Practical and Effective Spiritual Warfare Strategies

There is a whole lot of warfare going on out there. Anyone besides me notice that? Well, I went looking for a good source on basic spiritual warfare and found this information by Australian prophet Helen Calder. I think these points will help us to pray effectively:

“Our primary focus in prayer should always be on what Father’s intention is, and what Heaven is doing, rather than what the demonic realm is doing. There will be times, however, when the Holy Spirit reveals a major stronghold or principality over the area, region or nation that we are praying for—or when spiritual warfare is clearly evident. [Points are paraphrased]

  1. “Seek God for His spiritual instruction.” In the Bible, there was no set formula for winning a battle. The leaders had to seek God and listen for His unique instructions for that particular battle. Overcoming begins with intimacy with God.
  2. “Identify the enemy and Father’s intended destiny.” As we seek the Lord, he will reveal specific insights as to what is happening in the spiritual realm. Ultimately, the enemy is after the destruction of the souls of men. When we see from the perspective of the cross, we can see past demonic strongholds to the Father’s intention and destiny for individuals and nations.
  3. “Release the power of praise.” Praise is a powerful spiritual weapon that puts our focus on Almighty God, where it should be. In 2 Chronicles 2:20, the enemy was supernaturally routed when King Jehoshaphat sent praisers out ahead of his army. This is repeated in the book of Acts when Paul and Silas praised from a jail cell. The power of God shook the dungeon, opened doors, and loosed them to continue to advance the Gospel.
  4. “Move in the opposite spirit.”  A principality over a region fortifies its position by obtaining agreement, and therefore power. This can come through words of media, political decisions, a poverty mindset, and other such things that create and reinforce strongholds. The Holy Spirit wants to shine His light in the darkness, and have His people move in an opposite spirit to begin to dismantle the stronghold. Then, the Kingdom of God can advance in that region.  
  5. “Declare the Father’s intentions.” Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ (Matthew 18:18; NIV) This is not an indiscriminate thing we do, but an invitation to see what heaven is doing and to participate in God’s government. Power to overcome the enemy is released when we speak, pray, and prophesy in agreement with the Father’s intention for a region or nation.
  6. “Vigorously preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!” 

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:12-13; NKJV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

  • Choose something you are concerned about that is going on in the governmental realm in our nation. It could be the impeachment process, or witchcraft targeting the president. It could be any issue at all.
  • Apply the principles above. Go through them one at a time and let the Holy Spirit take you to a new level of intercession and new victories in spiritual warfare.

A prayer you can pray:

Father, we need to learn to up our spiritual warfare game! We are not making enough headway, so we humble ourselves and ask You to teach us to pray. The enemy is causing confusion and division and other demonic things. He is attempting to set up spiritual strongholds that could become permanent, if we don’t get engaged in the battle now. So, teach us to war in the spiritual realm. Over that thing that you have placed on my heart to war against, I seek You for Your thoughts on the matter. I worship You and remind myself of who You are. Help me to see it from Your spiritual advantage. You are far above it. Show me how Your enemy is operating so I can work with You to stop him from gaining any more ground. We need to work together to take the stronghold down. I will praise You, Jesus. I will praise You when I don’t feel like it. Instead of anger or angst, let there be praise on my lips. I repent of grabbing hold of media’s negative words and opinions. I repent of getting on the bandwagon of public opinion, instead of seeking Your way. Your ways are usually the exact opposite of what the world’s going on and on about. I want to be aligned with You and Your thoughts, Your words, and Your actions. I want to declare and decree Your intentions! I want to spread Your Gospel message everywhere I go, whatever I am doing. I want to see Your Kingdom advanced in the United States of America in Jesus’ name, amen.

Today’s decree:

We will employ the spiritual warfare strategies of the Lord and we will prevail!


Learn more about Helen Calder here.