Advanced Spiritual Warfare: Spiritual Guerrilla Warfare
The devil knows that if he confronts you directly, he would easily lose the battle; he knows that even the weakest of saints would defeat him in one sentence: “I rebuke you, devil, in the Name of Jesus Christ!” And he will be vanquished in that battle, because the hosts of heaven will back up that saint instantly.

But Satan is cunning, knowledgeable and vastly experienced at spiritual warfare, so most times he avoids this direct confrontation. He knows the spiritual terrain and employs insiders or villains, who are also known as the “inhabitants of the land”, so as to maximize his efforts at defeating you. This is why you must recognize where, who, how to fight this spiritual warfare.

You should also remember that Jesus Christ said, “…. a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” [Micah 7:6, Matthew 10:36] This is what the kingdom of darkness uses to fight the believer.

Probably the first person to employ this tactic in history was Balaam the Seer. Israel had inflicted a heavy defeat on the Amorites and the nation of Moab cringed at the thought of Israel’s invasion even though Israel had no such plans. So, their king, Balak decided to employ this seer, Balaam, to help him resist this war before they can come near through cursing Israel.

Every attempt by Balaam to curse Israel was frustrated by God’s direct intervention. The more Balaam failed the more desperate Balak became, increasing his reward for the defeat of Israel. Being spurred on by all the promised wealth, Balaam decided to employ guerrilla warfare tactics and made the breakthrough. Jesus later condemned this tactic.

Balaam employed a localized tactic to disarm and disengage the invincible Israelites and it worked. This guerrilla tactic led to the death of over 23,000 Israelites in one day.

“But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” [Revelation 2:14]

You must be aware that the kingdom of darkness engages you in spiritual guerrilla warfare; Creates conspirators that aid their plight. This tactic has helped him defeat so many stars in God’s Kingdom.

Spiritual Guerrilla Warfare?
What is the main strategy of this spiritual guerrilla warfare? It is the organization and management of strategically placed small units with a strong dependence on the support of the local population. It also takes advantage of the terrain’s more accommodating small units.

“Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants such as armed civilians (or “irregulars”) use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to dominate a larger and less-mobile traditional army, or strike a vulnerable target, and withdraw almost immediately.

“Tactically, the guerrilla army would avoid any confrontation with large units of enemy troops, but seek and eliminate small groups of soldiers to minimize losses and exhaust the opposing force. Not limiting their targets to personnel, enemy resources are also preferred targets. All of that is to weaken the enemy’s strength, to cause the enemy eventually to be unable to prosecute the war any longer, and to force the enemy to withdraw.”(Wikipedia)

This is the same tactic the devil is employing against the saints today. It was this guerrilla warfare tactic that Amnon fell into and almost destroyed David’s family and reign as king.

You must know where Satan is getting his local support system from and mount a strategy that will expose them to you, so you can cut them off. The question you need to ask and answer is who are the local residents or enemies? Why are they ready to conspire or aid to the Devil in his fight against you?

To know the localized enemies, you must be able to know their residence. But, before I can define the residence for you to understand, you must remember an important mystery Jesus revealed to us in John 2.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.” [John 2:19-21]

Mystery of the Temple
The mystery was that the Temple in the Old Testament was a type or shadow of the real temple, which is the saint (2 Corinthians 6:16). When this mystery that was revealed by Jesus Christ is properly understood, then you will also understand true spiritual warfare, the consequence of fighting the wrong battle and the consequence of being defeated in spiritual warfare.

So what can we understand by this localized enemies within? It is very much akin to the Promised Land? This “Promised Land” had its original residents according to Deuteronomy 7.

“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;” [Deuteronomy 7:1]

The localized enemies are inhabitants of the land. The people that Satan is using in guerilla warfare against you are the “Hittites”, “Girgashites”, “Amorites”, “Canaanites”, “Perizzites”, “Hivites”, and “the Jebusites”.

These are the enemies or conspirators you must discover, expose and cut off so as not to allow Satan and his kingdom to dominate, control and enslave you. Succeeding in cutting off these enemies is the act of true victory in spiritual warfare.

It is like a conspiracy akin to Julius Caesar and the bogus friends who betrayed him. Caius Cassius, a tall, lean man, who had been made praetor, was the chief conspirator, and with him was Marcus Junius Brutus, a descendant of the man who overthrew the Tarquins, and husband to Porcia, Cato’s daughter. Another conspirator was Brutus named Decimus, who had been a friend of Caesar, and newly appointed to the government of Cisalpine Gaul. These and twelve more agreed to murder Caesar on the 15th of March, when he went to the senate-house.

As he made his way in the company of the conspirators, one of the conspirators met him with a petition, and the others joined in it, clinging to his robe and his neck, till another caught his toga and pulled it over his arms, and then the first blow was struck with a dagger. Caesar struggled at first as all fifteen tried to strike at him, but, when he saw the hand of his treacherous friend Decimus, he exclaimed, “Et tu Brute!” meaning “You, too, Brutus!”, drew his toga over his head, and fell dead.

