For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against
evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers
in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 NLT
The reality of our engagement against the forces of darkness is
something that has to be taken into very serious account if we are going
to experience the kind of progress in our spiritual journey as we would
like to see. The frenzy of the enemy must die "gospel" has
understandably turned many believers away from confronting our evil
adversary who uses everything at his disposal to fight against us. And
one of the ways he does this is to propagate such foolishness as the
enemy must die madness in the church to the extent that the moment
sincere people hear anything about spiritual warfare, they instantly
think of this obnoxious doctrine of fall and die, that they conclude
that they don't want to have anything to do with spiritual warfare. But
unknown to them, that is what the devil aimed at achieving: to eliminate
them from the warfare against his kingdom.
At other times, he attempts to persuade believers that satan is
really a figment of people's imagination. But no one has any business
believing anything in the bible if truly satan is only a creation of the
figment of our imaginations. Those whom satan succeeds in selling this
lie to are automatically excluded from participating in the warfare
against his kingdom. Satan is a reality, and so are his host of demons,
that he has deployed against humanity, real. The truth of the reality of
a vile enemy as satan is call to arms against him and all that he
represents.
He is opposed to God and everything that represents God on the earth.
Therefore to love God and feel at ease regarding spiritual warfare is
to say the least, unwise and self-defeating. To be at ease with regard
to spiritual warfare is to have read the scriptures as saying that "we
wrestle not". Any sadly, this seems to be the disposition of many
believers regarding spiritual warfare. I write this short piece to
awaken us to the reality of our engagement in the most fierce warfare
ever known to man. It is more fierce than all the human battles that
have ever been fought on the face of the earth put together. But the
wonderful thing about this battle is that the Lord of Hosts Himself has
not only equipped us, but is personally in the battle with us, having
defeated satan completely on the cross.
We are up against an enemy who fights by his wiles, but thanks to God
who has not left us ignorant of the wiles of the devil. You never know
how fully empowered you are until you take the first step and say,
"satan, enough! Get behind me, in Jesus name."
Toni
