This war in Heaven is difficult for us to comprehend. How do angels and demons, beings who do not die from wounds, wage war? With what do they do battle? And how do they conquer one another? Without exceeding the bounds of our knowledge, we can safely say this: All spiritual warfare is waged over one essential question: Who will control reality on earth, Heaven or hell?
When it comes to angelic and demonic warfare, the battle rests not in physical weaponry but in the power of agreement between mankind and the spirit realm. We read in Ephesians 6 (NKJV) that “principalities” and “powers” occupy the “heavenly places” (v. 12). But we read in Ephesians 1:10 that it is the Father’s expressed purpose to sum up all things in Christ, “things in the heavens and things on the earth.” Ephesians 3:10 reveals God’s glorious plan, that “through the church” God has purposed to make known His manifold wisdom to the principalities and powers “in the heavenly places.”
You see, as the body of Christ on earth agrees with its Head in Heaven, the Spirit of Christ Himself displaces the powers of darkness in the heavenly places.In other words, when the church on earth is aggressive in its agreement with the will and Word of God, then the presence of God increases in the spiritual realm, proportionally displacing the influence of hell on earth.
Shortly thereafter, manifesting in the world of men, we see God’s miraculous power at work. But when the church is passive, indifferent or carnal, the powers of hell increase their rule over the affairs of men: Marriages break up, crime increases, and wantonness becomes unbridled. We must see that our prayers, attitudes, and our agreement with God are an integral part of appropriating the reality of the kingdom of God on earth!
Let me add, that when I refer to the “Kingdom of God on earth,” I am not referring to the Second Coming of Christ at the rapture. I am speaking of the reality to which Jesus was referring when He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10 NKJV).
Thus Jesus teaches us to pray in a way that transcends simple requests for blessings or finances — things that will be supplied to us automatically once we get our priorities right.
Jesus calls us to a form of prophetic prayer. He says, “Pray, then, in this way: … Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!” (Matt. 6:9-10 NKJV). This is strong prayer, empowered with the life substance of Heaven itself. This is the prayer that changes societies and rolls back the advance of evil, and ultimately wins the war over reality.
Adapted from Francis Frangipane’s book, The Three Battlegrounds, available at www.arrowbookstore.com.