Sonship requires fighting in the spiritual.

If we don’t know who we are, or don’t believe who we are, the enemy has an advantage.
If we don’t believe we live in a war zone, the enemy has an advantage,
The enemy comes to Steal, Kill and Destroy. John 10:10

Personal warfare

If we don’t safeguard our personal spiritual space we will suffer various attacks on our belief, faith, anointing, authority and territory. Paul understood this and used the armour of a Roman soldier as a parable or guide to personal warfare. How does this work? Firstly it is a parable, not a literal application as some seem to think. Ephesians 6:10-18
He was writing to the converted witches of Ephesus who probably understood the nature of the spiritual better than some.

When he wrote to the Ephesian believers, Paul covered a lot of things. It is helpful to understand the context of his letters, and to gain a greater perspective it is useful to look into what we can find out about the believers he was writing to. From history and from the Bible we know that Ephesus was a chief city for the worship of Diana, having the largest temple to Diana (other names for Diana are Astarte, Ashteroth and Semiramis) and was a centre for magic and witchcraft as translated in one version "curious arts".

In Acts chapter 19 is the story of these people walking out of witchcraft and into Jesus Christ followed by the burning of their books. These books of witchcraft were so valuable and the burning of them was such a notable thing that it grabbed the attention of the city. These new disciples had been won by seeing the power of God at work and their conversion was strong. They were not going to live with half measures, even though it meant persecution.

Paul starts by saying “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”   That is not a passive statement, of God fighting for us, but of realizing that we have a vital part in this.

He talks about putting on the whole armour of God to be able to stand against the wily trickiness of the enemy.  Please realise that we operate according to the nature and structure of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, but our enemies have no such restraint or code. They fight as dirty as it comes with devious plans that are sometimes so subtle we don’t always see them coming. We can and must be on guard and prepared, and this parable of Paul’s covers the areas to look at and maintain.  Verse by verse -

Our battle is not against people but in the spirit on various levels.

Stand – not sitting thinking, sleeping or lying on the floor in discouragement or tantrums.

Guard against immoral attacks with responses of Jesus' truth, scripture and revelation.
Guard against attacks on your heart and feelings with responses centred in Jesus' righteousness given to you.

Protect your walk with God with living from the goodness of His peace.

Faith, meaning confidence and settled-ness in your position, authority, walk and relationship with our Father, is our defence against all the fiery arrows of accusations, curses, temptations and other stuff like disapproval, shame, blame, discouragement and loneliness that are aimed at us. All of that will bounce off faith.

Our minds and thinking are guarded by belief in the transaction of salvation which is the result of redemption. We no longer think in worldly terms, with all of the uncertainty of identity and safety involved, but we are redeemed and given certainty of position, identity as sons and belonging in the most powerful family in all of creation. We have control over what we think and can identify thoughts that are not ours and not from our Kingdom, rejecting them instantly. We live in salvation from self and the world, and are no longer subject to these.

Our only offensive weapon is the sword of the Spirit – the word of God. This is not merely reciting words from the pages of scripture but what Holy Spirit is showing you to speak in prayer and proclamation. What He shows you to speak may be scripture which has been quickened to you, or else will usually line up with scripture. Sometimes what you already have from Him will be applicable, but each battle tends to be a new situation. Don’t get caught using formulas and then suffering as a result. Jesus - Rider on the white Horse - is an image of this. Revelation 19:11-16

Prayer is how the sword works – both asking (supplication) and proclaiming prayer as a Lord of the Spiritual.

Boundary warfare

1) Use your God-given Family authority. If you don't know what that looks like, read the articles on authority and ask for revelation.

2) Get used to functioning well in declaration prayer, i.e. What you say is what you get.

3) Listen to Holy Spirit as you pray so He can show you the bits and pieces you need to take care of.

Set boundaries and then clean out.

The first thing to do is to set up boundaries and exclude the enemy from your living zone. (I tend to use natural boundaries as places to speak spiritual boundaries in place.) You also need boundaries around all that you are, have and have authority over.

The second is to break the power of all curses against you, your family or anyone else in your living zone.

Then nullify the power of all witchcraft, directive prayer and every dark talisman in range of your zone.

Declare blessing

The cleanup is done, now set up your home/base zones with blessing. Speak in every blessing you can imagine and use. Invite Dad to make His presence manifest and effective whether you feel like it or not. Thank our Father that He is your Shield and very great reward.

I do this after every meeting because there will be dark bits of baggage or spirit stuff drop off as we pray for one another.

Living in a war zone means that we need defensive strategies and offensive strategies. The strategies I have, come from listening to Dad. I am sure that there are probably others, but the principles will be the same and centre on us knowing who we are as members of His Family and understanding how the enemy works.

After praying together in a spiritual offensive “intercessory” meeting it is wise to set boundaries up against counter attack on all those present, their families and all they represent, issuing standing rebukes against all counterattack before it starts.