To win a spiritual battle is no child’s play. As a believer, in every battle of life you confront whether big or small, always inquire of the LORD and He will give you the strategy to overcome.
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF WAR AND WARFARE STRATEGY:
GUERRILLA WARFARE ………. download here …….. Understanding Warfare Strategy
SUNDAY 24, FEBRUARY 2019
Matt 6:5-15, 1 Chr 29:10-12, Ps 22:28, Ps 47:2,8; Dan 4:17,25,32
INTRODUCTION
To win a spiritual battle is no child’s play. As a believer, in every battle of life you confront whether big or small, always inquire of the LORD and He will give you the strategy to overcome.
GUERRILLA WARFARE
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants such as armed civilians 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.
MALAYSIAN INSURGENCY, 1948-1957
This was a guerrilla war fought for and after the independence of the Federation of Malaya. It was fought by the Commonwealth Armed Forces (militants from the intergovernmental organization which comprised of British territories) against The Malayan National Liberation Army, which was working under the Malayan Communist Party. The Malayan National Liberation Army primarily utilized guerrilla tactics; successfully sabotaging installations, attacking and destroying rubber plantations and other imperial infrastructure. The guerrilla tactics used by the Liberation Army were extremely successful because the British Army, being a conventional imperial army, was unaccustomed to fighting a highly mobilized army. They were very unsuccessful at preventing guerrilla attacks because the Liberation militants knew the jungle so well compared to the British soldiers. This war ended with a declaration of Amnesty from the Federation of Malaya; wherein, they detailed how you could surrender and not be prosecuted for your crimes against the state.
MAU MAU UPRISING IN KENYA 1952-1960
The Mau Mau uprising was a military revolution orchestrated by the Mau Mau people in British Kenya. It was one of the important battles fought for the decolonization of Africa, and would end with the assassination of the rebel leader, Dedan Kimathi, and the obliteration of the Mau Mau movement. The British were able to successfully curb this internal tactic within the rebel groups that led to their eventual destruction. The Kenyans, like most countries fighting for their independence from a monolithic foreign power, had to utilize guerrilla tactics. However, one of the main reasons that their guerrilla tactics were successfully thwarted was Britain’s tactical decision to hire a group of loyalist fighters to employ counter-guerrilla tactics. The members of this loyalist militia, the Kikuyu Home Guard, would eventually be executed by Kenyan revolutionaries.
Other examples that can be identified with include: MEND, Niger delta avengers, Boko Haram, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Usama bin Laden group
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES:
2 Kings 19:35-37 – Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. 37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
God’s Strategy against Sennacherib in 2 Kings 19:8 – 37 is an example of Guerrilla war. God’s Angels took over the battle in the form of irregular warfare/ element of surprise. God caused his son to execute him so the word of the Lord can come to pass as it has been decreed.
God’s Strategy against Egyptian Army: 1 Kin 14:24-25, 26-31.
“Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
Elisha and an Army of Angels: 2 Kin 6:8-23
“So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
LIFE APPLICATIONS – SATAN AVOIDS DIRECT CONFRONTATION
You must be aware that the kingdom of darkness engages the children of God in spiritual guerrilla warfare by creating conspirators that aid their plight. This tactic has helped the devil to defeat so many promising children of God in the past and render them powerless and purposeless in God’s kingdom.
The devil will not appear as the devil when he wants to operate. He will appear in a subtle form that will not make a believer who is not in the right standing with the Holy spirit to raise an eyebrow or suspect. 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 Jesus Name!” And he will be defeated 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 (“a cruelly malicious person who is involved or devoted to wickedness or crime), who are also known as “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.
Micah 7:6
For son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
A man’s enemies are members of his house Matt. 10:36. This is what the kingdom of darkness uses to fight the believer. Your main enemies are the things you carry that are resident inside of you. They are the subtle and bad habits that you feel do not matter. They are in you and are looking for a form of expression if not properly controlled and tamed with the power of the Holy ghost on your inside.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND –
SOME OF THE THINGS SATAN USES TO WAGE GUERRILLA WARFARE AGAINST US
Deut. 7:1-2.
When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, 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 you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
Hittites: are representation of fear and lack of trust in God, exercising human effort and self-dependence. 2 Tim.1:7
- Girgashites: apostasy, carnality and being worldly-minded; characterized by being unstable and craving to looking back. Luke 9:62
- Amorites: pride, slander and spirit of negative criticism; when you talk down on others, cause division, and depressive reactions, spirit of anger. Matt 5:21-22
- Canaanites: lust, toying with sin, covetousness and indifference; homosexuality started with Canaan. Genesis 38:2
- Perizzites: carelessness and quick discouragement. 25:28. Esau is an example.
- Hivites: refusal to abide by authority, refusal to be submissive and impatience. 15:11-32 The prodigal son is an example of this.
- Jebusites: pollution, immoral acts, always wanting to stop what is good and constituting a stumbling block. 31:14-16; 2 Pet.2:15; Jude 11; Rev.2:14. Balaam applied guerrilla strategy to defeat the children of Israel.
- Petty issues that get you off balance and your habit of sabotaging other people’s effort.
STRATEGIES TO WIN THE WAR:
- Know that the primary purpose of spiritual guerrilla warfare is to set you up against God. You therefore have to be well equipped and resistant to every antic of the devil.
- Know that guerrilla warfare is irregular in nature and operates in a form you may ignore as not being a serious issue.
- It can come in form of religiosity: Deut.7:2. Smite, utterly destroy and make no covenant with anything that God is not in agreement with in your life.
- Apply Wisdom: Wisdom is knowledge applied in a strategic way. Eccl.9:18.
- Inquire of the LORD per time, yesterday’s strategy may not suffice for today’s battle.
WAYS TO DEPLOY GUERRILLA WARFARE STRATEGIES AS A BELIEVER:
Now that you know how Satan uses guerrilla tactics to attack you, how then can you use it to counter your adversary?
- You are to show unconditional love to your enemy even when they do not deserve it. Showing love to an enemy will not take anything away from you but will take you a step closer to forgiveness and obeying the instructions of the Lord.
Rom.12:20
20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
Proverbs 25:21-22
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.
Forgive your offenders.
Matt.6:12.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Never take your own revenge. 12:19
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
PRAYER:
Pray that God should empower you to overcome every agent(s) of guerrilla warfare that Satan has deployed against you, your family and the works of your hand in Jesus name.