This is the second post of my series on Spiritual Warfare.
One of the most important tasks that a soldier can engage in during the preparation phase of a war is to gather intelligence. Intelligence is more than just secret agents skulking down back allies with Walther handguns and stiletto knives. Intelligence is every shred of available information, pieced together in an understandable way, contributing to the victory of your army.This includes information about your forces, the weapons available to you, any tactical advantages that you may have, and similar information about your enemies.
Traditionally, intelligence gathering is limited to the five senses of human observation. In short, you must see, touch, hear, smell, or feel something pertinent to the battle at hand, make a report, and submit it through the chain of command. At the command center, intelligence from many different sources is pieced together to form a picture of the battle space and get an idea of what should happen. The Lord explicitly warns us about trusting the power of human observation and conventional wisdom when it comes to preparing for our fight. 1 Corinthians 2:5 says “so that your faith may not rest on men’s wisdom, but on Gods power.”
Understanding this verse is essential to the task of walking in the victory that Jesus has provided for you on the battlefield. In truth, there have been times in my life where the power of my five senses told me that I was defeated. They told me that I had no chance. They told me to throw down my weapons and surrender. Fortunately for me, my faith rests not on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God, who has been my strong tower and my deliverer on more occasions than I care to count.
We, as Christians, have access to the greatest intelligence gatherer of all: the Spirit of God! 1 Corinthians 2:7 says that “we speak of Gods secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” You see, God is actually interested in giving you information about the war, the battle, and the enemy, as well as information about every other aspect of your life, that is unavailable to the enemy. How is this secret wisdom accessed?
Paul goes on in verses 9 through 10 to say that “’As it is written, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.’—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” The secret wisdom of God that will ultimately help guide you to victory can only be accessed by the spirit of God.
How do we get access to the Spirit of God? Acts 2:38 teaches us that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God. It says “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
In war, there have always been ways to encode secret messages to keep them from falling into enemy hands. It’s a vital part of the intelligence community. Take the enigma machine for instance, and all of the trouble that it caused the Allied Forces during WWII. A good code can make your secrets invulnerable to enemy interception. The Spirit of God is the ultimate code that protects the hidden wisdom of God from the enemy, and at the same time makes it available to you!
Acts 2:14 says that “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The enemy can’t figure it out!
The obvious implication is that you now have an intelligence advantage over the enemy who, having severed his ties with the spirit of God through open rebellion, has lost his access to the Spirit. His ability to gather information about you will forever be limited to his five senses and those of his minions, but God offers you supernatural insight into the tactics, condition, and ability of your attacker. That’s a serious advantage!
What does good intelligence do for a soldier on a carnal battlefield? Well, it keeps you from getting unexpected surprises in the heat of battle, for one. Secondly, it sets your mind at ease knowing that your forces are superior. I think the spiritual reaction to the secret wisdom of God should be similar in nature, and should provide the recipient with piece of mind that God is the author and orchestrator of the entire universe. The battle is well in hand with our trust placed firmly in the Lord.
