Weapons of Attack

Last week we dealt with the six items of defensive armor of God listed by Paul in Ephesians 6:14 - 17. With the exception of the Sword of the Spirit, all these items are essentially for our protection in our ongoing Spiritual Warfare.

Many Bible teachers think there is only one weapon of attack made available to us - the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. But this is not as simple as this. Paul pointed out in 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 our obligation, as a believer in this warfare, is to pull or cast down Satan's strongholds which is in the minds of humanity. Notice that even the sword can reach no further than the length of the arm of the person who wields it. In other words, there is nothing in the list of defensive equipment that will enable us to deal with Satan's strongholds.

We must now move from the defensive to the offensive. In this message we want to deal with weapons of attack that will enable us to cast down Satan's strongholds. It is a historical fact that no army, no matter how great, ever won a war on the defensive. We will never win a war by retreating or even by merely holding our ground. As long as Satan keeps the Church on the defensive, his kingdom will never be overthrown.

Jesus' Plan for His Church

When Jesus first unveiled His plan for His Church, He envisioned it being on the offensive and attacking Satan's strongholds.

Jesus said to Peter, "... and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hates will not overcome it"(Matthew 16:18, NIV).

The Living Bible reads, "All the powers of Hell shall not prevail against it".

The word for "hell", in Greek, is the word "Hades". The root meaning of which is "invisible, unseen". So Hades or hell is the unseen world of Satan's kingdom.

Jesus planed and pictured His Church as having two primary activities: Building and Battling. These must always go together. It is no good doing battle if we do not build. On the other hand, we cannot build if we do not battle. Therefore, we must think always in terms of building the Church and battling the forces of Satan.

Jesus promised Peter and all believers that Satan's gates will not hold out against the Church and that Satan will not be able to keep the Church out. Unfortunately some sections of the Christianity still believe that the Church is besieged by Satan's forces. Contrary to their belief it is not the Church trying to keep Satan out; it is Satan failing to keep the Church out. The true Church of Jesus Christ is born of God, and "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4). If we obey Him as our Commander-in-Chief, we will be able to move out, storm Satan's citadels, break through his gates, released his captives and carry away his spoil. That is the Church's assignment, and it is essentially offensive, not defensive.

The word "gate" has a great deal of meaning in Scripture. For instance, in Proverbs 31:23, it says of the husband of the virtuous wife:

"Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land" (NKJV).

In those days, the city gate was the place where the ruling council of elders sat and ruled and administered the city. So when the Scripture says that the gates of Satan will not prevail against the Church, it means that Satan's councils will not prevail against the Church but will be frustrated and brought to naught.

Satan is a defeated foe. God, through the cross, disarmed Satan's kingdom; He made a public display of the representatives of Satan's kingdom, and He triumphed over them in the cross:

Paul said, "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15, emphasis added).

Notice that a triumph is not so much winning a victory as it is the celebration of a victory that has already been won. On the cross, Jesus did not win the victory for Himself. As our representative, He won the victory on our behalf. Thus, His victory becomes our victory (2 Cor. 2:14).

Notice also that in the final commission (the Great Commission) of Jesus (Matthew 28:18, 19), we are commissioned to exercise the authority and victory that Jesus had already won on the cross. In other words, our assignment, as the Church and individual believers, is to administer the victory, demonstrate the triumph, and exercise the authority that Jesus has won on our behalf. But this can only be done when we move from the defensive to the offensive.

Spiritual Weapons of Attack

The Scripture reveals four main spiritual weapons of attack - Prayer, praise, preaching and testimony. Notice that the mouth of God's people is the primary channel for releasing our spiritual weapons of attack against Satan's kingdom.

The Weapon of Prayer

I believe prayer is the most powerful spiritual weapons that God has committed to us. After Paul listed the six items of defensive armor he said, "... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, ..." (Eph. 6:18).

As I have mentioned in one of my previous messages that prayer is used to put on our defensive armor of God. And because Jesus is our armor of God we put on Jesus with our prayer on a daily basis. But it is important to understand that prayer is also the most powerful weapon of attack. After Paul said the above, he moved from defensive to the offensive.

In my opinion prayer is a more powerful and more effective than an intercontinental ballistic missile in destroying an assigned target. There is no limitation of time or distance in prayer. With it, we can destroy Satan's strongholds anywhere, even in the heavenlies.

The deliverance and rescue of Peter

A good example of prayer as a weapon of attack is related in Acts 12:1 - 10. The Church had come under persecution by King Herod. After Herod executed James, he wanted Peter dead also. Peter was arrested and was scheduled for execution after the Passover. Peter was in the maximum security jail with four squads of four soldiers each watching him night and day. There was no way of escape for Peter except with divine intervention.

Constant (day and night) prayer was offered to God for Peter by the Church (Acts 12:5). God answered the prayer of the Church by sending an angel to deliver Peter (Vs. 8 -10). However the deliverance and rescue of Peter by an angel was the first part of the result of their prayer. An angel was also sent to bring judgment to Harod, the percecutor (Vs. 19 - 23)!

The prayer of the Church releases the intervention of angels on our behalf. Our prayer breaks through Satan's kingdom in the heavenlies and releases divine angelic intervention.

