What You Need To Know In 2013 - War In The Heavenlies

War in the heavenlies

In the previous two audios we discussed the hierarchy of the  rank and file of Satan’s kingdom. We looked at a number of points including the fact that major events are taking place worldwide in the nations. We looked also at the source of this, that Satan has a plan that is being initiated across the Earth.

We have looked at the fact, that as the church,
we need to know and operate in the realm of the spirit.

We’ve seen from Scripture that God is calling the church to be watchman.

There is something we can and should be doing. We should be engaging the enemy and interrupting his plans.

Ephesians 6:10-18

“Finally, be strong and the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able, to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand, stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, but the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, In addition to all of this, take the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, …”

We can see in this passage, again, there is a struggle, there is a war. But it is not against flesh and blood, but against the hosts Satan’s kingdom: Rulers over continents; authorities over nations; principalities of regions; and spiritual forces of evil influencing the natural realm from the spiritual realm, these are the enemies we encounter in our journey as Christians in the nations.

Whether we like it or not, we are engaged in a battle, we are engaged in a war, a spiritual war. The spirit realm does influence the natural realm and we have to take our place as the body of Christ in the nations, to make a stand, to stop the plans, and to bring Christ’s kingdom to the Earth.

There are definitely huge consequences and results due to the clashes that take place in the spirit realm. We have a role to play in these clashes. Many of the shifts taking place in the nations are on God’s prophetic timeline, we cannot change the timeline, but we can change how the plans are affected and implemented and their influence on people. Christ’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom that will be established on the earth, regardless of what the enemy or of what nations do.

But we need to know in 2013 that the church is called as watchmen in this hour.

As we can see in Ephesians chapter 6, at the end of the passage, that we’ve quoted, is that prayer is an essential key in the battle, in the struggle. Let’s now look at a few incidents in Scripture that will highlight how very important prayer is in the realm of the heavenlies and the establishing of God’s kingdom.

Go with me to Matthew 8:18+ 23-27+ 28-34

18. When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.

You can see an incident where Jesus had just been healing the sick and now was being pressed by the crowd. He gives instructions to his disciples that they should enter the boat, and cross to the other side of the lake.

There was an instruction, there was a mission, and an assignment that had to be carried out. Then we have a few verses describing how Jesus was interrupted by some other disciples.

But in verse 23, it says

“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him, without warning, furious storm came up on the lake so that the waves swept over the boat.”

So we can see, they began the journey to carry out this assignment. But without warning a huge, the Greek word is megas-which means of huge proportion, storm blows up. It says it was a furious storm, it had fury. It also says the waves swept over the boat, actually in the Greek it means that the waves were washing into the boat. The waves were trying to destroy them.

“But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went in and woke him, saying “Lord, save us! We are going to drown!” “

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

The fact that Jesus was sleeping tells you that he knew exactly what his purpose was, what his assignment was and that he was going to fulfill it. Therefore, he was not fearful or perturbed by the storm. His faith was out to fulfill the mission that his Father had given. His mission was to reach the other side of the lake. There, across the lake, was an assignment that had to be fulfilled.

The disciples on the other hand were deathly afraid.

Why?

They were professional fishermen. They fished that lake all the time, probably since they were little boys. Yet, now, they were totally intimidated by the storm. This was no ordinary storm, this was a spiritual storm.

Something about the assignment on the other side of the lake had caused a supernatural storm to rise against them. As we have seen whenever there are clashes of angelic and spiritual hosts and entities, there are natural results and consequences. Jesus said to them that they were operating in fear rather than faith. He expected them to, by faith, reach their destination and fulfill their assignment.

Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the ways, and it was completely calm.

With Jesus rebuke, a ‘megas’ calm prevailed. That was his faith in operation; that was what He expected them to do, by faith. But their fear disconnected them from the authority that they could exercise by faith on the prevailing supernatural storm.

Fear always disconnects; faith always keeps you connected.

When you stay in faith, when you address things in faith, you’re connected to the realm where God operates. Jesus by faith brought a complete calm because he was connected to the supernatural realm by faith.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

But they could not grasp, at that stage, how a man can connect and deal with the supernatural realm. Like today, men then, did not realise they had authority to deal with the supernatural realm, and supernatural events.

They were amazed that the winds and the sea would obey him, but that was what He expected them to do to complete the mission and the assignment.

Now it says in verse 28

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” They shouted.” Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs” he said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those attending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

These two demon-possessed men, or rather the demons that possessed the men, ruled that whole region. They must’ve perceived in the heavenlies, the assignment of Jesus. Because when they were approaching the region controlled by the demons, the spiritual forces, the clash that was beginning in the heavenlies created a huge furious storm. The storm had hurricane proportions. It was no natural storm. If it had been natural, the disciples, these professional fishermen, fishermen by trade, would not have been intimidated by it.

No, this was by consequence of the clash that was taking place in the heavenlies for that region.

We can see how strong their influence was, because the people came out and asked Jesus to leave. Also, those demons did not want to leave the region and asked to rather go into the pigs. They thought the time for the tearing down of powers, rulers and authorities over regions had come.

I’m showing this passage simply because it illustrates how assignments against the enemy causes an engagement of spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. We need to be aware that clashes in the heavenly realms result in natural events.

We need to be watchman, prayer warriors, engaging the enemy for assignments and missions to be completed and fulfilled. Jesus gives us assignments, as here given Paul in Ephesians, and Paul requests prayers to be made for the believers and for him for ministry. He says praying with all pray in the spirit for all believers. Can you see the connection?

He talks about the struggle, he talks about the armour, but then he talks about prayer.

Prayer is the key.

We exercise tremendous authority, by faith, in our prayers. And we need to exercise this authority, because Satan is ruling over continents, regions, cities and communities. He’s working diabolically to destroy nations, governments, values and morals.

Your place, your prayers, are absolutely essential at this time. Let us not be caught sleeping while nations fall, as these dark hosts subvert and blind people to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Next time, we will look at some incidents where prayer caused clashes in the heavenly realms with results in the natural realm.