The greatest problem most Christians have when it comes to spiritual warfare is that the bible tells us that we should be victorious but most of us seem to be experiencing defeat one way or the other. This is because most of us have not come to know or realise that spiritual warfare takes place on five (5) distinct dimensions, of which four are arenas of battle and the fifth is the foundation for the other four. If you miss out on the fifth, you would have been defeated by darkness on the grounds of faithlessness, and if you loose on any or some of the other four, you are defeated on grounds of spiritual unfaithful-ness.

The four arenas can best be understood from the angle of the crowns or trophies that is being fought for. All these trophies belong to God; if the devil can get you, in one way or the other to give these trophies to him, to take them to yourself or to give it to another human being he has defeated you. The kingdom of the devil thrives in your rebellion against God; as long as you can be found to have rebelled against heavenly order, you are separating your life from God’s kingdom (“the soul that sins shall die”). This separation is the spirit of death or that gives power to death over you; that is the only dominion that the devil can have over your life.

The trophies of the four dimensions of spiritual warfare are honour, glory, power and dominion.

Honour is the banner over your life; it is the cause for which you live. It could come in terms of the groups you are a member of, the leaders you follow, the movements you identify with or simply your role model in life.

Glory is your lifestyle, your ideology and philosophy of life; that which you believe; the doctrines you adhere to and your general outlook to life (your attitude is a measure of that which you glory in.

Power is what motivates and discourages you; it is the incentive behind your labours and can provoke action on your part and draws out your abilities. It could be anger, hate, love, friendships, a sense of responsibility, gilt, greed; e.t.c. Power could also mean spiritual power, political power, financial power and other abilities.

Dominion is that which controls you; that which constrains you and can stop you from doing what you would otherwise want to do, that which limits the expression of what you would have done; another word for dominion is jurisdiction.

Most demonic strongholds will operate in several or all of these dimensions and need to be demolished on all four dimensions:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not canal but they are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds (dominions), casting down imaginations (ideologies), and every thing that is exulted above the knowledge of God (role models), holding every thought captive in obedience to Christ (power). We shall stand in readiness to punish all disobedience once your obedience is complete”.

The fifth dimension is that of covenant or contract or, as we say, testimony. This is our spiritual status, rank or authority in God; the status we have in God’s presence.

“And they overcome him by the blood of the lamp and by the word of their testimony and they spared not their life even in the face of death”.

Things to watch out for

At the prevailing war in the spirit will take the form of a war of ideologies; people will hate one another because of differences in ideology and belief. The trick of discerning which spirit is behind a movement is not to consider the purity of the doctrines; the devil will come in forms of the angel of light, i.e. beautiful and faultless doctrines. What we should look out for is the power behind the actions of people. If it is hate, it is not God. If it is selfishness, fear, greed, ‘tawọn tami nikan’ (my own people alone), other bigotry, ungodly desires or self-promotion, it is not God. If it is godly reverence, good will to all, understanding in the face of rejection and all such, it is most likely God.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you will know that summer is near”. Mark 13:28