Learning from Biblical leaders through generations how to battle the enemy, starting with principles of coming in and going out

READ Time: 8-10 Minutes

Training is Necessary for Winning Wars

How would we fare if a war came upon us today and we had no trained military? Short of God’s intervention, could we survive, let alone win?

But how easily we forget that we are at war today. We stand in an expansive war that has been fought for ages; one that spans the heavens and the earth. This is a war between darkness and light.

The enemy has fought this war for millennia, and they know how to beat us. They know us inside and out. They know of our weaknesses and how to lead us astray. And they are relentless, warring against us day and night. Yet most of us ignore their presence.

Even worse, this darkness is prophesied to rise and grow more pervasive in these end-times.

So what will it take to stand against the darkness at the end of this age?

Like any soldier, our ability to fight is rooted in our training. Many of us have trained to fight man, either through the military, police, or even martial arts. Regardless of the type, all training starts with instruction, is sealed in consistent practice, tested, and then applied in the world to gain experience. From these experiences, we grow in competence and confidence.

But our fight is not against man but against the spiritual darkness around us. Though unseen, this fight is real.

As a new and untrained Christian, demons attacked me. They choked me, shook me, scratched me, occupied my surroundings, and came after my family. I had to learn how to fight an enemy I never knew was actively involved in my life.

To fight this war, I found experienced instructors in the pages of the Bible: Jesus, apostles like Paul, and the faithful like David. While we all have access to these instructions, reading alone is not enough. We must train and become competent before the darkness peaks.

If you do not train, you will not be equipped to handle what is coming. Through this series, let me help guide you in developing your training program.

Coming in and Going Out

The Bible gives us a key that is mentioned at least 24 times in the Bible. This key is knowing how to come in and go out. It is a vitally important concept to victory in battle.

Moses first used the term as a requirement for Israel’s leader to take the people out and then lead them back in as a shepherd would. Going out was generally meant to go out to conquer in battle. But their battle was more than physical. While they were fighting on the ground, they were up against the pagan gods or princes of the Canaanites. Winning such a battle required more than numbers or weapons.

One of the promises the Lord gave to the people through Moses was that if they obeyed Him and followed His commandments, they would be blessed when they came in and went out (in battle). But if they disobeyed, they would be cursed in these efforts. So obeying the Lord and His commandments was vital to the Israelites’ success in their battles.

We see this principle in action in 2 Samuel 18. The Lord had left King Saul for disobeying Him. But David was obedient. And he was successful in going out in battle and coming in because “the Lord was with him.” So from this scripture, we learn 1) the Lord’s presence in our lives determines our success when we go out and 2) that obedience is key to having His presence.

Jesus confirmed this concept, telling us that He will be with us if we love Him and keep His commandments in John 14. And He expanded upon Moses’ metaphor of a shepherd, stating that He is the door to the sheep’s pen. So that when we enter and exit through Him, He will protect us from the wolf.

This is crucial: if we love the Lord and obey His commandments, He will be with us, bless us, and protect us when we go out into battle.

Coming In – Entering His Presence

An Appointed Time

How do we come in? To come in is to enter the presence of the Lord. As Jesus instructs us, when we pray, we should do so in an intimate way by going into an inner room and praying to our Father in secret. This is meant to be a time with God when you lay your heart bare.

When you meet with God is up to you, but I recommend making God first every day. If you don’t have time, give something up. When I genuinely started pursuing God, I needed to find an hour. I decided to give up an hour of sleep and set a daily appointed time to meet with the Lord. It was well worth the loss of sleep.

I want to emphasize that the purpose of this time is to build relationship with Him. Only while in relationship may we go out with His presence.

I always transition into this time by reading the Word and asking for insight into scripture. Sometimes I will simply read a “word of the day” from the Bible app. Other times, I will seek out a scripture on a topic that is on my mind. And at times, God speaks something to me that is related to scripture, and I go to that scripture to get more insight. Regardless of how you choose the scripture, this time of contemplation helps bring us into the presence of the Lord.

Prepare Your Room

You may be praying in a place that has been sanctified through years of prayer, and other times you may be in a new place, such as a hotel room. Particularly in the latter case, you will want to prepare the room to remove any obstacles to your time with God.

Just as the Lord instructed Moses to prepare the tent of meeting, prepare your own room of meeting. Remit the sins committed in that room to God and ask Jesus to sprinkle the room with His blood and wash away the sins committed there.

Then, command any demons in the place to leave in Jesus’ name and invite angels of light to come into the room. Ask these angels to stand guard and create an atmosphere welcoming God.

Preparing the room sets the conditions for your encounter with God.

Prepare Yourself

With the room prepared, start this time by preparing yourself for an encounter. Instructing us specifically about the end times, Paul wrote to pray without ceasing, always rejoice and give thanks in everything. In Psalm 9, David praised, rejoiced, gave thanks, and sang to God related to victories over the wicked. So enter this time by expressing your love for Him. Worship, praise, and sing to Him, knowing He is attentive to you, listening to your praise.

