Many intercessors and leaders in spiritual warfare seem to think we have to some way, somehow 'deliver' a city from spiritual oppression, or past evil curses in order to have the way paved for the Presence of God to come into that city.

We need to do spiritual warfare certainly, but the goal is not to usher in the presence of God by that means. Spiritual warfare is not the way to bring in the Presence of God, but quite the opposite. The Presence of God is the starting point. Because of the Presence of God there will be war as the inhabitants of darkness cannot stand His Presence.

All of our strategies, banners, chants, and shouting in themselves will do no harm to the devil. In fact we can be sure that the devil will help us do our "spiritual warfare" as long as we are replacing the Presence of God with our own battle turmoil, thereby causing Satan no harm at all. As Eddie Smith put it, "the devil has been teaching the church how to do spiritual warfare!" The Israelites marched around, they shouted, they sang, they worshipped, they broke pots, they suddenly pull out torches in the middle of the night, they fought battles in usual and unusual manners, but it was not the strategy, or the activity which gave them victory, it was the Presence of God who went before them. Without the Presence they just would have been the most foolish army in history.

Spiritual warfare will not bring the Presence of God down from heaven. Conversely we can unmistakably affirm that the manifest Presence of God will immediately start trouble in the middle of darkness. There is a reaction. Demons simply cannot stand the Presence of God. That is the beginning of it all. Start by putting the Presence of Jesus in the midst of your town and you will be engaged in a tremendous battle, but you will be standing in the position of the victor IN HIS PRESENCE.

THE ARK HAS TO GO BEFORE US

When the people of Israel were conquering the land they always had the Ark marching in front of them, and we must seriously admit that when they conquered city after city it was not because of the mighty warriors they had, or because of how strong they were in battle, but rather because of that Ark of the Presence which was marching out in front of them. We need to put the horse back in front of the cart if we want to make a difference in our city. Why do we have so much darkness everywhere in spite of so much spiritual warfare going on? Let's put it this way. Your room will be dark until you flip the light switch on. When light has come, darkness simply disappears. Do not command darkness to go, just shine !!!

ARE WE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OUR PLACE?

If we are walking through our place in life without making any difference around, then we must admit we are not doing our main job: It is to SHINE! No matter how much we shout against darkness, it will not go until the light shines! Commanding darkness to go will not bring light. When we make JESUS our complete and absolute Lord and let Him reign supreme in our lives, HIS light shines in and through us. Then when we just shine because of His Presence manifested in us, darkness disappears. Then, not before but only at this point when light has come we can begin to do effective spiritual warfare, simply because when the light shines the inhabitants of darkness are exposed by that light and cannot hide any more. What they are and what they are doing comes clearly in sight and then we can come against them with the weapons that God gave us: The BLOOD and the WORD.

JESUS IS THE CENTER NOT US NOR THE BATTLE ITSELF

Rev 12:11 says "And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony . . ..

AND THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVES TO THE DEATH"

We have been so focused on the battle itself, and on what we can do, that we have forgotten the last part of the verse: 'they loved not their lives to the death'. As long as we center on ourselves and our own involvement and focus on the battle as a goal in itself we are not going to achieve anything. On the contrary, the devil will actually profit from the way we are doing spiritual warfare. This is already happening.

If we are not careful we even give honor and praise to the curses we come against whatsoever they may be. We get so centered in spiritual warfare itself that we may desperately look for an 'enemy' to battle against. We investigate, map, and check until we come across something that can be considered a curse. Wow! We found a curse! (the older the better) so we dedicate our time to polish it and to speak about it, and to explain how ALL of our troubles come from that curse, and we dance around it, and we cherish it, because it justifies our warfare 'budget'. Our main problem does not originate in hidden curses. Our main problem is our sinful nature which does not tolerate light. There are many curses -real ones- that need to be dealt with and destroyed by the power of the Lord, but this will be achieved only by His Presence.

OUR MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPON: HUMILITY BEFORE GOD

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. We need to do spiritual warfare, but we must realize that the only way to be victorious is to let the Victorious One stand in front. We need to make sure that we are not climbing on the throne. We sing songs that in a sense are an example of what we actually do. One repeats over and over that "I or WE went into the enemy's camp and I or WE took back what he stole from me." A prideful song remarks, "ME and the devil had a tussle but I won!" Where is Jesus in all this?

You won't win anything without Him doing the real work.

Do not misunderstand me: Do battle against the devil, make intercession, bring down strongholds, curse the curses, but do it from His Presence and from a position of absolute submission to God's will. Jehoshaphat was told "Face your enemy, STAND STILL in the PRESENCE OF THE LORD and see my salvation, this battle is not yours." What does "stand still" mean? It means, "to be actively doing nothing!" Or to make sure you do nothing, but be sure to do it from amidst His Presence. Stand in His Presence, and wait in Him until the command comes "now"!

Be blessed and be a blessing!

This article can be found online at this URL address:
http://www.revivalstudies.org/archive/articles/dancing.htm

You may email Conrad at this address: conrad@revivalstudies.org

Conrad's other website located at this URL address:
www.intercessorshouse.org