Spiritual warfare….what is our mandate?

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spiritual warfareWe are living in such a special time! A time of restoration in which YHVH is restoring His way to us.  Coming out of Babylon (the church system) into truth, we have set aside some spiritual things, until such a time as now. We now have to (re)learn what our mandate is regarding spiritual matters. We need to understand and know this in order to function fully in the body of Messiah Y’shua. Do we know what our mandate is regarding spiritual warfare? Do we have the authority to go and rebuke all evil? What does the Scripture teach us about spiritual authority?

We are called to be watchmen

You probably want to ask me what being a watchman has to do with spiritual mandates. Allow me to explain. I am presently reading a book about “Watchmen” by Bart Repko. The title is “Steen door de ruit“; if I translate the title to English it would be “Stone through the window”( I shall change it to the correct title once I know what it is). It is currently being translated into English and German. This book is well worth a read. Bart Repko, his wife and those who choose to join them are “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem.” Bart and Joan are originally from the Netherlands, but have been living their calling in Israel for over five years now. They walk on the walls of the old city of Jerusalem daily, proclaiming YHVH’s word over the city and it’s people. They remind YHVH humbly, but boldly, of His promises; they are doing spiritual warfare.

Isaiah 62:6–7
6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind YHVH, take no rest for yourselves; 7 And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

What can we deduce from this passage about the role and responsibility of a watchman?

Not only does a watchman have the role of proclaiming YHVH’s Word to His people and warning them, but he also reminds YHVH of His Word. Watchmen play a part in YHVH’s restoration process. When all is restored, Israel will be the light of the nations (Isa 49:6)!

Bart describes the different roles of a watchman and how these are defined by the Scripture. He also explains how we, as watchmen, are to proclaim YHVH’s word in order to humbly, but boldly, remind Abba of His Word. Not because He has forgotten it, but because of the perfection of His Word. If we proclaim His Word to Him, we honor Him. Proclaiming His Word is worship! Y’shua is the Word; proclaiming the Word is proclaiming Y’shua. Can evil prevail in the hearing of the Word of YHVH?

With his permission, I am going to share with you what he wrote about our mandate in spiritual warfare.

Our Armor and strategy

2 Corinthians 10:3–4
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

Ephesians 6:10–18
10 Finally, be strong in YHVH and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of Elohim, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of Elohim, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of Elohim. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

The emphasis in the passage is not on attack but on defense.”

See how the phrase “stand firm” is used three times here. He is also speaking of being able to resist.

“In spiritual warfare an attack strategy, is not always the best strategy.
Our line of defense must be in perfect order before we can attempt any attack, unfortunately, that is not always the case for us. We need to take a good look in the mirror first. Do not even attempt an attack if you have any impurity or sin in your life. We are not to play any religious games, Satan is not scared off by our pious image. Your identity in Y’shua is decisive, repent of your sin and forgive others. You must know your position and your mandate. YHVH Himself will hand you your armor. As a child of Elohim, you don’t have to have any fear of your opponent. You are bought by Y’shua; with His blood, you are His possession. You can find protection under your Fathers wings, He is your protector. You are standing on the side of the Victor, don’t ever forget that. Know who you are in Him, where you stand and what you need to do.
Attack is an option, but there are very strict conditions. Our mandate is limited.

Bart continued telling about the consequences of going outside that mandate. He wrote about a woman who felt led to fast for a period of 50 days. Her husband was away on business during this time. After having fasted for this period of time and being severely weakened by it, she understood YHVH to say that she was to bind and rebuke the evil powers of Islam. On her own, she decided to do this. She went to a strategic location and began to rebuke and bind. The outcome was dramatic; she became blind. She has accepted this blindness as an unavoidable injury in the spiritual struggle.

Even the archangel Michael would not venture to rebuke Satan, when contending with him for the body of Moses.

