The Battle in the Heavenly Places

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This verse tells us about where the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness are located and where the battle is being waged or should I say, not being waged because we don’t know how.  They are spiritual because they are not limited by time or space as we know it.  The real battle is against these spiritual beings in a heavenly spiritual world.

In traditional theology and within the church, there is little understanding of the invisible world and its operation We are losing the battle because we lack the knowledge and are not equipped to win the battle. 

 

To understand the spiritual world, we must examine the prophetic anointing.  In this manner, we can receive complete revelation.  The prophetic anointing is beyond saying “Thus saith the Lord,” or having a vision from heaven.  It occurs in a different realm than ours.  It is the entrance to the invisible Kingdom of God.  It’s the instrument used by God to make the Kingdom visible, and audible and palpable.  The prophetic anointing allows us to pernitrate it and extract from it riches of wisdom and knowledge.

.

The Old Testament prophets experienced this dimension.  Some of them penetrated it, being caught away, as Ezekiel was and saw the temple of God and the Holy City (Ezekiel 10).  Daniel was lifted between heaven and earth to receive the vision of the four beasts (Daniel 7:1-28).  Moses was taken to extraordinary dimensions in which he received the revelation of the Genesis of creation.  The book of Hebrews says that God has prepared something even better for us.  God wants to give us greater things than those that He gave to these men of God. 

The Apostles understood this dimension because they penetrated the kingdom of God.  The union of heaven and earth through Jesus was their daily experience.  Our daily experience should be with the One sent to be like Jesus; the Holy Spirit (14:26).

In Acts 8:39-40, Philip was translated from one place to another in both spirit and body.  The same thing happened to Peter (Acts 12:1-11), when he was taken prisoner by Herod.  While in prison, he fell into a deep sleep and saw an angel that came to rescue him.  Both of them were translated through the prison, as if it were a mere vision.  But the experience was so deep that the Lord deconstructed his body and re materialized it again outside the prison.  Paul was taken to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2) and didn’t know if he was in the body or outside of the body.  John was taken in the Spirit (Revelation 1:19) to see the whole book of Revelation in which, heaven as well as the depths of hell, were both revealed to him.

The book of Acts did not end in the first century.  It continues to be written through those who believe God and have penetrated the Kingdom of God.  We can do the same in this day and age.

The Apostle John and others practiced “being in the spirit” or entering the realm of His Glory, as an essential part of their spiritual lives.  This is a state of deep intimacy with God and the spirit of man becomes hypersensitive to the Presence of God.  Revelation and visions of the heavenly Kingdom are seen in full.

The Kingdom of God is among us and it is only a thin transparent membrane which separates us from it.  It breaks when we know God intimately.  Our faith and love of God and time spent alone with Him allows us to pass from the flesh to the other side in the spirit.  He makes Himself available to us just as He has to others in the bible.

The Apostle John had extraordinary trances in which he saw Jesus in His glory.  He was not only taken to the third heaven, but regions of the kingdom of darkness were also shown to him. 

The more we experience heaven and are used to inhabiting its reality, the greater revelations we will have, even about the secret places of our enemy.  John was taken to a sea and saw a beast (Revelation 13:1).  In chapter 17, an angel carried him to a place of darkness called the desert which was a city full of demons (Revelation 18:2).  Jesus also spoke of that desert and taught his disciples that demons inhabit dry, desert places (Matthew 12:43).

The experience of Apostle John reveals to us both heavenly places, as well as the regions of darkness. God wants us to have this type of experience so He can give His children greater wisdom and knowledge as we prepare for the darkness sure to manifest prior to the coming of Jesus Christ.  Although, the Holy Spirit will not take everyone to the third heaven, everyone can have visions of the kingdom of God and it is possible the Lord will reveal places of captivity to them.

Seeing the spiritual reality was common among the apostles such as Steven when he saw God and Jesus (Acts 7:35 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God).  In the book of Acts, Peter clearly identified spiritual regions where Simon the magician was being held captive (Acts 8:9-24).  In this case, a vision wasn’t necessary to identify the regions.  The Holy Spirit revealed to them through a word of knowledge.  Even though Simon was baptized a Christian and took part in his local church, he was never set free.  His mind was captured in the spiritual world.

This brings us to the crux of this whole article.  In the last days leading up to the coming of Jesus, we will see evil manifesting at an extraordinary level on the earth and especially through people who are sure to come after the Body of Christ and everyone else.  As it says in Ephesians 6:12 says, the battle will not be in the flesh and blood.  Rather, the battle will be in the heavenly places and we will need to be able to go into the spirt and fight in the name of Jesus using all the power of God and the Holy Spirit.

How do we do this?  We have to totally submit to God (Romans 10:3), seek God (Psalm 14:2), read His word, imitate what the men we previous discussed, and call (Psalm 50:15, 86:7) on the Holy Spirit.  

The following is my experience and findings.  Many of you know that we have been conducting deliverance of fragmented and tormented souls from the prison as the bible has anointed us to do in Isaiah 61:1. The prison is a spiritual place where we have gone to bring those who are bound out of prison.  In essence, this is place that is shown to us in a vision and it has helped my wife and I understand the heavenly places.

After reading Ephesians 6:12 and the Lord giving me understanding, I began asking the Holy Spirit to take me to the heavenly places and reveal to me what I needed to know so I can pray against these higher-level spirits that are well hidden.  Little by little, He began giving us knowledge, answers, revelation of these spirits that enabled us to pray against these spirits.  Understand, that the Lord can only give us so much in this area of warfare, because we are only able to handle a certain amount of knowledge about Satan and his army.  God only gives us enough information to train and prepare us for this heavenly battle and increases our knowledge as we become more experienced.  It takes practice and experience to become a warrior in God’s army.

Operating in the spirt world is biblical and available to all of us in this present age as we prepare to do battle leading up to the coming of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.