Keith Battle - War Tactics

I want to tell you my subject; I’m going to tell you my subject right now before I read this passage. The subject I’ve chosen to teach from today is called «War Tactics: What Do You Do When You’re Under Spiritual Attack?» I felt that I felt a couple of—yeah, what do you do when you’re under spiritual attack? Let’s go to the Word of God. This is Second Kings, chapter six. I’m going to begin reading at verse 8 and I’m going to end at verse 23. Here’s how the New Living Translation reads: it says, «When the king of Aram"—verse 8—"was at war,» somebody say «war!» «He would confer with his officers and say, 'We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.' But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, 'Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.'» So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God, and time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he would be on alert.

Verse 11: «The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, 'Which of you is a traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans? ' 'It is not us, my Lord the king, ' one of the officers replied. 'Elisha, the prophet of Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom.' 'Go and find out where he is, ' the king commanded, 'so I can send troops to seize him.' And the report came back: 'Elisha is at Dothan.' So one night—somebody say „night"—the enemy is coming at night! The enemy wants to attack us in our dark times. One night, the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. 'Oh sir, what will we do now? ' the young man cried to Elisha. 'Don’t be afraid, ' Elisha told him, 'for there are more on our side than on theirs.'»

Verse 17: «Then Elisha prayed.» I said, «Then Elisha prayed!» Some of y’all don’t know what it’s like to be in a fight. Then Elisha prayed; that’s his only weapon—he prayed. «Oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see.» The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed. What did he pray? «O Lord, please make them blind; make them blind! I need my servant’s eyes opened; I need theirs closed.» So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. Then Elisha went out and told them, «You’ve come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city; follow me and I will take you to the man you’re looking for.» And he led them to the city of Samaria. As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha prayed; he prayed, he prayed, «O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.» So the Lord opened their eyes and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, «My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?» «Of course not!» Elisha replied. «Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.» So the king made a great feast for them and sent them home to their master, and after that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. Amen. You may be seated.

«War Tactics: What Do You Do When You’re Under Spiritual Attack?» In this passage in Second Kings, chapter six, we have a real war going on. What I love about this passage is that there are elements of natural war that we can apply to our lives because, whether you know it or not, we are always either in a war or on our way into one. The spiritual life is full of battles. How many of you know that you have battles you have to fight? Some of them we’re not even aware of. Here’s the thing: the weapons that we’re supposed to fight with are supposed to be different than the weapons of the world. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal; they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. The problem with our fights is that we often fight with the wrong things. I think there’s a lot we can learn from this passage about how the enemy attacks, what kind of tactics the enemy uses, but also how we’re supposed to respond and how we should react to those challenges. I want to go through this passage and see what we can pull out. If you hear something that is meaningful to you, make sure to write it down and take note of it because you’re going to need it. If you don’t need it now, you’re going to need it at some point in your life. Amen. In verse 8, what are the first things we see? It is this king of Aram whose name is Ben-Hadad. The Arameans and the Syrians are the same group of people. Some call them the king of Syria, or your Bible may say Syria or it may say Aram; it is the same place. The Arabian king’s name is Ben-Hadad.