But how does this relate to your engagement in spiritual guerrilla warfare? Just as the mystery of the Old Testament Temple is the human body. The mystery of the Promised Land is the human soul. The implication of this is that you must understand a few things about the human soul.

Ever heard of stories where a person goes into some hyperstrength or hyperarousal mode? “The stories are almost always in the form of one person lifting a car off of another. In one case in Colorado in 1995, a police officer arrived at a single-car accident where a Chevy Chevette ended up on top of a baby girl and sank into the mud. The officer lifted the car and the mother pulled the girl out.” (ref. http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4255)

What has been known about the soul is phenomenal. It has been used to create all sorts of advancement in mankind.

With the mastery of the soul, man has developed space technologies, he has been able to travel to moon, he has built super computers, achieved astounding memory feats (Guinness Book of records has the entry for memorizing Pi was achieved by Chao Lu of China, who recited Pi from memory to 67,890 places), gained knowledge of intricate things, built monumental structures, achieved impressive medical advancements, even altered their abilities by psycho-manipulating the mind and body.

Unfortunately, all these achievements by man has not led him into being able to win the most important battle of his life, which is taking place in his soul. Since the fall of Adam, the human race has been pre-programmed with the nature of sin, whose residence is in the soul.

It is like a PC that comes pre-loaded with viruses. The viruses tend to grow with every iota of knowledge that feeds the mind. For example, how do you account for a child who would lie through his teeth that he did not touch the bottle of skittles when his face is masked with skittle sugar colours? Who taught him the white lies? How did he master answering without a smirk so as not to be caught out? It is very simple; there is a fenced area inside him, that is, his soul.

I am not even dealing with the matter of demonic possession. It is the sinful nature that is in every man. The fact that you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour does not automatically eliminate this nature. In fact, it was your spirit that got born again (John 3:3) not your soul or your body. Demonic possession only takes place when a demon is allowed full occupancy of the soul.

Ignorance That Destroys
Activities that take place around the human body such as sight, sound, and feelings have a direct access to the soul and these are the targets of a believer’s arch-enemy, the kingdom of darkness, to strike an agreement with the localized enemies. The kingdom of darkness will use those activities to attract the attention of the soul.

Once the soul opens up, the next stage is to try to use the insiders or localized enemies to cause an inner betrayal. This is where the guerilla warfare takes place. This is the place where you must seek to conquer to win in a spiritual warfare.

Ignoring this truth is setting up yourself for spiritual failure. Saul the first king of Israel was rejected by God because he ignored this truth (Hosea 4:6).

Amnon ruined his sister’s life and his own future because of ignorance of spiritual warfare. Judas had Satan entered into him because he ignored this truth (John 13:27). So many have made a shipwreck of their faith because they neglected this truth; they conceded victory to the kingdom of darkness.

Spiritual Guerrilla Warrior

To achieve success, there is a need for clear-cut strategy. You need to know exactly what you’re up against; the weapons you need to win and what is at stake if the battle is lost.

One beautiful thing about all these is that God wants you to win and has made provision for your success. There is no excuse for not winning this warfare. Apart from the spiritual weapons at your disposal, you need to arm yourself with strength (Ephesians 6:10). But How?

Three things will make you very strong for spiritual warfare: wisdom, confrontation and persistence.

#1. Wisdom: Wisdom is knowledge applied in a strategic way. In Ecclesiastes 9:18, we read, “Wisdom is better than strength …. Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” (vs18). “[True] wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers or valiant generals who are in the city.” (Ecclesiastes 9:18 Amplified). God is the only source of this kind of wisdom (James 1:5).

#2. Confrontation: Running away from the battle field is the last thing you want to do, it is a defeatist attitude and ensures your failure and worse still, the insignificant challenge of today will become the colossal challenge of tomorrow. “The wicked flee when no man pursues: but the righteous are bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1).

#3. Persistence: After David knocked down Goliath with a stone, did you realize that Goliath didn’t die? David had to run up to him and use Goliath’s sword to cut off his head and complete the victory (1 Samuel 17:51). You must do the same. David, in 2 samuel 22:45-46, called people like Goliath, strangers! Your victory over that stranger in the soul may not be decisive with the first prayer; you must persist UNTIL you get a complete victory.

What Makes up the Soul?
The soul is characterized by four main compartments – the will, intellect, emotions and the mind.

The Will: This is the faculty of the soul by which a person decides and takes an action or refers to acts that are intentionally committed.

The Intellect: My dictionary defines it to be the ability to learn and reason; the capacity for knowledge and understanding. Another definition states: The ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real and about how to solve problems.

The Emotions: State of the mind that is subjective to conscious experiences or a psychophysiological expression such as sentiments, feelings, agitation, etc. It is an incredibly powerful force on human behavior as it forms the core component in the drive for human behavior.

The Mind: The control center of all the cognitive faculties that enables consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement and memory (Wikipedia).