The Weapon of Praise

In a sense, you could consider praise as one type of prayer. In Scripture, praise is frequently related to God's awesomeness or fearfulness. Praise is the appropriate response by God's people to His awesomeness, to His fearful acts of war and vengeance on their behalf.

Moses and the children of Israel sang a song of praise to the Lord after their deliverance from Egypt and after Pharaoh's army had been destroyed by the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1 - 18).

"Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders" (Ex. 15:11)?

The psalmist said, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger" (Ps. 8:2, NKJV, emphasis added).

Now, compare what the psalmist said with what Jesus said:

"Yes. Have you never read, 'out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'" (Matthew 21:16, NKJV, emphasis added).

So, the above comparison reveals that the strength of God's people is praise. Praise is our great source of strenth and power.

Praise accompanied by God's Word

Another example of the power of praise is revealed by the psalmist:

"May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the people, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written agaist them. This is the glory of all his saints" (Ps. 149:6 - 9, NIV, emphasis added).

When praise is combined with God's Word (double-edged sword) in our mouth, praise becomes an instrument of judgment on kings, nobles and nations! The kings and nobles referred to are Satan's angelic princes and kings of the unseen world.


The Weapon of Preaching


Preaching is a weapon of attack related even more directly and specifically to God's Word. What many preachers and believers failed to realize is that this weapon of attack is solely and exclusively applies to the preaching of the pure Word of God. It in no way applies to the preaching of other things, such as human philosophy, political ideologies, Christian literature or even elaborate theology. All these are not double-edged swords and they are not even as powerful or as effective as a peashooter!

Paul gave a solemn charge to Timothy: "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his Kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Tim. 4:1, 2, NIV, emphasis added).


Here are some statements of truth:


1. Note the solemnity of the charge. It is given in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, in the light of the fact that Christ will judge those who are handling the Word deceitfully (2 Cor. 4:2).


2. The charge is to preach the Word with the intention to "correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction" and nothing else. This is in line with Hebrews 4:12. The preacher will answer to the Lord for the messages he preaches.


In my opinion, it is extremely difficult to find a preacher or a Pastor, in the contemporary Church, who ever heed God's solemn charge to Timothy. I have heard both a senior Pastor and an elder said there are four ways of interpreting the Scripture. How could this be when there is only one Holy Spirit? To me, by saying this, it is an insult to the Holy Spirit and Christ. To me there are only two ways of interpreting the Scripture - the biblical way and the non-biblical way; the right way and the wrong way. There is no grey area nor compromised teaching in the entire Bible.


Jesus Himself declared that there are two ways a person can choose: The narrow way to life and the broad way to destruction (Mattew 7:13, 14).


The effectiveness of God's Word


There is tremendous power in the preached Word of God. Its results are guaranteed. It will not return empty. It will accomplish God's pleasure (Isaiah 55:11). It is a hammer that will break in pieces every rock that opposes the purposes of God (Jeremiah 23:29). It is like a sharp sword that pierces to the innermost recesses of the human personality and lays bare the secrets of men's hearts and minds (Hebrews 4:12).


The Weapon of Testimony


Testimony is speaking from personal experience about incidents that relate to the Word of God and confirm the truth of God's Word. To give testimony is to bear witness to the outworking of the Gospel message. Testimony is basic to Jesus' strategy of reaching the whole world with the Gospel. Jesus unveiled this strategy as He stood on the Mount of Olive with His disciples. His strategy is baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).


To be effective witnesses for Jesus, we need supernatural power. Our testimony is supernatural. It needs to to be backed and enforced by spernatural power, the power of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus did not permit His disciples to go out and begin testifying until they had been endued with that power on the Day of Pentecost, why the Church sends believers out without the baptism of the Holy Spirit?


Prophetic preview of the testimony of God's people


The Bible gives a prophetic preview of how the weapon of testimony will ultimately cast down Satan's kingdom in the heavenly realm. Revelation 12:7 - 11 describes a great conflict between angels and men that will span both heaven and earth at the close of this age. The "accuser of our brethren" is Satan. He will be hurled down from his kingdom in the heavenly realm. The interesting thing is, the believers will overcome Satan.


"They (the believers) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death" (Rev. 12:11, NIV).


The main weapon is in the word "testimony". It is their testimony that will ultimately shake down the whole kingdom of Satan. Their testimoy centers in two things - the Word of God and the Blood of Jesus. Notice that by giving their testimny they will not worry so much even to the point as losing their lives.


I believe we can do the same now to overcome Satan as we bear personal testimony to what the Word of God says the Blood of Jesus does for us. One appointed way is the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:26). We know the cup represents the Blood of the Lord, so in taking the Lord's Supper, we are continually testifying, proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.


In order to testify effectively to what the Word of God says about the Blood of Jesus, we must be familiar with what the Word of God actually tells us about the Blood. The following are four important provisions of the Blood of Jesus revealed by the Word of God:


1. We are redeemed and forgiven - Eph. 1:7


2. We are cleansed - 1 John 1:7


3. We are justified (made righteous) - Romans 5:9


4. We are sanctified (made holy) - Hebrews 13:12


Notice that we must say the above verses in order to make our weapon of testimony effective - "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, ..." (Ps. 107:2).