RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Beloved, if you study the book of Ephesians 6: 1-18, you will realize that spiritual warfare involves rules of engagement. There are about six rules christians must understand and observe as revealed in Eph 6:1-18, before engaging in spiritual warfare with satan and his agents.

Rule 1:
The first rule was revealed in verse 10 saying ...."Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power". Therefore, before we engage in spiritual warfare, we are expected to build up our strength, not in union with our friends, dad, mum, our body guards or the military force of our country, but rather in union with Christ and by means of his mighty power. 
If we build up our strength in union with anybody other than Christ, we may likely die or get seriously hurt during spiritual warfare, because spirits are more powerful than human beings and no human can face evil spirits without Christ.

Rule 2:
The second rule of engagement was revealed in verse 11 saying ...."Put on all the armour that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks". Therefore, before we engage in spiritual warfare, we are expected to put on or wear all the amour/weapon that God has given us, otherwise, we will not be able to stand up against the devil's evil tricks. Beloved, we also need to have the understanding that the devil is very tickish. When we refuse to wear our amour, it will be easy for the devil to trick us, by gradually luring us away from our union with Christ, who is the source of our power. When this happens, we can't engage the devil in warfare with our emptiness, because we have allowed ourselves to be lured away from Christ into darkness. Beloved, it is impossible to fight the devil without being in union with Christ in the spirit. The devil understands this rules of engagement pretty well and have always been smart about it.

Rule 3:
The third rule of engagement was revealed in verse 12 saying ......"For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age."
Therefore, before we engage into spiritual warfare, we must have the understanding that we are not fighting against flesh and blood or human beings, but rather against wicked spiritual forces (evil/demonic spirits). It is very wrong for a Christian to pray against his fellow human. It is true that some human beings have allowed themselves to be possessed by evil spirits and are used as agents of darkness on earth to destroy lives. But the reality is that they are still God's own image that needs to be rescued from the hands of the enemy. God don't take pleasure in seeing them die in the hands of the real enemy. In this context, the real enemy is the devil (evil spirits) who possess human beings and not the human beings themselves, who are used as agents of darkness. Most times, prayer warriors who lack the knowledge about who the real enemy truly is, go ahead to pray for the death of someone possessed with demonic spirits rather than casting away the demon in them. In Matthew 5:43-45 Jesus taught us how we should love our enemies by saying ..........[43] “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’  [44] But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  [45] so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.
In this context, Jesus was making reference to loving human enemies and not the devil or evil spirits. It is obvious that you cannot love the devil because he has come to steal, kill and destroy without mercy. Therefore, we should avoid prayer points that demand the death of any human enemy, rather pray for their deliverance. As for human beings who have sold their soul to the devil and have sworn that you must die, do not bother yourself about them. All you need to do is to make sure you are wearing your amour as if is your lifestyle, and engage in serious prayers and possibly with fasting. If the person insist that you must die, then the word of God will automatically be activated against such a person....And those word of God are the following below;

Exodus 14:14....."The Lord will fight for you, and there is no need for you to do anything.”

Isaiah 49:25-26 .... "I will fight against whoever fights you, and I will rescue your children. I will make your oppressors kill each other;  they will be drunk with murder and rage. Then the whole human race will know that I am the Lord, the one who saves you and sets you free. They will know that I am Israel's powerful God.”

These words of God will be automatically  activated against any man or woman who God have seen to have sworn to kill you through diabolic or physical means. You don't have to tell God in prayer to kill someone on your behalf for whatever reason, for he knows how to deal with such people. With your eyes, you will see how the Lord will defeat all your enemies. 

Beloved, beware that the devil will love to see you pray for the death of another human, rather than interceding for them to be delivered from being agents of darkness. Remember, that demons don't die because their time has not come. Even Jesus did not kill demons rather he casted them away, because he understood the rules of engagement in spiritual warfare. It is wrong to say, 'you demon die'. Beloved, demons don't die.  If you use the power God has given you to kill anyone through prayers, the demon possessing that person will leave that dead body and possess another human to continue his attack. We are meant to deliver and not kill. It is God's part to decided who dies and who stays alive. He chooses who 'He' shows mercy.

Rule 4:
The fourth rule of engagement was revealed in verse 13 saying ....... 13] So put on God's armour now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.
This verse talks about when we should put on our amour and it has to do with timing. The scripture adviced us to put on our amour 'NOW', and now is the time, to avoid not being ready when the evil day comes. If we put on our amour now, then we won't be taken by surprise when the devil attacks. We will be able to resist the enemy's attack, fight to the end and still hold our ground. Refusal or delay to put on our amour now, will lead to the inability to resist the enemy's attack when the evil day comes.
Beloved, think about this analogy. A soldier in a battle field, surrounded by his enemies was shot on the chest, because he broke the rules of engagement by removing his bullet proof. He was seriously hurt and was bleeding. What could be the reason why the bullet fired by the enemy penetrated into his chest. It's simple, he broke the rules of engagement when he removed his bullet proof within the battle field. It is very risky for a soldier to remove his bullet proof in a battle field surrounded by his enemy. However the bullet proof was designed to prevent the enemy's bullet from piercing his chest region and bleeding to death. A soldier is expected to wear his amour always and the same is applicable when we engage in spiritual warfare with satan.