All these four components are intricately linked. They work like the different parts of the body and it is what makes the human being the living soul. It is in these sections of the soul that spiritual warfare is being fought. Unfortunately, people spend most of their time in gratifying the shell of the soul, which is the body.

The core part of the soul is the mind, when the mind is taken, the other areas follow. If you win the battle of your mind, then you’re bound to win your soul and if you can win your soul, you’ve gain a massive victory in spiritual warfare.

How Satan Controls You
This was why Paul wrote, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” [Romans 12:2]

The aim of the kingdom of darkness is to assault your soul, especially without your awareness until it becomes sore and caves in to their wishes. Once it caves in to them, they start controlling it; however, this does not mean they will possess your soul.

The degree of influence they exhibit is inversely dependent on the degree of transformation through the Word of God that has already taken place in your life. If your soul is so transformed by the Word of God, it will be quite difficult for the enemy to overcome, but as you know it is much easier to destroy than to build. The kingdom of darkness is adept at destruction.

This is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy….” (John 10:10). They steal the goodness in your soul, kill the ability to do what is right and set you on the path to destruction.

Paul, trying to explain this mystery of spiritual guerrilla warfare, wrote:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. [2 Corinthians 10:4-6]

The Amplified Bible puts verse 4 like this: “For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,” [2 Corinthians 10:4 Amplified]

Paul further explained the secret of cutting off the enemies’ abilities in this guerrilla warfare: “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” [2 Corinthians 10:6]

Mortify, Embarrass and Destroy The Local Enemies!
You will soar high above the kingdom of darkness if you also take in his advice in Colossians 3, when he wrote: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: …. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. [Colossians 3:5, 8]

Another word for Mortify is to embarrass, confound, degrade, destroy, humble, damage, humiliate, crush, stun, disappoint, dissatisfy, discourage, thwart, frustrate.

Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” [Matthew 15:19]

What are you to mortify, thwart, frustrate, crush, humiliate or destroy? THOUGHTS. You are to frustrate thoughts or suggestions of pornography (fornication, lewdness, masturbation, adultery); you are to disappoint suggestions that produce inordinate affection; you are to discourage thoughts or suggestions that lead to covetousness; you are to destroy thoughts that encourage filthy communication out of your mouth!

When you do this, you are cutting off the enemies that weaken you against the kingdom of darkness. You are destroying the greatest spiritual warfare tactic of the kingdom of darkness! Imagine what could have happened had Julius Caesar cut off his conspirators before he was murdered.

Many want to overcome the devil and the kingdom of darkness when their souls are filled with evil thoughts, pride, hatred, fornication, malice, blasphemies, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness. That is practically impossible!

These are the things that represent the nations that God asked His people to cut off!

“And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:” [Deuteronomy 7:2]

The “Hittites” are a representation of fear and lack of trust in God, exercising human effort and self-dependence (2 Timothy 1:7).

The “Girgashites” are a representation of apostasy, carnality and being wordly-minded; characterized by being unstable and craving to looking back (Luke 9:62).

The “Amorites” are a representation of pride, slander and spirit of negative criticism; talks down on others, causes division, and depressive reactions (Matthew 5:21-22).

The “Canaanites” are a representation of lust, toying with sin, covetous and indifferent; homosexuality started with Canaan – Genesis 38:2.

The “Perizzites” are a representation of carelessness and quick discouragement (Proverbs 25:28).

The “Hivites” are a representation of refusal to abide by authority, refusal to be submissive and impatience (Luke 15:11-32).

The “Jebusites” are a representation of pollution – endeared to trod down with feet and defilement of temple; given to sexual impurity such as homosexuality, adultery and abortion. Always wanting to stop what is good.

This was how Amnon lost his life; he lost the key battle in his soul and ended up raping his own sister! This is how great men such as Samson, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, Judas, etc lost the battle of greatness. It disqualified Saul from being king, it disqualified Gideon’s 31,700, it disqualified Ananias and Sapphira, it disqualified Demas and many others. They did not cut off these tendencies in their souls.

God says you should not permit nor attend to these things in your soul – intellect, emotions, will or mind. You are to kill off the thoughts or suggestions that bring about these things.

If you ignore or allow ANY of these traits, tendencies or habits to continue in you, then you in agreement or have made a covenant with the one who is going to betray or conspire against you. It is that very trait that will form an agreement with the kingdom of darkness and help them to steal from you, kill the righteousness of God in you and ultimately lead to your defeat or destruction.

It is your duty to identify and cut off these tendencies. But, may I declare to you that you cannot do a very good job of identifying or mortifying these tendencies without God’s help? Yes, ask God, this was what David and he became a man after God’s heart.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” [Psalms 139:23-24]

When you do these things, you will not have succeeded in terminating every attempt of spiritual guerrilla warfare against your person, defeating the kingdom of darkness in the process, you would be setting up yourself as a dearly beloved saint in God’s presence and He will be very jealous over you!

Spiritual Guerrilla Warfare

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