This great spiritual conflict has its roots in pre-Adamic history, and has escalated down through human history. But this spiritual war is not simply the story of the attacks of Satan against mankind. For war to be war, both sides must fight.

An expert on war wrote: "It takes two sides to fight a war...Even when an aggressor sends his army across the border of another country, that aggression will not lead to war unless the victim fights back" (The Conduct of War).

Satan took the initial initiative of rebellion against God and in the seduction of mankind, but from that point, God has taken the initiative. We, as the Church, must realise that the war is on, that we are not called to lie down in the dust for the Evil One to tread over (Is.51:22-23; 52:1-2), but that we now take the battle to the Enemy (Ephesians 6:12-13; 2 Timothy 2:3-4).

Yes, God is a God of love (1John 4:10), but He is also:

Note, however, that in His anger and hatred, God does not sin. His anger and hatred are pure and righteous, the response of His heart against the destructiveness of sin. It is God's love for people that takes Him to war.

"The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up His zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies" Isaiah 42:13.

Karl von Clausewitz, in his book "On War", stated: "Two different motives make men fight one another: hostile feelings and hostile intentions." We know that Satan has plenty of both. But so does God! The Lord has intensely hostile feelings about sin and the destruction of people's lives. And He has hostile intentions. The Cross was an act of war against the Dominion of Darkness and its end result will be the returning of Satan's authority structure back to God (Ephesians 1:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:24-29; Revelation 11:15-18).

God is at war because, by His nature, He can do no less. The war we fight is God's war, not ours. We are called to join God in His warfare.

Clausewitz observed: War is "the impact of opposing forces." A war is not just fought by two armies - it's two nations at war. In the same way, for us to understand the nature of the war we are fighting, we must first understand the nature of the two kingdoms in conflict.

God v Satan (Acts 26:17-18).

Light v Darkness (Colossians 1:12-13).

Spirit of God v Demonic powers (Matt.12:25-28).

God's will v Satan's rebellion (Matt.16:18-19).

God is sovereign. This means that the effect of His will is total upon His creation (see Jer.32:17; Dan.2:20-22; 4:34-35; Isa.40:10; Ps.2:4-12). But just because God is sovereign, that does not mean God can and will do everything. The Bible reveals there are some things that God cannot do - He cannot lie (Num.23:19), He cannot change (Mal.3:6; Heb.13:8), and He cannot fail (Job 42:2).

But in His sovereignty, there are also things that God will and won't do. He will never, for example, deny His word or contradict His own nature (2 Tim.2:11-13).

Every war has limitations of action - the rules of engagement. In His war, God has limited His action, and these limitations define our rules of engagement.

When He created mankind, God by His own choice limited His sovereignty. He gave people a free will - a portion of God's own personal sovereignty that is given to each one of us. This delegated sovereignty to man is on two levels:

Individual sovereignty (2Cor.5:10).

Community sovereignty (Rom.13:1).

If God is sovereign, why do we pray? Prayer is the joining of two wills - our will and God's. It is the joining of two sovereignties - our limited sovereignty and God's overall sovereignty. When we pray, we:

Although we are not of the world, we are in it, and our position in the world is of strategic importance for God's warfare. We represent our community before God. Although God will not violate the sovereignty He has delegated, except under extreme conditions, we, as part of the community, can by our sovereign decision, open the door for Him to move.

Read Joel 3:9-10. Many Christians have trouble reconciling the aggressive terminology of some scriptures with Jesus' teaching about meekness, patience and love (read Matthew 11:29, then verse 12; 1 John 3:8). The Christian life does, however, reconcile the extremes of love and aggression. True love will aggressively attack anything that will bring harm to the one loved.

Read Matthew 10:16. There are two aspects to the Christian life:

Relationship

Function (or ministry)

Spiritual warfare can be simply defined as "the advancing of the kingdom of God into enemy-held territory". The Church is the vanguard of this warfare. In our warfare, however, we have tended to violate some very fundamental principles of war. The Church, in general, has waged:

Defensive rather than offensive warfare.

Reactive rather than proactive warfare.

Introverted rather than extroverted warfare.

Carnal rather than spiritual warfare.

Competitive rather than united warfare.

Civil rather than kingdom warfare.

Splintered rather than focussed warfare.

Direct rather than indirect warfare.

Disjointed rather than integrated warfare.

Modern warfare uses the term "the integrated battlefield" when referring to the combined use of air, sea and land forces to achieve a single objective. In the same way, our warfare involves:

Evangelism

Healing and Deliverance

Prayer and Intercession