The most crucial aspect of spiritual warfare is to be empowered with strength. We can see this from the portion of the apostle's teaching concerning spiritual warfare. He said, "Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength" (Eph. 6:10). Then he mentioned the spiritual warfare (vv. 11-18). But how can one be empowered? The apostle's answer is Ephesians 3:16: "To be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man." This is absolutely necessary. The inner man is the center of man, man's spirit. If the spirit becomes weak, everything becomes weak. Once the spirit becomes weak, there will be fear, and believers will not be able to withstand in the evil days. Believers need a strong spirit. The power of darkness is aimed at the human spirit. If believers do not understand the nature of the warfare, they will not be able to withstand in their spirit the principalities and powers.

Many believers feel elated in their spirit only when things are going smoothly. But when warfare comes, they are disturbed and become fearful, saddened, and depressed. They do not understand why they have failed. Believers must understand Satan's goal in the warfare before they can overcome. His aim is to take away the believers' position in ascension and to suppress their spirit in order that he can ascend. In warfare, position plays a key role. If a believer's spirit is depressed, his position in ascension is immediately lost. Therefore, believers must maintain a strong spirit and should not give any ground to the enemy.

Once believers realize that God has prepared the Holy Spirit to strengthen their spirit, they will realize the necessity of fighting with the enemy. Through assaulting prayers and wrestlings, their spirits are gradually strengthened. Just as those who wrestle with their bodies develop muscles through wrestling, the spiritual power of believers is increased when they fight the enemy. Evil spirits attack for the purpose of suppressing the believers' spirit and inflicting suffering to the soul. If believers realize the wiles of the enemy, do not draw back in anything, and withstand him, their emotions will be protected. Withstanding in spirit forces the enemy to take a defensive stand and neutralizes his attacks.

Withstanding is the most important work in spiritual warfare; the best means of defense is an attack. The withstanding that one experiences in the spiritual warfare is not accomplished just through the exercise of the will but through the exercise of spiritual power. Withstanding means to free oneself from the power of suppression. If one would "cut out a way" through the spirit, the enemy will be defeated. If one does not withstand the enemy, allowing him to attack, or if the enemy has already attacked without opposition, the believer's spirit will surely be suppressed and depressed. He will find it difficult to recover the transcendency in his spirit even after a few days. A spirit that does not withstand is often a spirit that is suppressed.

Our withstanding must be based on the word of God. This is the sword of the Spirit. When believers receive the word of God, it will become spirit and life to them. Only then are they able to use it as their weapon of defense. A heavenly person knows how to effectively use God's word to destroy all the lies of the enemy. This kind of warfare is going on even now in the spiritual realm. Although physical eyes do not see this warfare, all those who strive to press forward in their spirit realize and confirm this type of warfare. Those who are deceived and bound by the enemy must be set free. Other than being bound by sin and self-righteousness, the most common bondage for believers relates to supernatural experiences. Believers accept these experiences heedlessly because they are marvelous and give them happy feelings. Little do they realize that these supernatural experiences only make believers proud and self-justifying. They afford no help in holiness and righteousness in life. Neither do they produce any lasting and genuine effects in their work. Once evil spirits succeed in their work, they will gain a place in the believers, and they will advance further and further until the believers walk according to the flesh.

Those who are bound themselves cannot release others. Only when the believers themselves are fully delivered from the authority of darkness experientially can they win the battle to deliver others. Today believers are more aware of the importance of the personal experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But the danger lies right here. I am afraid that as the days go by, the number of people possessed by evil spirits will increase in proportion to the number who have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The present need is to have a group of overcoming believers who know how to fight and deliver others from the deception of the enemy. If no one in the church of God knows the way to walk according to the spirit and the way to fight the enemy with their spirit, the church will be defeated! May God raise up men that He can use.