What is Spiritual Warfare?

Excerpt from Rules of Engagement
By Cindy Trimm

"Psalm 144:1-15 records the prayer of a skilled warrior by the name of David. From his days as a shepherd boy and throughout his reign as king of the nation of Israel, God empowered him in the art, science, and technologies of strategic prayer and spiritual warfare.

His skill and expertise were gained as God, in His sovereignty, placed him in the midst of a variety of battles ranging from encounters with bears and lions, to his confrontation with Golaith, and the battle he fought with his son, Absalom, whose defiant insurrection almost cost him his kingdom. In this Psalm, David lets us know that it was Jehovah Gibbor, the Mighty Man of War who taught him warfare strategies and tactics, and provided the divine empowerment for success. He lifts his voice in adulation to honor God, his strength. He declares, "Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight-My steadfast Love and my Fortress, my High Tower and my Deliverer, my Shield and He in Whom I trust and take refuge, Who subdues my people under me" (Psalm 144:1-2, AMP)

From David's life experiences, I have learned that the only way you can become a skillful warrior is to be trained and placed in the midst of a battle. It is only when you are placed in the furnace of afflictions, and when all hell seems to break loose around you, that you can truly be trained in the art of strategic prayer and spiritual warfare. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. You will never get the level of training you need in order to become an effective prayer warrior, by engaging in "war games." You must face a real enemy on a real battlefield. It is when God trains you in the midst of an actual battle, that you gain true experience. Simply reading the Bible or attending workshops and conferences will never make you an effective warrior. Proverbs implies that knowledge without experience is folly."