Jude 8–10
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “YHVH rebuke you!” 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

We don’t have any idea of the real strength of the enemy. We have to make sure our defense is impenetrable, then we don’t have to fear. There were some other things as well. She ordered herself to fast for 50 days, even Y’shua limited His fast to 40 days. The other concern is that her husband was not with her at the time. YHVH has a structure of authority in place. In this, the wife is protected by her husband. This dear lady conducted this action alone, in a physically weakened state and spiritually unprotected. She was extremely vulnerable. She also did not test and confirm what she thought she heard Yahovah said to her.

What is our mandate with regard to spiritual warfare? We can’t just go and rebuke all evil – that is not our mandate. Our mandate is the two-edged sword of YHVH’s Word. No evil or demonic power can stand to that.”
Steen door de ruit, Bart Repko, p113

Seven essentials to avoid injury

We can’t put enough emphasis on what is being taught here. Before we can stand firm against evil, some things must be in proper place. We are to:

1. Repent and abstain from sin
Un-repented and ongoing sin in our lives empowers haSatan against us and gives him just ground. Living a righteous life in obedience to YHVH’s commandments is essential. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). We can only be in right standing with YHVH through our belief in Y’shua. Y’shua took our sin upon Him when He died on the tree, thus through repentance we are saved and through obedience, we live a life of righteousness. Our obedience to the commandments is done out of love as the fruit of our repentance.

John 14:15
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

2. Forgive in order to be forgiven
Un-forgiveness is a powerful tool against us in haSatan’s arsenal. We have to forgive others and ourselves in order to be forgiven.

Matthew 6:12
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Un-forgiveness leads to bitterness, and the same can consume a person. It’s like feeding haSatan what he needs to accuse you and to disable you. A mind filled with bitterness and un-forgiveness leaves very little room for anything else, least of all, for standing strong in a spiritual battle.

3. Know our limits
Y’shua is our example in everything; we are to follow His lead. We can learn much from how He conducted spiritual warfare. How did He drive demons out, healed the sick, caused the lame to walk and the blind to see? By saying that we are to know our limits, I am saying that we should not attempt to better Y’shua. If He only fasted for 40 days, who are we to think that we should fast for longer periods?

4. Walk in the authority structure YHVH has placed over us
Abba YHVH has a structure of authority. This is a theocracy and is set out in 1 Cor 11:3. This authority over us is our protection, our spiritual covering. On a side note, this authority does not make a woman less than a man, or the slave of a man, but it enables a woman to achieve her full potential under the protection of her husband.

1 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I want you to understand that Messiah is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and YHVH is the head of Messiah.

5. Test and confirm every word
If you believe that YHVH has spoken to you, you are to test it. Gideon is a good example. He asked for confirmation when he was called by YHVH (Jdg 6:36-39). It was not presumptuous of him; if it was would Yahovah have given him a sign twice?

1 John 4:1–3
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from Elohim, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of Elohim: every spirit that confesses that Y’shua Messiah has come in the flesh is from Elohim; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Y’shua is not from Elohim; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

6. Stand strong in agreement with His Word
YHVH will not reveal to you anything contrary to His Word. He will only confirm that which is written.

7. Know His Word and proclaim It
Abba YHVH’s Word is our sword. His Word is our strongest weapon against evil. When a new recruit joins the military, he is trained in, among other things, the use of his weapon. If he doesn’t know how, it operates, he won’t be able to fight the enemy. Likewise, with our sword, if we don’t study and know YHVH’s Word, we don’t stand a change against our enemy. Y’shua was the example for us here. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He used this sword against haSatan and defeated him. (Matt 4:1-11). I would like to elaborate on the last point; proclaiming the Word as the two-edged sword, but will do so in a later post.

Not having these seven things in place will ensure our injury. This is not said to scare anybody, but to warn. There is a spiritual battle taking place every moment of every day. This battle is fought in the heavenlies, but also in our minds. We have to renew our minds and wash it clean with the Word.

Romans 12:2
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of Elohim is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.


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  1. […] study, you will be introduced to another facet of heavenly warfare. Previously we looked at our spiritual mandate. Does the spiritual realm affect our prayers in any way? Is there a link between answered prayer […]

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