THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE – 61 Our Spiritual Warfare (Part 1 and 2)
“10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:10-12).
Introduction
Loved ones, God is Satan’s enemy. The devil knows he cannot directly attack God, so he indirectly attacks by keeping humankind (even Christians) from being reconciled to God. He has many schemes and deceitful tactics (called “wiles” in verse 11) to cause us to fall in our Spiritual Battle.
However, God offers us a way back to Him. He also provides the encouragement to do so, and the power to remain faithful as we are engaged in our spiritual warfare that involves rescuing souls from Satan's influence.
Through Christ we overwhelmingly out power our enemy. Paul wrote, “31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
Knowing he cannot prevail against God and the church; Satan is on the run. He rarely attacks us directly. Instead he uses a variety of tactics working through individuals under his influence to attack us on multiple levels.
Jesus And Satan Are The Two Key Figures In Spiritual Warfare
Paul tells us that our battle is NOT against “flesh and blood,” but we face an invisible enemy in a spiritual realm (Ephesians 6:12). Although invisible, the enemies’ effects on us are real and devastating.
All the wars between nations (Russia and Ukraine), the struggles between ethnic groups, between husbands and wives and children, the divisions in political parties (Democrats and Republicans), are the work of the evil spiritual forces of Satan.
Satan works to keep one from becoming a Christian. All types of false doctrines and discouraging comments come man’s way to keep him from obeying.
Satan works to cause someone who has obeyed God to weaken or lose his or her faith. The cares and riches of this life; busy finding fault with other members of the church.
Used in conjunction with the above, Satan works to lessen a Christian's effectiveness in service for the Master. Worries about life in general; too lazy or too unconcerned about others. No time to serve God.
Jesus' desire is to bring salvation by reconciling us to God in His kingdom (Luke 4:43). Satan's desire is to destroy us and lead us into darkness (Colossians 1:13).
Jesus teaches us to love and is full of love (Matthew 22:37-39; John 13:34-35; 14:21; 15:9, 12). Satan is full of evil, sin, and hate (1 John 3:8).
Jesus presents the truth of God's love (Matthew 22:16). Satan desires to keep us from knowing God's love through lies and deceit (John 8:44).
Through applying Jesus' teachings we experience spiritual maturity through the application of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If we submit to Satan, we experience spiritual deficiency through the acts of a sinful fleshly nature (Galatians 5:19-21).
The result: Jesus offers us freedom from the slavery of sin and grants us eternal salvation (Galatians 5:1). Satan offers enslavement to sin and eternal punishment in hell fire (Matthew 18:6-9).
Satan is not now able to possess us against our will. If we simply resist him, he will flee from us (James 4:7). However, some of his followers are not invisible. There are those around us that greatly affect us and are completely under the devil’s influence. Thus, he is able to bring incredible pressure on us by attacking indirectly.
Satan Attacks Us Through The Attractiveness Of The World
Look around you… signs and ads are all pulling on us to live for the physical things of the world. The Bible says: “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection” (Luke 8:14).
We know we must remain in the world as we serve the Lord, but we are not to succumb to the influences of this world as displayed daily before our eyes and ears through the entertainment and news media.
The Holy Spirit teaches: “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).
Our lust and pride reveal a true definition of being worldly. We must not allow the world to squeeze us into its mold by being conformed to this world. But we must be transformed into the likeness of Jesus by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2).
The world says, "Go along and you’ll get along with the crowd." But this is directly opposed to what Jesus says. He tells us to go the strait narrow way that leads to life. Sadly, “few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14).
In John 17:15-17, Jesus prayed that we should be set apart and protected while in this world by the truth. Therefore, as we continue to live and serve the Lord in this world, God offers us protection through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (2 Timothy 1:13-14).
Paul frequently informs us of what not to do or what not to focus our thoughts on. We are not to focus our mind on the things on the earth, but are to set our affections on things above (Colossians 3:2). By this we are removing the focus on worldly things.
Satan Attacks Us Through The Flesh
Besides the attractiveness of the world, another way Satan attacks us indirectly is through the flesh (Ephesians 2:3). The flesh is a term that describes our self-centeredness which makes us want to be our own god, and leads to rebellion against the will and word of God.
The flesh is the presence of our sinful nature. We are not born with sin, but we grow with the disposition to sin. James calls this the wisdom which is “NOT from above, “but is earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:15). It is Satan attacking indirectly by offering temptations to appeal to our human fleshly and sensual nature.
Well, how do we overcome Satan's indirect attacks? To begin with, we must believe that Satan will attack us in some deceitful evil way (1 Thessalonians 5:22). A spiritual soldier knows that the enemy will attack him, so he prepares accordingly. This sense of awareness includes avoiding the things that we know are our weaknesses.
Drunkenness; immodesty; television sports programs; dramatic violent lustful NETFLICK series; cooking/sewing shows; and the like can be great time-consuming weakness for many.
Satan is clearly described as a lion looking for those unprepared as an easy target to destroy (1 Peter 5:8). We must not underestimate the enemy's intelligence about our strengths and weaknesses.