In keeping with Moses’ and Jesus’ instructions, we must ensure we are in line with His commandments. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you and ask Him to show you how you have sinned since you last repented. Confess these sins to Jesus, your high priest, and ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to sprinkle you with His blood and wash away your sins.

This brings righteousness (right standing with God). Then ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify you with fire and transform your heart to be like Jesus’.

Move Into the Spirit

As you do these things, you will leave behind your busy thoughts and move more into the spirit. Your objective is to let your spirit start to take control.

Praying in tongues helps with this transition. I find that while I start in a normal voice, as I move into the spirit, my voice grows quiet, and soon, the words form in my head rather than from my mouth.

In this state, the encounter grows, and you hear and see seamlessly. Your mind needs to step aside, and your spirit takes over. It is for this reason that many times, your biggest revelations can happen right on the edge of awake and asleep. During this time of transition, your mind is quiet, and your spirit is active.

Leave Time for God to Move

When you go into this time, it’s a good idea to have some plans on what you want to do, but also leave time for God to speak. For example, I like to address the Father and pray the essence of the Lord’s prayer. (Not verbatim, like reading a script, but expanding on the components of the prayer in meaningful ways.) But I also leave time for His agenda.

It is essential to listen and look for what He may want to say or show you. Ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to tell you. Ask Him to show you a vision.

Sometimes I hear and see nothing. But other times, it is like a flood of information through ideas or visions. I’ll include a few tips on this below.

TIPS

Hearing – If you don’t hear anything from God, start the conversation and let it progress. Don’t let silence stop you. If you hear nothing, continue your side of the discussion. I find this to be more successful than simply asking a question and waiting in silence for a response. Once the conversation has started, His voice becomes much easier to hear. If you find your mind is busy, or if you encounter confusion, command any spirit that may be impeding you to leave the room in Jesus’ name.

Seeing: I find it easiest to see if I met God in the dark. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes. Try closing your eyes but actively look. If you don’t actively look, you will miss things that are there. When I remember to look, most times I will see something. Many times, I notice an area of light coming from some part of my closet, which I believe is an angel. At times I see a beam of light coming down, which feels is someone looking down from above. And sometimes, while in prayer, I will see a flash of light in response as if an angel is going on an assignment.

You may also see something demonic. At times in the past, I have seen a dark shadow flash by. Another time I heard something gowling at me from part of the closest. Again, if you encounter a spirit like this, command it to leave in Jesus’ name and it will.

In this time, we grow in God, which brings many fruits necessary to going out. I’ll share some of these.

The Fruits of Coming In Before Going Out

The most important fruit that comes from this time is remaining in the presence of God. By setting an appointed time, I find the Holy Spirit is always there. As soon as I drop to my knees, I feel His presence. And I know, His presence remains with me because at any moment of the day, if I think of the Holy Spirit, I can feel His presence. So I know when I “go out,” I go out in His presence.

Other fruits come from this time as well. You will be sanctified in righteousness, find strength against temptations, and grow in your spiritual gifts.

This time also builds faith. Faith is critical to fighting the darkness. Faith protects the heart and is a shield against attacks from the enemy. The writer of Hebrews tells us that by faith [people of the Bible] “conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, and put foreign armies to flight.“

With faith, the armies of heaven will be near you. I once had an angel touch me to take away my pain, reminiscent of Daniel 10 or Matthew 4. Another time I saw angels take flight in a brilliant streak of light in response to an impassioned prayer. And at times, I feel a sensation that I have learned is the presence of angels alerting me to something nearby.

God may also impart things to you during this time that you need to carry out your mission. One night, while seeking the Lord, I felt my arms reach back over my head as I dozed off. Two hands immediately grasped my hands, and I knew it was Jesus. Immediately, I felt a burst of power flow into me. My back arched, and my chest rose with each of three successive bursts. Though it was intense, it was probably the best thing I had ever felt. At that moment, I would have given everything to keep it from ending.

The next day I asked God what that was. He told me that He imparted some things to me that I would need in the coming season. In other words, He was preparing me to go out.

The Importance of Coming In Before Battle

The times ahead of us will be darker than today. Already, lawlessness is spreading, many are abandoning God and following the doctrines of demons, and persecution against Christians and Jews is rising.

We must learn to overcome this worldly darkness. We must learn to walk like those who came before us, such as Moses, David, and Paul. Like the apostles in the book of Acts of the Apostles, we must learn to walk in God’s power.

These men knew how to come in and go out. We must learn to come in if we want to overcome the darkness spreading over the earth. By doing so, we will be enabled to go out empowered and covered by the presence of God. Only then will we be successful; only then will we overcome.

In the next post in this series, I will discuss traits, mindsets, and spiritual tools that we need to be successful in going out.

Now Available: the podcast of this post with additional testimonies at www.westcloudsrisingpodcast.com

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Related Posts:

End Times Training – Positioning to Go Out to Battle (Part II of this series)

Days of Pagan Gods and Empowered Apostles

Why the Mystery of Lawlessness is Manifesting in the U.S.

Apostasy Rising: Past Ages Reveal What Comes Next in this End of Age Paradigm

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