War is the attempt by one entity to impose its will over another by force. War always involves at least two sides and new tactics by one always meant that new countermeasures had to be developed. The three elements of war are mobility, firepower and security. This not only applies to physical battles but to spiritual battles as well.
The Bible is full of passages that refer to this spiritual aspect. The title “Lord of Hosts” is “Yehovah Tzava’ot” in Hebrew and it means “Lord of the armies.” The Lord is a warrior (Exo 15.3) and he teaches his people warfare (Judges 3.1-2) and “trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war” (Psa 144.1) and “he trains my hands for battle so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze” (Psa 18.34).
In Num 4.3 it says that the Levites had to be thirty years old when they entered “the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.” The word for “service” there is “tzava” and it means warfare. The Temple service was spiritual warfare. We know that this warfare is done by our testimony as we keep the Torah, our witness against constant reproaches, having conflict with heretical entities, watching for errors and heresies and rejecting the stubborn and incorrigible in the physical realm, but we also wrestle against spiritual wickedness from Satan, our adversary.
All biblical, physical warfare can be applied to spiritual warfare (2 Cor 10.3-4; Eph 6.10-20). The Laws of Warfare can be found in Deut 20.1-20 and Yeshua engaged in spiritual warfare when he was tempted on the mountain in Matt 4.1-11. There is a biblical concept called the “Moreshet Karav” which means the “heritage of war” and it is taught to Jewish children. This concept instructs others about the Lord’s battles and how to fight them (Judges 3.1-3; Isa 2.4; 2 Sam 22.35).
The casualties of these battles involve our hearts, minds, finances, health, family and even our lives. We are not going to get into the whole teaching of the Spiritual Warrior, that is another teaching on this site, but we are going to discuss a little known aspect of spiritual warfare. Any army has “military occupational specialties” and so does the Lord’s army. There are generals and officers, infantry, artillery, sappers, cavalry, administration, etc, and anything you find in a physical army can be found in a spiritual army.
The gates of hell cannot withstand the attack of the Lord’s army. In this lesson, we are going to discuss a little known “military specialty” called the Spiritual Sniper. The word “sniper” means to shoot from a hidden place. Yes, the Lord has “spiritual snipers” who wage war against the enemy from a hidden place. You may never know who they are, but their work can be seen and felt everywhere. God hides some of his best warriors for use as a spiritual sniper. To the sniper, being hidden is an advantage, but this type of operation will not be for the novice believer.
Know for certain, the enemy has his snipers and his weapon is aimed right at your head. He will lie, cheat and steal to destroy you. Have you ever been under attack from out of nowhere? If you have, then you have been targeted by a spiritual sniper. However, the Lord has his snipers, too. Just like any army is made up of many parts, the Lord’s army has many parts and the sniper is one of them. So, let’s take a look at this subject.
A spiritual sniper must have certain things to complete their mission. They need forces and equipment committed to him. They need to be prepared for every mission and they need to do their homework. They must develop infiltration techniques to get close to their target/targets. They need to perform actions within their objective area and then be able to assess the results of that action. They need certain things to be affective.
First, they need a good rifle. For the spiritual sniper, this can be a computer or some type of media that they can fire their “arrows” from. Arrows (bullets) are truthful, biblical information and it is stored in “quivers” which can be your memory or Bible, or even written notes. They also need bullets of high quality, and this can be likened to the Scriptures. They need to know their “bullets” better than their enemy. They must master them and know where and when they can be most affective.
In Psa 120.4 it says that the “sharp arrows of the warrior” are his words that hit an adversary and they do not know where they came from. Secondly, they also need a good scope to bring their target into focus, to “see” their target. This is the Messiah. In Rom 10.4 it says that the Messiah is “the end of the Torah for righteousness to everyone who believes.” The word “end” there is the word “telos” which is used in “telescope” and means “objective, target or goal.” So, Yeshua is what the Scriptures are all about. Yeshua said the Scriptures (your bullets) testify of him (Psa 40.7; Luke 24.27; John 5.39-46).
The spiritual sniper is an elite warrior, part of the Lord’s Special Forces. God has given them intelligence, self-confidence and the ability to think “outside the box” in order to accomplish their mission. The spiritual sniper will be trained in numerous “weapons” such as prophecy and eschatology, the biblical festivals, the Tanak, the New Testament, Hebrew, geography, the Temple, priesthood, the Korbanot and any biblical subject you can think of because the Lord may need them to neutralize a certain teaching and the spiritual sniper does not have time to master it before the mission.
The skills, through training, must already be there. They move without being seen and “camouflaged” to accomplish certain missions for the Lord, and that’s the way they want it. They don’t necessarily want to be known or receive “credit” for anything they do. They are not in the battle for the glory, they are in it to win for the Lord. What the Lord wants is well-trained warriors who can deal with a variety of situations.
Satan masquerades as an “angel of light” behind our lines and the spiritual sniper can identify him and “eliminate his influence.” Remember, the enemy has his snipers at work trying to defeat you, and you will never know who they are until it’s too late, so you need spiritual snipers to “take them out.” Their training comes through the enemies they have encountered in life, the troubles they have seen. Their “wilderness” of being alone and rejected is just what the Lord has brought into their life to train them.
The “spiritual military occupational specialty” of a spiritual sniper takes years of “self-death.” They do not choose to be a spiritual sniper or become a spiritual sniper overnight or quickly. Like Yeshua, they will be led into the wilderness where they are purged and cleansed. And when their human strength and aspirations are gone, they are made ready like metal, to be used in the service of their Creator. Humiliation crushes their pride and reveals their weaknesses. Tests and trials are only successful if they fail. They learn that they cannot be successful in their own strength.
Emotional maturity and stable personalities will be developed by the Lord, knowing when to act and when not to act. They learn to survive without the fanfare and lights. They don’t need big crowds, in fact they will avoid them. They needs to do their work alone, and at the Lord’s direction. They do not trust their own weapons, but the Lord’s. They must be able to thrive behind enemy lines, where there are no parties and hayrides. The work is often tough and the conditions hard. The spiritual sniper may never see the full impact of what they have done in the overall scheme of the war, but their “fingerprint” will be all over the victories because of the chaos seen among the enemy.
They must adhere to the word the Lord has given them and not listen to the voice of others. The spiritual sniper may co-exist with some strange people or in strange circumstances. When others are rejoicing and celebrating a victory, they weep in their heart and are already called to the next mission. The training of a spiritual sniper is the hardest and most disciplined of all the Lord’s special forces. They may be called upon to humble the mighty and protect the destitute. They will be loved by the poor in spirit and hated by the hypocrites and hirelings.
Their “service” to the Kingdom is free because their commander is the Lord and their source. They are not for hire. They owe the people nothing, but fires only when the Lord directs. They must renounce whatever has formed them, cut the apron strings and any carnal influence that may have a hold on them, even if it is family. They must know their ammunition, in that, he must know what to say and how to say it. They must constantly train because weapons change. A victory only means that the enemy will come against them in a different and more sophisticated way. If you improve your weapons, the enemy will counter.
In Part 2, we will begin to describe the mission of a spiritual sniper and how they operate. As we do this, we will discuss the traits needed in this calling before the Lord. Be assured, if you are a spiritual sniper, the Lord will prepare you before he ever sends you. But don’t expect military parades and a lot of fanfare when you go into “the field.” You will have your weapon, your ammo and your scope and you will move silently into the night, disappearing into the surroundings in order to accomplish the mission of your God.
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