WARFARE: THE PROPER PROCEDURE
Paul in concluding his letter to the church at Ephesus said in Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” He is not saying that we should strong in our efforts, prayers, fasting nor activities but in the Lord. Many people claim their spiritual readiness by accessing their performance to please God. Prayer and fasting is good but trusting in them to make us spiritual is only an attempt to walk in self-righteousness.
We have already made complete in Christ and that is the starting post. The victories we experience in life is tied to our understanding and acknowledging of all God has perfected in us. Scriptures say that we have been made new creations and our Spirit-man is made in the image and likeness of the God-head. Our Christian walk is not to get us perfect but for us to grow in perfection by resting in the finished work.
One major reason many Christians struggle in their experience is because they do not understand the order for manifestation of the divine life in Christ. They start first by trying to stand up for the Lord, resisting the enemies attacks, then walk humbly before the Lord on the straight and narrow path and finally hope at the last day to sit with Him in the heavenly places. This order will only short-change you in the beauty of Christianity.
This Apostle Paul describes the proper order in the book of Ephesians. Paul White calls it The “2-4-6” method of Christian experience. See it unveiled:
Sit – “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6).
Walk – “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (4:1).
Stand – “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (6:11).
Our sitting with Him is the beginning point. Our place in the heavens speaks of our righteous position. Righteousness is a throne. Without this we cannot expect anything from God. It gives us the boldness to stand before God, Angels and devils. Our position there gives us assurance to face the issues of life and speak with authority in the Word. We have been raised by that same resurrection power and made to seat above all principalities and powers. The first thing that He does is sit us next to Jesus. The first point for every believer is resting next to the Master. When we have learned to rest with Him in His finished work, then we are qualified to “walk worthy” (4:1).
Our walk will reflect our relationship. If we know that He is not mad at us, we won’t run away from His presence like Adam did. We know that as He is so are we in this world. Fear will not lead us into the wrong path. Even if you do go down into a valley of the shadow of death, we know that our Shepherd will enter it with you, and He will not abandon you in the midst.
Once our daily walk in the Lord syncs with our seated position in Him, we are ready to stand when the enemy begins his attack. Spiritual warfare begins with you understanding where you are seated. A song writer wrote that “We are going up to high places to tear the devil’s kingdom down”. What an error! There’s no place higher than where we are now. If you look closely, there is no mention here of the believer fighting back. Some have preached sermons on spiritual warfare, calling for militant Christians to “attack the devil” and some have developed warfare praises for that purposes and while some have put up vigils all to wrestle the devil’s kingdom.
Paul tells the believer to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (6:10), showing us that all of the battle belongs to the Lord and none of it belongs to us. Once we take place our place in Him, walk in that revelation and stand based on what we know we will experience God’s power at work. Your major duty is to end up standing in Him and His finished work. The devil’s strategy is to get you out of rest and he wants to battle your way through. Why? He doesn’t want you to believe that the work is completed. He wants you to believe that you have your own part to play in making the victory is final. But hey! Don’t buy that lie. The work is finished! Stand therefore on this truth and you will see that you are already complete in Him.
In this battle of life He does the fighting and we get the victory. What an offer! Yes we certainly have to wrestle (Eph 6:12), when it comes to the attack of the enemy, we simply stand there, while Christ takes care of us (6:13, 14). We are not to take up arms for the weapons of warfare are not of this world because He is our victory, He is our conqueror.
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