Spiritual Warfare must be based on the WORD OF GOD.

God has ordained PRAISE to bind up the enemy

Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence (cease; stop; bring to an end) the enemy and the
avenger.

When the Lord Jesus quoted Palm 8, instead of saying “strength”

He said “praise”. This means that “praise” brings the strength of
God into our lives and situation

Matthew 21:6 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth
of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”

2 Chronicles 20:22 Now when they began to sing and to

praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and
Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

Paul and Silas praised God - Acts 16:16-34 Now it happened, as we

went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of
divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-
telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These
men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way
of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days.

But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you
in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that
very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was
gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace
to the authorities.
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And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being
Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are
not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” 22 Then the
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multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off
their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when
they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison,
commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a
charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the
stocks.
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But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to
God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a
great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and
immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were
loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing
the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword
and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice,
saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul
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and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to
be saved?”
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So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,
you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him
and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of
the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all
his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his
house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God
with all his household.

Paul and Silas stirred up a spiritual war when they cast the demon out of
the girl. The evil powers against them caused them to be thrown into
prison. They DID NOT start praying to bind witchcraft and evil. No!
They began to praise God! God has ordained PRAISE to cause our
enemies to be defeated.

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LIVING A HOLY LIFE is the foundation for victory over the
enemy, not “praying against” the dark spirits
Romans 16:19-20 but I want you to be excellent in what is good,
and innocent concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan
under your feet shortly. (walk upright- pursue a holy life and GOD will
crush satan under your feet)

John 14:30 for the ruler of this world is coming, and he

has nothing in Me.

When we walk pure and holy before the Lord (the Lord gives us the
grace to do this) then the enemy can find no place in us. So, spiritual
warfare is to PRAY FOR THE SAINTS TO BE PURE AND HOLY.

When satan asked to sift Peter, Jesus did not say “I stayed up last night
and did warfare for you, to bind all witchcraft” NO! He said, Peter I
have prayed for YOU! The demons are here on the planet until the
Second Coming. We have to GROW UP and become like Jesus so they
can’t affect us. We have to be conformed to Christ

Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has
asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you,
that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me,
strengthen your brethren.”

JESUS prayed FOR Peter, not against satan.

Paul taught us to take “the Word of God” and pray FOR ALL THE
SAINTS and for the ministers of the Word. That is how we beat all
the principalities and powers, by praying FOR the church, not
against witchcraft.

Ephesians 6:10-20 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in

the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle

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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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the
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breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the

preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith
with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that
utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in
chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

So, spiritual warfare praying is to take the promises of God (the Sword
of the Spirit) and pray FOR ALL THE SAINTS with ALL
PERSEVERANCE and for the ministers of the Word to make known the
mysteries of the Gospel.

Isaiah 61:3 references God giving us “The garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness;

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

1) Pray for the garment of praise to rest on the church

2) Pray that believers will become “excellent in what is good and

innocent concerning evil” EXCELLENT – much better than average –
So that believers can say “The prince of this world has nothing in me”

3) Take the apostolic prayers and pray them “with all perseverance”
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a) for all the saints –
b) for the ministers of the Word of God to make known the mysteries

4) Pray for the LOVE OF GOD to fill the church and that the church
would pray for our enemies to be forgiven and saved.
Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Matthew 5:44-45 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who
curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who
spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your
Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.

There is NO record in the New Testament of Jesus or the apostles

praying “against evil” but rather the prayers are FOR the people of God
to be strong, be holy, be sanctified, to be filled with love, to grow up, to
know God’s will and to do it.

These prayers (below) are from a book written by an ex-satanist who is

trying to teach the church how to pray. He may be sincere, but he is
lacking knowledge of God’s ways. He is trying to take the ways of satan
that he was brought up in, and fight satan with satan’s ways. That is
NOT how we do it. We don’t curse our enemy. We LOVE them and
pray for them to be saved.

DO NOT PRAY LIKE THESE PRAYERS (below) – it is not from the

heart of God. It is from the unrenewed mind of men who haven’t learned
God’s ways yet.

Ex satanist prayer - “Any person from the dark side that has been
assigned by astral projecting into our church, let the silver cord be cut
off in the name of Jesus”

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This is a TERRIBLE prayer! It is asking to kill a lost person who is
blinded by satan and serving the devil. We are to pray for their
salvation, not curse them to die.

Ex satanist prayer - “I go into the devil’s camp and take back every
blessing that he stole from the Church through witchcraft. It take it all
back in the name of Jesus”

Really? You are going to take it all back? The only way the enemy can
steal from us is if we are out of the will of God. The way we get
restoration is by the believers humbling themselves and repenting for
their sin before God. Then GOD is the one who restores (Read Joel
2:12-29) Prayers must be FOR THE SAINTS to be holy. This is why
we pray apostolic prayers as recorded in the Word.

Ex-satanist prayer - Let the path of every witch assigned against the
church be slippery, and let them spiral out of control to destroy
themselves in Jesus’ Name

Again, this is NOT a prayer from God. This prayer is a curse and God
commanded us to BLESS our enemies and not curse them. Jesus came
to save lives, not to destroy.

One of the big deceptions of spending time “praying against witches and
witchcraft” is that it is a waste of good prayer time that could have
been spent profitably by obeying the Word of God, and praying FOR
ALL THE SAINTS with ALL PERSEVERANCE. As we pray FOR
THE CHURCH, the church becomes awakened, she becomes holy, she
becomes filled with love and wisdom and power to DO THE WORKS
OF JESUS.

The church begins to walk like Jesus, in love, in humility, in unity, in

praise and power. She takes her place “in Christ” and becomes immune
to all witchcraft because she is abiding in Christ.

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The promise of the Lord to the OVERCOMING church is found in
Revelation 3:8-10 for you have a little strength, have kept My word,
and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the
synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I
will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I
have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I
also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the
whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

When we KEEP THE WORD of the LORD, God will causes the
satanists to come and get saved and they will worship the Living God.

Proverbs 16:7 When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even
his enemies to be at peace with him.