First win the battle in the air

The battlefields of the heart and mind need a strategic perspective just as human battlefields do.

US military doctrine largely hinges on airpower. Ground wars are dangerous and technology can be countered by sheer numbers, as Napoleon and Hitler learnt in their wars against Russia. Technology can also be a hindrance in battle as it breeds an over-dependence on a vulnerable resource.

So, as happened in most post World War II US theatres of war, airpower was the key to tilting the balance in favor of US ground forces. The plan has been well honed. During Desert Storm, General Norman Schwarzkopf used air-cover in the first wave of attack, to neutralize missile emplacements and other fixed artillery points. This provided safer passage for mobile ground forces.

Most military forces have focused on building significant strike capabilities using exceedingly sophisticated manned and, more recently, unmanned super-sonic and super-cruising aircraft. Stealth bombers like the B2 have enabled previously dangerous aerial targets to be engaged with relative impunity, whilst longer-range standoff weapons have enabled remote engagement from ships or aircraft operating outside the radius of fire.

The principle behind these strategies is to win the war in the air before trying to win it on the ground.

There is a powerful spiritual principle here. So often we engage our spiritual enemy in hand-to-hand combat, fighting wars of attrition at a tactical level. We engage and fight daily issues using everyday ideas and weapons. Of course, as we all have found, that is exactly where the enemy wants to meet us, because his resources are enough to tip the scales in his favor. Satan has nothing to lose, you have much to lose. He doesn’t care a hoot about hitting you every way he can and the Geneva convention means nothing to him. He will fight dirty and aim to kill wherever possible.

However, we can tilt the balance in our favor by resorting to an aerial war. By that I imply spiritual warfare waged through prayer, fasting and intercession. It is there that we fight with God, as Joshua once did, to take out the strongholds that dominated the landscape of Judea. In a later article I will explore those strongholds, but suffice to say that Joshua was very strategic in his approach. He picked his enemies and his timing, to break the resistance of the enemy, sow confusion and uproot strategic strong points.

The fact is that most of our ground struggles relate to symptoms of deeper issues, pretexts that give the enemy advantage over us. Prayer and fasting helps to expose the underlying issues so we can remove those pretexts and upstage the enemy. The idea of strategic pretexts will also be explored later, but it reflects traditional military thinking.

Often we are more like a boxer beating the air, using strong language to rebuke and resist the enemy, yet making no headway. It is interesting that Paul, in Ephesians 6, contends that the weapons of our warfare are for standing, not for offensive action. James concurs, saying, “Resist (not attack) the devil and in due course he will flee”.

© Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com