Satan has been attacking humanity since the days of Adam and Eve in the garden. Therefore, he knows our strengths and weaknesses better than we do. He will use that knowledge to cause us to fall. By recognizing this we can be better prepared in our spiritual warfare.
We also must use intelligence to know the enemy's intent, abilities, and tactics. This enables us to be prepared to defeat the enemy's attacks. This preparedness involves drawing ever closer to our Lord, knowing God's will for us as revealed in His Word, and putting that knowledge into practice.
However, the more we draw closer to God the more Satan or his followers will attack us. He may choose to leave us alone for a while to lull us into a sense of complacency and then, just as we are not expecting it, attack us.
The only tactics that counter Satan's attacks and work to defeat him are found in our relationship to God. By ourselves we are lost. We must continue to be on guard and to grow stronger in our faith in the Lord. We must continue to draw closer in our relationship with God. The stronger our faith and the closer we draw to God, the better we will be able to withstand Satan's attacks. Continued in Part 2…
OUR SPIRITUAL WARFARE (Part 2)
Characteristics Of A Spiritual Warrior
Be warned… putting on God's armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) doesn't mean by itself that one is a spiritual warrior. He or she must follow through with the characteristics required of a spiritual warrior.
These characteristics are summarized through Paul's words: “1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
The first characteristic of a spiritual warrior is that he or she takes a stand. We stand against the wiles of the devil, sometimes alone (Ephesians 6:11-14). Not alone as if God, the Holy Spirit was not with us, but standing alone without the help of any other human.
The world decides to follow Satan, but the spiritual warrior has sworn allegiance to our Lord. Even though the world may choose the effortless way, the spiritual warrior takes a stand for what is right, even when difficult to do.
At times living for God can be like walking in a strong head wind. It pushes back against us causing us to have to lean into it. We struggle to keep moving and become tired in doing so, but we press on through it all, knowing we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
So a key characteristic of a spiritual warrior is taking a stand to remain faithful and obedient to the Master, even under demanding situations.
A second characteristic of a spiritual warrior is the willingness to make others aware of their faith. We do not boast about being a Christian, but none-the-less we make known and display our faith that has come by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).
Remember, the power is not ours, but God's power working through us. This means we live the life we proclaim. The Holy Spirit teaches us in several passages about the importance of not only hearing His words, but putting them into practice.
One passage is Luke 6:49: “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
Another is James 1:22: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” These passages teach us the importance of not only hearing the words, but putting them into practice.
A third attribute of a spiritual warrior is the overwhelming desire to enlist others into the Lord's army (Matthew 28:18-20). We are clearly commanded by our Lord in both word and deed to teach the gospel to others. This is our first and most important mission.
We must use our abilities and skills to make every effort to expand the borders of God's Kingdom, the church of Christ (Matthew 16:18). We can use tracts, business cards, zoom links, home Bible studies, and everyday word of mouth to get the Good News about Jesus to the lost.
This offensive posture of a spiritual warrior removes someone from fighting against us by teaching them God's way, thus enlisting them into God's army where they serve as allies bringing their abilities alongside ours.
Included in this offensive posture is living a life so that others, especially those close to us, are able to recognize our faith as we add to it the graces found in 2 Peter 1:5-11.
We are much more likely to have others respond positively to God's word if we demonstrate our faith rather than simply saying the words. Yes, we must teach, but we must also live as we teach. The key is to always do what is right (Acts 10:34-35).
A spiritual warrior does more than just say the words; he or she lives a life in such a way that there is no doubt who he or she is and is an encouragement to others to obey our Lord.
The fourth characteristic of a spiritual warrior is that he or she remains faithful to the mission. One of the worst offenses a soldier can commit is to miss movement or desert his post. Going AWOL can be punishable by death.
The same is true in the Lord's army. To abandon one's post by looking back at the old life you gave up to become a Christian can result in spiritual death. Turning back into a worldly life puts you and others around you at risk in the battle against sin.
Peter describes this situation as being worse than before you obeyed, and like a dog going back to eat its own vomit (2 Peter 2:20). A spiritual warrior remains committed to the mission and to his or her role in accomplishing that mission.
We are a part of the body of Christ, and we need each other (1 Corinthians 12:27). God grants us a wonderful gift, by allowing us to choose to serve Him. Choosing to serve God is our strongest expression of love and our strongest defense against Satan (Joshua 24:15).
Are you a believer in the resurrection of Christ? If so, you can contact Christ's saving blood through repentance and by being baptized into His death (Romans 6:3-4). You will then become a child of God.
Those that become children of God have reason to rejoice. Rejoicing follows man's response to God's good news of forgiveness of sin by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 8:39). That's what the Bible says!
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts (desires) thereof” (Romans 13:14).
Through the free gift of God’s grace by Jesus’ blood (Ephesians 2:8; Revelation 1:5) and your obedient faith (Romans 1:5; 10:17; 16:26), salvation is offered. If you have questions or wish to comment, please do so. Lord willing, a Bible answer will be provided for every Bible question.
Shared with you by Samuel A. Matthews, preaching with the Liberty NW church of Christ, meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA. The God of Heaven and Earth is so good, and His love reaches all. He is in control, so trust Him. We love you with the love of the Lord (John 13:34-35).