During
the many years I have been involved in prayer and intercession, I have
seen all kinds of approaches to bringing down the strongholds of the
enemy. Just mention the phrase “spiritual warfare” in a group of
seasoned intercessors, and you’ll be amazed at all the different
“techniques” espoused and “weapons” employed.
Although I too utilize
various approaches, I have come to believe that the greatest weapon of
spiritual warfare is simply love—God’s love. This love is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit and sustains us at every juncture of life
and in every opposition and trial. If we abide in God’s love, it
consumes us, restores us, refreshes us, satisfies us and gives us power
over the enemy.
The Warrior Bride
For several years, the body
of Christ has been experiencing tremendous warfare. The battle has been
intense, with no rest in the foreseeable future except the rest that
comes from relationship with Jesus.
In the midst of the battle,
we have been praying for revival for ourselves, our nation and the
nations of the world. We are beginning to see answers to our prayers:
signs of revival in our country as well as in other countries. However,
this year, many leaders and intercessors are seeking the Lord as never
before for fresh strategy in prayer, hoping that we will experience a
more full-blown Scriptural revival worldwide—and especially in America.
I believe one of the main
keys both to the success of this new phase of the battle campaign and to
the strength of the leaders and intercessors as they engage in warfare
for the revival is found in the first chapter of the Song of Solomon.
Here the Shulamite—also known as the Beloved, and representative of the
bride of Christ, the church—says of her lover, a symbol of Christ: “Let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is better than
wine” (Song 1:2, NKJV).
The Hebrew word for “kiss” used here is nashaq,
and it can refer to either a literal or a figurative touch of the form
we normally think of as a kiss. But there is another meaning of the
Hebrew word that applies.
According to Strong’s, nashaq
also means “to equip with weapons.” I believe the Lord is raising up
and equipping a new breed of warriors in the body of Christ—whom I call
collectively the warrior bride. Many in the past have seen her, by the
Spirit, dressed in a beautiful wedding gown with combat boots.
I no longer see the bride
only that way. The new warrior I see still wears the beautiful gown, and
she is still in combat, but her boots have been replaced with dancing
shoes. She is adorned in righteous garments and feels the joy and
liberty of the Holy Spirit down to her toes (see Eph. 5:27; Rom. 14:17; 2
Cor. 3:17).
If she were to remove her
shoes, though, you would see that she bears the marks of Christ—the
wounds, scars and bruises that have come from walking in this life.
These scars are fulfilling their purpose, that she “may know Him and the
power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil.
3:10). That’s why she can dance with all her might like David did (see 2
Sam. 6:14); the enemy is under her feet.
The bride does not have to
fight the way she used to in order to be effective. Her fighting is now
offensive rather than defensive because she “lives and moves and has her
being” more in God’s manifest presence and power than ever before (see
Acts 17:28).
This is because she has made a habit of “kissing” her God in the first sense of nashaq.
She has learned to spend time with Him in intimate communion, embracing
Him and allowing Him to embrace her, reveling in His presence and His
touch.
Kissing is an expression of
affection, and Scripture encourages us to set our affections “on things
above” and not “on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2). The Lord wants us to
be so closely attached to and intimately acquainted with Him that we
are inseparable in our daily decisions and dealings of life.
As the bride gives herself
entirely to Jesus in the kiss of worship, sweet fellowship in the Word
and heartfelt waiting upon Him, she is being equipped with weapons that
will enable her to rule and reign in heavenly places more effectively.
She has not always exercised the full authority behind her declarations
in prayer because she has not known intimately the One to whom and of
whom she spoke.
But now, she is armed with
the weapon of love—God’s love (see 1 John 4:7-8,17)—and with the weapon
of herself, infused and saturated with His presence. It is not only the
words she speaks, but also her very presence that dispels darkness
because of the One she has kissed.
Responding in the Opposite Spirit
When we, as the bride,
experience an intimate relationship with Christ, we are transformed by
the power of His love into His image and likeness (see 2 Cor. 3:18). We
develop a new way of speaking, thinking, acting and even of fighting
battles. We gain greater understanding about how to respond to the
subtle attacks of the enemy. This understanding helps us to be
resourceful in using the weapon of love; we learn to operate in a spirit
opposite to the one with which we are attacked.
Our model, of course, is
Jesus. He did nothing of Himself but only what He saw His Father doing
(see John 5:19). As we mature and develop a lifestyle of deep devotion
to Him, the choices we make will be motivated by His love and will
glorify His name.
In the face of opposition, we
take a stance—sometimes of silence, as Jesus often did (see Matt.
26:63, for example). In the midst of His accusers, He held His tongue,
knowing His Father was His defender and had an eternal purpose for His
suffering—just as He has for the bride’s.
“For to this you were called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you
should follow in His steps: ‘who committed no sin, nor was deceit found
in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when
He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who
judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:21-23).
Instead of pointing the
fault-finding finger, we speak “grace, grace” (Zech. 4:7) and not
judgment. The Bible tells us that “judgment is without mercy to the one
who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
When we discern a spirit of
pride in a person or situation, we humble ourselves so that we may walk
in the fullness of God’s grace. We know that “‘God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble'” (James 4:6). We are to be dispensers and
imparters of His grace wherever we go.
When others curse us or are
rude and demeaning, we are polite and esteem others above ourselves (see
Phil. 2:3). We “bless those who persecute [us],” never repaying evil
for evil (Rom. 12:14,17).
When jealousy comes against
us, we recognize that it operates on a lie—on insecurity, inadequacy and
a sense of unworthiness. We look to encourage with truth and to bring
peace. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder
and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then
peaceable” (James 3:16, NASB).
When we are confronted with
anger, we remember that “a soft answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 15:1,
NKJV). We are “swift to hear, slow to speak, [and] slow to wrath; for
the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James
1:19-20).
Operating in the opposite
spirit may not be considered a powerful spiritual warfare strategy by
some intercessors. However, it can change an individual, a church, a
city, a nation and the world. It is a successful and effective weapon of
warfare—the love of God in action.
Isn’t this the approach Jesus
took when He redeemed mankind? He responded to hatred with the ultimate
demonstration of love, giving His own life for those who deserved
death. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
No wonder the bride loves Him! No wonder she desires to be with Him! No wonder she wants to be like Him!
Waiting in silence and
contemplation, she is still and knows He is God; commemorating and
honoring His name and Word, she sees His truth prevail; offering shouts
of praise and rejoicing, she celebrates His victory; assuming the
attitude of a victor and an overcomer, she watches the neck of her enemy
subdued by the foot of the Lord.
Pat Chen
is founder and president of First Love Ministries International. She is
also an ordained minister with a reputation as an apostle of prayer.
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