear brother Watchman, he wrote that book in his early days. He wasn't saved more than ten years, less than ten years at that time.

And yet, the Lord had taught him much. And at that time he was stricken with tuberculosis. He was dying. And because he thought he would die, so he felt the burden of writing that book for the church.

And sometimes when he wrote that book, he had to support himself with boards. He couldn't sit. And the enemy laughed at him, and said, look, who are you? Such a weak person. And our brother said he was literally living in the teeth of the enemy.

But thank God. This was not an attack upon an individual alone. He was attacked because of the church. That there will be something left to the church. So brothers and sisters, spiritual warfare is not an individual thing.

It is a corporate thing. And it must be fought corporately. If two of you agree on earth, touching any matter, it is plurality, not just one. So, we mentioned somewhat of the nature of spiritual warfare.

Salvation Brings Believers Into the Conflict

And this morning we would like to continue on with this matter of engagement in spiritual warfare. We have said again and again that the moment you are saved, you are in the war. Before you were saved, there was no spiritual warfare to talk about.

Because you belong to the enemy, to the kingdom of darkness. But thank God, our Lord Jesus, He redeemed us. He delivered us out of the power of darkness. And He translated us into the kingdom of the Son of God's love.

So the moment we are transported to the kingdom of the Son of God's love, immediately you find the warfare began. The enemy began to attack because we no longer belong to him. The enemy hated, he hated God's Son.

And he hated those who are in the Son of God. Now how are we going to be engaged in this spiritual warfare? I think probably the best way is try to illustrate it with history. You know that the book of Joshua is a book of warfare.

Spiritual principles you find in Ephesians are all demonstrated by the historical facts in the book of Joshua. So we would like to use the book of Joshua to illustrate how are we going to be engaged in this spiritual warfare.

Now in Joshua, it was a physical warfare. The children of Israel, they crossed the Jordan River. And after they crossed the Jordan River, they were in the promised land. The land that God has promised to give to them as their inheritance.

It was a good land. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But strangely, you find the land was occupied. It was occupied by the seven tribes of Canaan, most wicked. And in order to possess their possession, they had to destroy the enemy.

So immediately you find after they enter into Canaan, the warfare began. And that was the book of Joshua. So brothers and sisters, in a sense, after we know how to sit in Christ Jesus, and to walk according to the Spirit, then we enter into the reality of spiritual warfare.

Recognizing Christ as the Commander-in-Chief

Joshua, he was the commander-in-chief of the army of the children of Israel. So one day you find he went to survey Jericho. He was trying to find out some weak spots in that city. He was trying to plan his strategy as how to attack that city.

But while he was viewing that city, it was a walled city, and the doors were closed. He saw a man standing before him with his sword drawn and being a soldier himself. Joshua went to that man and challenged that man.

He said, are you for us or are you against us? You know in war there is no neutrality. You are either on this side or you are on that side. But to his surprise, that man said, I am neither for nor against, but I come to be the captain of the army of the hosts of the Lord.

And immediately Joshua fell upon his face and worshipped. He realized that he was not the commander-in-chief. There is a greater one and that is the Son of God. So brothers and sisters, in spiritual warfare, the first thing is to recognize your commander-in-chief.

Now yesterday our brother encouraged us to read that book by T. Austin Spock, Our Warfare. Now our brother, he used the experience of a marshal during the Second World War in Southeastern Asia theater, and he used the experience of that marshal and tried to apply it spiritually.

And in that book you'll find the first thing in spiritual warfare is to have a high command. He said the reason why in the beginning of the Southeastern Asia war, there were defeats after defeats. Why?

Because there was no high command. No one in charge over everything. And you cannot just fight each on its own. But he said after the allies had a high command, then the whole situation began to turn from defeat to victory.

Spiritual warfare, brothers and sisters, is important to realize that no one is able to fight this battle because our enemy is so much more intelligent than we are. You know we are made a little inferior than the angels.

Even in creation, God created the angels as a superior order. They are given more intelligence, more power. Now we think we human beings, we are at the head of creation. Yes, in the present creation we are the masterpiece of God.

