Prayer and Warfare 275
spirits. The Apostles were taught in the Scriptures by the Lord after
Calvary; but they were made conscious of the real existence of a
spiritual realm following Pentecost. Spirit-baptism marks the starting
point of spiritual warfare.
Once a believer has contacted the Person of God via the baptism
in the Holy Spirit, he then has his own spirit released. He now senses
the reality of the things and beings in the spiritual domain. With such
knowledge (and let us call to mind that the knowledge of a spiritual
man does not accrue to him all at once; some of it may, and usually
does, come through many trials), he encounters Satan. Only those
who are spiritual perceive the reality of the spiritual foe and hence
engage in battle (Eph. 6.12). Such warfare is not fought with arms of
the flesh (2 Cor. 10.4). Because the conflict is spiritual so must the
weapons. It is a struggle between the spirit of man and that of the
enemy—an engagement of spirit with spirit.
Before he arrives at such a juncture in his spiritual walk, the child
of God neither understands, nor can he engage in, the battle of the
spirits. Only after his inner man has been strengthened by the Holy
Spirit does he know how to wrestle with the adversary in his spirit.
As he spiritually advances he begins to discover the reality of Satan
and his kingdom and then it is that he is given to understand how to
resist and attack the foe with his spirit.
The reasons for such conflict are many, with the enemy’s tactic of
attack and blocking constituting the greatest. Satan frequently either
unsettles the emotions of the physical bodies of spiritual believers, or
he blocks the works of the spiritual ones, or he may disturb their
environments. The need to fight for God forms still another reason
for this warfare. As Satan plots in the air and works on earth against
God, so His people fight back with spiritual power, destroying the
enemy’s plots and plans through their prayers. Though at times saints
do not know for sure what Satan’s scheme is nor what he is doing at