7 Keys for Spiritual Warfareნიმუში

4. SPIRITUAL WARRIORS ENGAGE IN WARFARE IN THE SECRET PLACE BEFORE TAKING ON THE ENEMY IN THE PUBLIC SPACE.

David learned his spiritual authority with the Lord in secret. He went after the bear and the lion that attacked his father’s flock when no one else was around. The shepherd boy David had the heart of a warrior, but he also had a heart to protect the flock. He faced a wild lion and a hungry bear and took on these animals with his bare hands. When these animals turned on him, David grabbed them by the hair and struck them!

Before David took on Goliath, he had learned to rely on the Lord in his private battles. This is a powerful truth: we learn how to overcome the enemy in our personal lives first. We cannot take authority publicly if we have not first exercised authority in the secret place.

There can be different forms of spiritual attack, but it is the same enemy!

Did you know that the height of a large male grizzly bear can be almost 9 feet tall when it stands upright? And the length of a large male lion is 9-10 feet long! Goliath stood 9 feet high and was extremely intimidating, but David had already overcome enemies that were just as big and potentially even more dangerous. David knew how to fight Goliath because he had fought a similar enemy in previous battles, just in different forms.

Satan has different tactics, but regardless of the spiritual attack, it is the same enemy at the root. There are enemies we fight on our own, and there are enemies that we fight together as the Church. There are personal struggles, and there are collective battles where we need to stand together as a community of believers against principalities or powers in regions and cities.

It is vital to exercise our authority in the secret place so that we can carry that same authority everywhere we go. We are called to be messengers of the gospel whose lives display the truth: that the One who lives in us is greater than our enemy who is in the world!