And yet so far as the whole creation is concerned, the angels are of a higher order. And especially when you think you're fighting against principalities, authorities, universal lords of darkness, spiritual, our witness in the air.

Brothers and sisters, no human being, no matter how capable you are, how strong you are, how clever you are, you are no match. Even Joshua, he thought being the commander in chief, he had to figure out how to overthrow that high wall of Jericho.

He couldn't do it. God knew he couldn't do it. He had to recognize God as his commander in chief. You know this is a problem with the children of Israel. When they arrive at the southern border of Canaan, a Cataspernia, Moses sent spies to spy out the land.

And they came back. And they said the land was very, very good. The land was just as God had told them. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But we see walled cities. The cities had walls. And they are so high, reaching to heaven.

They were inhabited by people much stronger than we are. There we have seen the sons of Anak, those giants. And they look upon us as grasshopper. And we feel ourselves as grasshopper. This is a land that devours people, eager people.

We cannot go in. And among the twelve spies, only two, Caleb and Joshua, say no. The land is good. Very, very good. If God is with us, if he pleases God, we are well able to take the land. And these giants shall be our food.

Brothers and sisters, the secret of spiritual warfare is to see the Lord. We dare to do it on our own. Before we fight, we are defeated. But if we recognize our Commander-in-Chief, that makes all the difference.

Now who is this, our High Commander? Our Commander-in-Chief. Who is he? Who has already won the victory. While he was on earth, while he was tempted by the enemy. The enemy used all kinds of temptations upon our Lord Jesus.

But he could not tempt him. He overcame. He was tempted in all things without sin. On Calvary's cross, as our brother already said, finished. Not only the work of redemption is finished, but his enemy is finished.

He cast out the prince of this world. There he crushed the serpent's head. There he claimed the victory over sin, over death, over the world and over Satan. He is all victorious and this one is our Commander-in-Chief.

Surrender, Worship, and Holiness in Spiritual Warfare

Now what do you mean by recognizing him as your Commander-in-Chief? Look at Joshua. That's what you should do. Immediately Joshua fell upon his face and worshiped. What do you have to say to me? Immediately you'll find he prostrated before the Lord.

He gave his command to the Lord. Brothers and sisters, is that what we have done? Before we enter into the spiritual warfare, we need to have a vision of our Lord Jesus. A vision of our Lord as the victor, as the conqueror.

If we have that vision, what will be our attitude? We will surrender our command, a full surrender, prostrate on the ground and worship. Worship is giving God his rightful place. Worship is placing ourselves in our, that's worship, putting God where God is and putting ourselves where we should be.

Now that's worship. And the captain of the army of God said, Joshua, you are standing on holy ground. Remove your shoes. You know, in the early days, old days, the slaves did not wear shoes. They were bare feet.

So here what it meant is, you are standing on holy ground. Take off your shoes. You are in a position of a born slave. You have given up your right You have no right of your own. You are standing on holy ground.

Holy unto the Lord. Means separated, devoted to the Lord. So brothers and sisters, before we can fight in this spiritual warfare, we need to know the Lord. Not just knowing in a mental way, but knowing in an experiential way.

You know there is a book, it is a Chinese book, but it has been used even in the military school in the western world. It is a book of strategy, written by a person called Sun Wu Bing Fa. And in that book of strategy, he is a strategist.

And there is one saying, know yourself and know your enemy, hundred battles, hundred won. You need to know yourselves. Now if you don't know yourselves, you know how much strength you are, you have. How much power you have.

How can you go into a battle? You need to know your resources and you need to know your enemy. How strong is your enemy? Then, in every battle, you will win. I would like to change it, because this is spiritual warfare.

Know yourself is not enough. Now we need to know ourselves truly, but that is only the negative side. Now if you know yourself, well you surrender. There is no meaning to war. Right? So that is not enough.

Now in spiritual warfare, know the Lord. Because you know yourselves, leads you to the knowledge of your Lord. Often times you will find because we do not know ourselves, so we despise, we neglect Him.

We think that we can do it ourselves, but not until we realize that we are not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting against principalities of authorities. The prince of Persia, the prince of Greece, the prince of China, the prince of America.

