II Kings 13:18-19 "And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.  And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice."

a. No weapon formed against us shall prosper.  Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."

b. We are more than conquerors.  Romans 8:37 "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

c. God always causes us to triumph.  II Corinthians 2:14 "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."

d. The Spirit will raise a standard against the enemy. Isaiah 59:19  "So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him."

e. We are to submit ourselves to God and resist the enemy. James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

II Samuel 5:19 "And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand."

II Samuel 5:23 "And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees."

II Samuel 5:24 "And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines."

Joshua 6:2 "And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour."

a. David ran toward Goliath. I Samuel 17:48 "And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine."

b. One day, I was standing in my office telling the story that a missionary friend had told me about scorpions that invaded their home in Old Mexico when something strange happened.  I was telling the story  to illustrate our authority over the enemy.  The missionary said that they tried everything to get rid of the scorpions and nothing seemed to work.  Finally, they just prayed them out.  As I conclude the story, I look at the floor and there was a scorpion at my feet.  I simply lifted my shoe and stepped on it.  I don't think that I had seen a scorpion in the building prior to this.  God gives us some neat illustrations.    Some years later, I was again telling the story to discover another scorpion at my feet.

c. At one time when I was doing some prison ministry, there was a riot in the prison.  At first, I was not informed about the riot and was wondering why no one had shown up for the ministry time.  We were showing Christians movies weekly.  We only were permitted a couple of hours to show the movie and get out. When we found out about the riot, we prayed and decided not run but wait to see what God would do.  When the guards secured the situation, the men who wanted to come to the movie were permitted to come.  That evening, about twice the number of men as usual came and twice the usual number got saved.  Furthermore, since it was not our fault that the movie was delayed one hour because of the riot, the guards gave us a much time as we needed to minister.  God got the victory.

John 2:15-17 "And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.   And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

Note: This is a very strong statement concerning the emotion that Jesus expressed.  Jesus illustrated that one should turn the anger into a zeal to do something about the problem.
 

a. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the church.  Matthew 16:18  "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Note:  It is not a picture of the little church that is standing as the target of the enemy. It is an an aggressive picture of the church going out against the gates of hell and overcoming them.

b. We are to violently take back the kingdom of God.  Matthew 11:12  "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

Note: The church is not to be violent against individuals, but is to be very, very spiritually violent against the spiritual powers of darkness.

c. We are to take on the armor of God and war in prayer.   Ephesians 6:18  "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

Illustration:  I was sharing the gospel with someone who had studied many of the world religions and bound up in them by evil spirits.  When I called for a commitment, there was doubt and confusion.  I asked if I could pray for him and he agreed.  In my prayer I bound the spirits that had blinded the individual (see Praying For the Lost).  Then I again asked if the person would be willing to commit his life to Christ as Lord and he responded, "Yes."  I then led the individual in a salvation prayer.

d. Also see "Spiritual Warfare".