The Spiritual Man

274 The Spiritual Man

subsequently through prayer to disclose it. He should quickly
understand any movement in his spirit so that he may achieve
immediately through prayer what God desires him to accomplish.
Prayer is work. The experiences of many children of God
demonstrate that it accomplishes far more than does any other form
of work. It is also warfare, for it is one of the weapons in fighting the
enemy (Eph. 6. 18). However, only prayer in the spirit is genuinely
effectual.

Praying in the spirit is most productive in attacking the enemy or
resisting his wiles. It can destroy as well as build up. Whatever issues
from sin and Satan it destroys, but what-every belongs to God it
edifies. Prayer is thus one of the most significant instruments in
spiritual work and warfare. Yes, spiritual work and warfare turn on
the matter of prayer. If a believer fails in prayer, he in fact fails in
everything.

Spiritual Warfare

Broadly speaking, a Christian who has not yet experienced the
baptism in the Holy Spirit is rather vague about the reality of the
spiritual realm. He is like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were
closed to that sphere. He may receive instructions from the Bible, yet
his understanding is confined to the mind because he still lacks
revelation in his spirit. But upon experiencing the baptism his
intuition becomes acutely sensitive and he discovers in his spirit a
spiritual world opening before him. By the experience of the baptism
in the Holy Spirit he not only touches the supernatural power of God
but contacts God’s Person as well.

Now it is just there that spiritual warfare begins. This is the period
when the power of darkness disguises himself as an angel of light
and even attempts to counterfeit the Person and the work of the Holy
Spirit. It is also the moment when the intuition is made aware of the
existence of a spiritual domain and of the reality of Satan and his evil