You know the enemy has his principalities, authorities all over this world. He is a universal Lord. He put a darkness over the whole world and it is a spiritual of wickedness in the air. You know in recent days, I think it will help us to understand this.

Often times you find it is mentioned, now this is a different war. If it is war say against certain country, you know how, where your enemy is and you know how to go into battle. But now you know your enemy, but where he is, it is a different battle.

And I think it is a very good example. Now brothers and sisters, spiritual warfare is a very different battle. You know you cannot fight in the ordinary way. You cannot do that, because it is in the unseen world.

So first of all we need to know our commander in chief. We need to know. And of course in knowing our Lord, He gave us the intelligence to know our enemy. And that is a prerequisite for the spiritual warfare.

And that is the reason why you find in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. We need to be strong in the Lord. Because if you are not strong in the Lord, you cannot fight.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Strong in the Lord. Put on the complete armour of God upon you. Now what is that complete armour of God, that we are to put on ourselves. Now our dear brother will speak in details to us, concerning that full armour of God.

So I will not do that. And I cannot do that, because my brother will do it much much better. But I would like to use this to illustrate one point. You know when a soldier in the old days is going to the battlefield, he has to be armed, put on the armour to protect him.

As we go into the spiritual warfare, we cannot just go in without being protected, being covered. What is our covering? What protects us from the enemy? To me I feel, this complete armour of God, we are to put on.

Christ is, I think the whole picture to me is, abide in Christ. If you abide in Christ, if you are close with him, then you will be able to stand, to withstand and to stand. We need to know our Lord the truth.

Truth, Righteousness, and the Believer's Protection

Why? Because our enemy is a liar. In John chapter 8 verse 44, our Lord Jesus said, your father, that is Satan, is a murderer. He does not stand in the truth, for the truth is not in him. And when he speaks falsehood, he speaks out of himself.

Brothers and sisters, our enemy is a liar. He is such a liar. Even in the Garden of Eden, he told a lie. And that lie seemed to be so attractive, appealing, counterfeit. That is what our enemy is. He is such a tricky person.

He may make a liar. Lie seems to be so, so true. How we will be deceived by our enemy? Only our Lord, as the truth, can disclose what a lie is. So brothers and sisters, we need to be girded up with truth, with our Lord Jesus as the truth.

It is not only something that is, but that truth, that person, burns him. You know, you may know a so-called truth, but it can be just mental. It can be dead. And as a matter of fact, you find people say, now truth divides.

Love unites, but truth divides. But if it is really true, as the person of our Lord Jesus, it unites. It does not divide. So people, you find, I am standing for the truth. Therefore, I have to fight against my brother and sister.

Now, what truth is that? It is not true. It may sound true, but it is not true, because it is not Christ himself. If you really know the truth as Christ, it girds up. It binds us together, instead of dividing us.

And it is the truth that sets us free. When the Son of God sets you free, then you are free indeed. So brothers and sisters, we need to know the Lord as the truth. He is yea and amen. All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.

And how much we need to know him as the truth. And if we know him as the truth, you'll find Satan's lies cannot unloose us, unsettle us. This breastplate of righteousness. Our enemy is the accuser. We need to know our enemy.

He is an accuser. He always accuses. Whether it is true, there is some truth in it, or it is false. He will do it, as if it is true. And you brothers and sisters, how often our conscience are so bothered.

We always have a guilty conscience within us. He is accusing us of things that may be true that we have done, and add to it many things that are imaginary. And yet we think they are true. He is our accuser.

In Zechariah chapter 3, you'll find Joshua the high priest, he was standing before the angel of the Lord, and the adversary was standing by his right side to resist him. The high priest was supposed to serve God, and yet the enemy was standing and said, how dare you to serve.

Look, you are all dressed with filthy garments, how can you serve? You are not qualified. The enemy is an accuser. But they, the brethren, overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and the love of their lives, even unto death.

Revelation chapter 12. How do we overcome the enemy? Christ. We know Him as our right. We are closed with Christ Jesus. He has forgiven all our sins. His blood has washed all our sins away. Our conscience is purified from an evil, more than that.

