(Ep28) Offensive Characteristics

In Episode 28, we walk through the six key characteristics of offensive in spiritual warfare (initiative, intent, audacity, surprise, concentration, and tempo) drawing on biblical examples and military history to show how believers can actively advance God's kingdom by incorporating them into our plans and advances. Each characteristic is paired with a practical weekly challenge to help listeners apply these principles in their daily lives.  

Transcript

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Hey guys, welcome to the podcast if this is your first time, and good to have you with us again if you're coming back for more. Episode 28 is talking more about the basics of going on the attack in spiritual warfare. I'm Kyle Clark from Standing Word Ministries, a Christ-centered ministry dedicated to equipping believers with solid biblical truth and practical training. We create scripture-based resources like our workbook, Joining the Fight, to strengthen discipleship, deepen our understanding of the word so we can follow Jesus and help every one of us live with purpose as we stand firm in the truth and carry the message of Christ forward. If you want to explore more teachings or grab this workbook, head over to standingword.com. Last time we looked at the goals that drive our offensive. The episode before that, we talked about switching your mindset to an offensive mindset. But today we're going to get into the six characteristics that define every offensive action or plan in spiritual warfare. We must have all six of these when we go about carrying out that offensive movement. And these six things are initiative, intent, audacity, concentration, surprise, and tempo. We're going to walk through each one of them separately so that we can see exactly how they shape the way we advance the kingdom and how they play an important role in every offensive action we take. These come straight from biblical patterns and they work when we put them into practice. So the first one we look at is initiative. Now initiative can also be called creativity or imagination. We must take that proactive step. We must say, I want to go on the attack. I'm tired of always playing defense. I want to go on offense. We engage the enemy and we do it in creative and imaginative ways because we've taken that initiative. We look at the battlefield before us and we find a way to make it through. We creatively engage the enemy in ways that is unexpected to him. And that plays into another characteristic later on in this episode. Surprise. Nothing is impossible with God. Luke 137 reminds us of that truth. We look at Gideon and his men who used unconventional tactics to win with God's battle plan in Judges 7. They didn't wait for the enemy to set the terms. They used a very unorthodox method, but they had the initiative and the drive to follow God where He was leading them. They moved first with a strategy that came directly from the Lord. This looks like launching bold and creative outreaches in our own lives and churches. We run unique evangelism events that catch people off guard in good ways. We start community initiatives that meet real needs. We share the gospel in fresh ways to reach people the enemy never expected us to touch. Creative offenses disrupt the enemy's plans. They reclaim ground by unexpected means, just like we see in Acts 4.13, when the religious leaders were amazed at the boldness of these ordinary men. We can put this into practice this week by identifying one area where we've been waiting for the enemy or circumstances to move first. Take this area and take one creative, proactive step in love or in gospel witness in it. When we move first with imagination and faith, we stop reacting and start setting the pace for the fight. Initiative gets us moving, but we need something to keep everything pointed in the right direction. And that brings us to intent. Intent can also be seen as goal or desire. Intent plays directly into the six goals that we talked about last episode. Intent keeps every action aligned with God's will. It keeps everything focused on what really matters. And it's rooted in love and surrender. James 1, 19 through 20 shows us how important that alignment is. Paul modeled it when he tailored his message to the Athenian culture with spirit-led wisdom in Acts 17. He didn't just say whatever came to mind, he spoke with purpose that fit the people in front of him because his goal was to reach them. This looks like engaging communities with intentional acts of love that are tailor-made to your goal and to them. We preach and minister contextually to meet people where they are. We follow the Spirit's direction instead of focusing on our own plans or timelines. Offenses aligned with God's will make a lasting impact. Colossians 128 reminds us that we present Christ to everyone around us when our intent stays pure. We can put this into practice this week by checking our why before we act. We surrender the goal to God in prayer, so our initiative stays rooted in love and obedience to Him rather than reaction or performance or checking a box. Intent keeps our creativity aligned at the right target in the right direction. Intent gives our initiative direction. Next, we need the courage to move boldly even when it costs us something. We