Rule 5:
The fifth rule of engagement was revealed in verse 14-17 saying.... [14] So stand ready,
with truth as a belt tight round your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate,
[15] and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace.
At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One.
[17] And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you.
Therefore, before we engage in spiritual warfare, we must stand ready with all the amour of God.
Beloved, one of the amour we must stand ready with is 'truth'. Truth is an amour of God and the scripture has adviced we should stand ready with it as a belt tight round our waist. Satan hates to hear the truth, because he is aware that it has been said, that 'the truth shall set us free'. But we have to know the truth before we can wear it round our waist as an amour.
Another amour we must stand ready with is righteousness. The scripture adviced we wear righteousness as a breastplate. Breastplate is an amour designed to prevent the arrow fired from the enemy's camp, from penetrating the chest region of a soldier. However, the righteousness we use in engaging in spiritual battle, is the righteousness of Jesus and not ours. Ours is like a filty rag and we can't use it to engage in spiritual warfare. The scripture mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:21.. that in union with Jesus we might share the righteousness of God". Meaning that the true righteousness we shall stand ready is the one we share with Jesus. Also in 2 Corinthians 6:7 the scripture referred righteousness as "our weapon, both to attack and to defend ourselves".
Another amour we are asked to stand ready with is 'our shoes, as readiness to go and announce the good news of peace'.
Furthermore, faith is another amour we must stand ready with, before engaging in spiritual warfare. The scripture advice we carry faith as a shield. When we do so, we will be able to put out all burning arrows shot by the enemy. A soldier that goes into the battle field without a shield will be caught by the arrow of the enemy. So we must have faith in God, it is indeed an amour for spiritual battle.
Salvation is another amour we must stand ready with. The scripture has advised we wear salvation as a helmet on our head and the head is another part of the body that needs to be covered before entering a battle field. When the head is covered with salvation (helmet) it protects the head from being injured by the arrow fired by the enemy. One must be saved or redeemed by Jesus, before he can engage in spiritual battle with evil spirits. It is obvious that we can't fight the devil when we are still dwelling in the kingdom of darkness with him. Remember, he is in control of the kingdom of darkness. So we must have to be saved from his evil camp, before we can engage him in spiritual battle to save others who are still caged in his kingdom.
Another important amour we must stand ready with, is the word of God, which the scripture referred to as a sword given to us by the Holy Spirit. It is the word of God that we are expected use to attack the enemy when the battle is on. The scripture also referred the word of God in
Hebrews 4:12 as ...."alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together". This word of God will be given to you by the Holy Spirit. This means that the true understanding and interpretation of the word of God in the scriptures, will be given to you by the Holy Spirit. It is with this right understanding of the word, that we are meant to use in the battle field.
Remember, in the book of John 4:1-11, Jesus was said to have spent forty days and forty nights in the desert without food. Satan came around to tempt 'Him' with the wrong interpretation of the scriptures. But Jesus being guided by the Holy Spirit, didn't waste time to use the correct interpretion of the scriptures to defeat Satan, and Satan ran away. So, beloved this simply means that the correct interpretation of the word of God, given to you by the Holy Spirit, is a sword in your hands for engaging in spiritual warfare.
Rule 6:
The sixth rule of engagement was revealed in verse 18 saying .....[18] Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people.
Therefore, we are expected to engage in spiritual warfare through prayers, asking God for help. For example when we engage in spiritual warfare by casting away demons from those who are possessed, we will have to cast the demon away through prayers and not through physical fight.
Also, the prayer is not for a specific battle, but rather on every occasion, as we are expected to stay at alert at all times. As the devil fights 24hrs, we must never give up until the battle is over.

Beloved, most spiritual battles are lost because of our lack of knowledge on the rules of engagement in spiritual warfare. Remember we are not fighting against flesh and blood but evil spiritual forces in high places.
It is painful to know that most of our brothers and sisters in the Lord have either passed away or lost their senses during or after spiritual battles, because they engaged in spiritual warfare without having knowledge of these rules of engagement. No wonder it was written that 'my people perish for lack of knowledge.
Beloved, the time to wear our amour is NOW.

Written and Published By:  

BRO. ALIGWEKWE NNAMDI