In 1 John chapter 2 said, if we sin, we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus. He not only forgives our sins, but also the sins of the world. So dear brothers and sisters, because our enemy is an accuser, when you are engaged in spiritual warfare, you will find the enemy will be standing there accusing you all the time.

And if you listen to him, you are finished. But thank God, if you know the Lord, you know our Lord is the righteous. He is our righteousness. You are closed. Know the Lord. Know your enemy. And then to be shorn with the sandals of the preparation of the gospel of peace.

You know who your enemy is? Our enemy is the master of spreading discord. He is away from this world. He is like a beast to devour. But brothers and sisters, if you have read Pilgrim's Progress, you will find that Pilgrim one day, when he comes to a place, and he saw the lion there, and he dare not approach.

But then he noticed this lion all in chain. So brothers and sisters, you find the enemy is trying to spread discord, dissensions, divisions, and in divide he rules. And how successful he has been. But if we know our Lord, God is the God of peace, grace and peace be unto you.

After our Lord was resurrected from the dead, he appeared to his peace be unto you. My peace I give to you. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is our peace. He make peace that we may be at peace with God.

At peace with ourselves. At peace with our brothers and sisters. You know if he can disturb your peace, you are finished. How can you fight if there is no peace in you? But our Lord Jesus is our peace.

So you need to know the Lord. And you need to know your enemy. And then of course, you need a shield of faith against all the fiery darts of the enemy. You know the enemy is a doubter. He doubts and doubts and doubts.

And we need to resist him with a shield of faith. Look up unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You know the enemy is a rebel. He rebelled against God from the very beginning. And in his heart there is a rebellious spirit there.

And he is trying to throw all kinds of imaginations, high thoughts in our mind and make us doubt. And we need a shield against ourselves. And so on and so forth. So brothers and sisters, what I like to illustrate is simply this.

We need to know the Lord in his various characteristics. And also we need to know the enemy, what kind of enemy he is. So we will not be deceived by him. We know the vows of the enemy, the artifices of the enemy.

And only by doing that we are able to overcome. So first of all, we need to know our commanding in chief. Now secondly, you find the first battle in Canaan is the battle over Jericho. Because Jericho represents all the other walled cities in Canaan.

Overcoming Strongholds Through Prayer and Faith

It was a walled city, strong, impenetrable, fully guarded. Now how are you going to overthrow the strongholds? And you find in the book of Joshua, our commanding in chief strategy is, this is to be overcome by the ark.

The ark of the Lord is to surround that city. The priests are to blow the blessed trumpets. They were marched around it once a day, in silence. Now what kind of war is that? I think the people of Jericho, at first they were trembling.

And when they look at these people, marching around in silence, with the trumpet blowing, they say, what is it? Whom do you think they treat us? How can they fight in this way? And gradually I think their courage began to rise up, strange.

And on the seventh day, seven times, in silence. And then suddenly, the blast of the trumpet, and the shout of the people, and the war. Brothers and sisters, that's 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, verses 3 to 5.

You know the strongholds of the enemy is our mind. In the Garden of Eden you find the enemy just inject a question. And then that question is lodged in the mind of Eve. She thinks, she has thought about it.

It sounds right, it sounds wonderful, and a stronghold. A reasoning, an imagination, a high thought against the knowledge of God. And brothers and sisters, through the years, the enemy has built strongholds and strongholds in our minds.

The reason why you find the radiancy of the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot penetrate into it, because it is all so dark, so warring. The God of this world has blinded the eyes of the people. When you are witnessing, when you are preaching the gospel, you face these strongholds.

Even after we are saved, brothers and sisters, we may have a new life, but we may still carry an old mind. Our mind needs to be renewed. And by renewing, in one sense it means all the strongholds of the enemy, that he has built up through the years in our mind, must be overturned.

You know how we as God's people are so obsessed, so deceived, are so occupied with old thoughts, old thinking, old traditions. The traditions of the Father are so strong, we think that we are serving God.

All these strongholds have to be overthrown, and bring every thought into the obedience of God. How do you do it? Of our war, or not fleshly. Sometimes you try to reason, even reason with a believer, you hit the wall.