must have audacity. Audacity can also be seen as boldness, bravery, courage, that will to accomplish, to reach someone, to go somewhere that others have not. Audacity draws from Christ finished victory. We go before the world because Christ has already assured where we are going and what will happen in the future. And because of that, it gives us bold access to God. Hebrews 10 19 makes this very clear. David faced Goliath with fearless faith in 1 Samuel 17. He didn't calculate the odds, he stepped forward because he knew who his God was. That is the audacity of being a Christian. This looks like confronting societal evil like injustice, even though the rest of the world is not. We stand firm in faith when challenged by worldly actions. We refuse to be shocked or shaken by what comes against us because of who is in our corner. Boldness intimidates the enemy. It advances God's kingdom fearlessly and glorifies the Lord in opposition. Proverbs 28:1 tells us the righteous are as bold as a lion. That is the audacity we must have. We can put this into practice this week by picking one situation that requires holy boldness, standing for truth, confronting injustice, or refusing to back down in your faith when others challenge you, and stepping in with the confidence that comes from Christ, victory that has already been won. Audacity gives us the courage to move. Now we add surprise so our actions catch the enemy off guard in a Christ-like way. Surprise, our next basic characteristic, can also be referred to as awe or shock. Every successful offensive operation, resounding successful operation, always has an element of surprise. Surprise for us involves Christ-like actions that defy worldly expectations. The Romans were this way to the early Christians over and over and over again. They were shocked at how the Christians acted. They were shocked because it was so unlike the rest of the world. Because our actions should align with the love and holiness that God has and the love and holiness he desires for all people. John 3 16 shows us the ultimate surprise that God is willing to do for this world. God gave his only son for this world, a world that didn't deserve it. John the Baptist's wilderness ministry shocked the religious norms of his day in Matthew 11. Jesus washing his disciples' feet was radical servant leadership that still stuns the world today as we see it in John thirteen. This looks like surprising the enemy by showing genuine love to people who oppose us. We don't meet fear with fear. We don't meet hate with hate. We give more than expected without conditions because of who we follow and what he asks us to do. We become unpredictable to the world based on our acts of love and self-sacrifice. We confuse the enemy with how far we're willing to go for the gospel. This draws others to Christ and displays the gospel power. First Peter 212 tells us our good deeds can silence the foolish people around us because it is a surprise to them. It is a shock to the world. Love, as we talked about earlier in our defensive episodes, love is a language that the enemy cannot speak. And I don't mean romantic love, but I mean true agape, godlike love. So when we have that love and we act on that love, we shock the world. We can put this into practice this week by choosing one person who opposes us and makes things difficult and respond with a surprising act of kindness or generosity. Surprise changes the entire dynamic of the fight. Surprise will always keep the enemy off balance. And with that, now we must focus our efforts so they can actually hit the target. Sometimes, when our battlefield seems unending and large and overwhelming, what works best is to concentrate all of our forces, amassing and focusing them on a single point to break through and overwhelm the enemy. Dozens, I would say hundreds of historical battles have been decided when one force breaks through the line of the other. The defenses of their opponent shatter and fade away because they realize that that concentration, that amassing that has punched through the line, has signaled an end to their side. Concentration focuses our spiritual resources like prayer and scripture that's being used. It helps us use those things to exploit an enemy's weakness. It aligns with awareness and guarding the heart. Proverbs 4 25 tells us to fix our eyes straight ahead. Attacks are disciplined and deliberate instead of scattered. We've set the goal of gaining information. We've probed the enemy and found out his weakness. And instead of wasting all of our resources across the battle, we focus on that weakness and we hammer it in. This looks like targeting specific issues like addiction through focused prayer, mentoring someone who's struggling, or intentionally supporting a ministry that's providing a specific need. We don't try to fix everything at once. We zero in where God is already working and He is leading us to. Concentrated effort increases our success tenfold. It dismantles strongholds efficiently, just as Ephesians 5, 15 through 17 calls us to be careful how we live and to make the most of every opportunity. Concentration is the same way when we go on offensive. We make those opportunities count for all they're worth. And we can put this into practice this week by choosing one specific stronghold or issue in