How are you going to overthrow these walls? But we are powerful before God. To the overthrowing, throwing of all the imaginations and high thoughts that stand against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into the obedience of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, what is that power? It is the power of prayer. You know when you are faced with these strongholds in the mind, you can do nothing. The only thing is to pray. The Lord has to lead the fight.

We have to declare the name of the Lord. We have to shout the shout of faith. And it is only in this manner, you will find the strongholds will be overthrown. We need a renewed mind. Renewed day by day.

Oh brothers and sisters, the mind is the battlefield in spiritual warfare. It is through the mind that you get to the will. The will is the citadel. This is spiritual warfare. And then of course, in spiritual warfare, you should never be proud to the enemy.

Avoiding Sin, Presumption, and Spiritual Deception

I think this is a very important principle in spiritual warfare. You know, when the children of Israel overcame Jericho, God commanded that all the accursed things should be destroyed. And the gold and silver and brass and iron, they should be devoted to God.

In other words, the children of Israel would destroy everything that needs to be destroyed. And separate it that needs to be consecrated to God. But unfortunately, one man, of the whole army, one man, Achan, he saw a beautiful mantle of Sinai, a Babylonish, beautiful, and he coveted it.

He saw 200 shackles of silver and a gold bar of 50 shackles. So he buried them, hid them in his tent. That which is devoted to destruction, he did not destroy. That which is devoted to God, he did not give to God.

He took all to himself. Nobody knows. He knows. God knows. The enemy knows. Because of this, the children of Israel were defeated when they tried to attack Ai, a smaller city. Why? Because ground had been given to the enemy.

Brothers and sisters, in spiritual warfare, this is very, very important. You know, the enemy is trying to find some ground that gave him the right, and God being righteous, he had to allow the enemy to do it.

That garment, mantle of Sinai, represents the world. If we sin, if we love the world, if we do not give God the glory that is rightfully his, you know what will happen. You may overcome Jericho, but you will be overcome by Ai.

And one man will affect the whole army. Why? Because it is a corporate warfare. So brothers and sisters, in this spiritual warfare, this is another principle we need to watch. And then of course, there is another thing we need to be careful.

Never despise your enemy. He spied out Ai, and came back and said, it is a small city. Oh, don't bother the whole army. Send three thousand men, and finish them. They got so proud of their victory over Jericho.

They forgot that it was the Lord who fought for them. Not themselves. But they thought that they fought the battle. They won it. So, this little city, send three thousand men, finish it. They despised the enemy, and they were defeated.

Brothers and sisters, always remember, in spiritual warfare, every battle you win is not because of you. Not because of your piety, your godliness. Not because of your spiritual strength. You have not.

It is because of the Lord. The battle is the Lord's. He fought it. He won it. All glory be to Him. You are nothing. If you think you become something, you are finished. And never despise the enemy. And then, of course, when you go on, you will find, be always watchful, lest you be deceived.

The Gibeonites, how they deceived Joshua, the elders, and the children of Israel. The enemy is a master of deceit. They did not inquire before the Lord. They took the case in their own hands, and they were defeated.

So, brothers and sisters, remember how enemy is a deceiver. Never trust him. Bring everything to the Lord, and inquire of the Lord, and you will be protected. And then, finally, you will find, this is a war that is fighting to the very last.

No enemy will ask for truth. If you read the book of Joshua, you will find, except the Gibeons, all the other kings and the kingdoms, they fought against the children of Israel until the very last. It is a battle to the end.

And therefore, the enemy tries to wear us out. Now, our brother Dana promised us, he will show us what does that mean. So, I am not going to talk about it. The enemy tries to wear us out, because it is a prolonged, continuous, unceasing, no rest, no breathing time.

You have to fight to the very end. The one who leads us has already won. We are in the train of his triumph. So, be courageous in the Lord. He has. Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee, because Thou art the victor.

We are just following Thee, Lord, and the victory is assured. You who are in us is greater than he that is in the world. We need not fear, but be strong and courageous in the Lord. Help us, Lord.