our life, our family, our community, and concentrating our prayers and our effort there instead of being thrown all over the place by our life. Concentration keeps us from wasting effort where it's not needed or where it's not going to be the most effective. And finally, after all of this, we need the right rhythm so that we can sustain the offensive without burning out. That is the last characteristic we'll talk about tempo, or the speed, pace, or rate that we execute something. Tempo is about finding the right rhythm in our offensive actions. We balance urgency with patience. It aligns with our surrender to God and being aware of what the spiritual landscape looks like around us. 2 Peter 3 9 reminds us that the Lord is patient, not wanting anyone to perish. Paul modeled a balanced ministry that endured faithfully to the end in 2 Timothy 4.7. This looks like timing an outreach effort according to God's leading. We balance the urgency of a moment with rest and renewal, just like when Jesus went off to preach and then remove himself to reflect and restore his own energy. We must protect our energy. We must protect the resources we have and use them properly. We cannot burn out by burning the candle at both ends. We do not feel like we have to fill every second with activity, or we will burn out before the mission is even finished. We can't commit all of our resources at once and just dump them into an offensive effort and have nothing left over. One of the greatest military minds, Napoleon, was famous early on in his career for knowing exactly when to send in reinforcements. He always kept a part of his army back because Napoleon understood that the weakest part, the weakest moment of his enemy was when the enemy accomplished its objective. They fight, they fight, they fight. Napoleon's army fights to lose ground. And then when the enemy finally succeeded, that's when Napoleon would send the majority of his forces in because right after the succeeding, his enemy had spent all of it. They were exhausted. They just wanted to rest. They wanted to hold their positions and gain time. But then Napoleon would hit them right then and there. I've seen the same thing in modern combat. We go through a hairy situation, a firefight, an enemy present, and we run, run, run, run, run, our adrenaline is pumping, and we get through it, and I have to spend the next 15 minutes keeping my soldiers awake because they all want to fall asleep, because they've spent it, because they need time to recharge. That's why tempo is so important. Proper pacing ensures a sustained offensive. It prevents burnout and maximizes our effectiveness over time. Ecclesiastes three one tells us there's a time for everything. And there is a time to push and there is a time to wait. There is a time to attack and there is a time to reflect. When we have good tempo and our offensive movement, we're able to see the enemy's counterattacks clearly. We can put this into practice this week by planning one focused push in our offensive actions and then deliberately scheduling rest time or renewal so our pace stays sustainable for the long fight. When it comes to some of your challenges for the earlier characteristics, you want to have a conversation with someone, you want to test the enemy's defenses, wait for the perfect opportunity, wait for the moment the Lord presents to you. Be patient in the way that you focus that offensive. And when we put all six of these together, we have a complete framework for offense that honors God and works. Father, thank you for calling us to advance your kingdom with wisdom and courage. Give us initiative to move first with creativity, but always with intent that is surrendered to you and your purposes rooted in love. Fill us with audacity that flows from Christ's finished victory and surprise the enemy with the radical love of Jesus that we display. Help us concentrate our resources where you are already at work and set a tempo in our lives that is sustainable and faithful. Keep us from recklessness and from passivity. Make us a people who press forward wisely, boldly, and steadily until the ground is taken and your name is glorified. We fight from the victory of Jesus and for the rescue of many more. In his powerful and victorious name we pray. Amen. Here's what we're carrying with us this week. These six characteristics in our offense initiative, intent, audacity, concentration, surprise, and temple. They are the DNA of every spirit-led offense. When we walk in them together, we stop reacting to the darkness and we start advancing the light in ways that actually work and last. Our daily rhythm moving forward should be this. Take initiative with clear intent. Move with audacious surprise. Concentrate your effort and keep a healthy tempo in all that you do. Don't get burnt out. We don't have to do everything at once. We just have to do the next right thing with these principles guiding us. Next time, we'll talk more about offense and how we ready ourselves for the mission ahead. But know this we are not improvising. The Lord is leading us. And throughout all of this series, you have been issued your equipment, you have been trained, you are being led by the one who has already assured our victory, and we are in this together. See you next time on joining the fight. God bless.