On Spiritual Warfare

Lately, for whatever reason, I have been pondering about spiritual warfare. It's something many of us do not think much about; since we don't visibly see our enemy, the devil, with his demons waging war against angels, we think of conflicts in life as primarily conflicts between humans.

In his classy concession speech to Bob Corker on November 7th, Harold Ford, Jr., said the following:

"[It's] so easy when these things happen to get mad and angry, and I hope all of you who... watched this stuff and saw this stuff, don't be angry about it. I'm reminded of my favorite piece of Scripture that was quoted throughout this campaign, and is the start of the second chapter of the book we wrote on the campaign trail, from the book of Ephesians, the sixth chapter, the twelfth verse:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

The first thing that crossed into my mind when I watched the speech was, "Is Ford trying to say that the Corker campaign is an evil spiritual force?" Of course, this isn't what he meant. Instead, by using this verse, he was drawing attention to the fact that there is a bigger enemy than the Democrats or Republicans who run for office against you. It's the forces of evil which fight tooth and nail against the common good.

John Calvin, in his commentary on Ephesians 6, makes the following point:

To impress them still more deeply with their danger, [Paul] points out the nature of the enemy, which he illustrates by a comparative statement, Not against flesh and blood. The meaning is, that our difficulties are far greater than if we had to fight with men. There we resist human strength, sword is opposed to sword, man contends with man, force is met by force, and skill by skill; but here the case is widely different. All amounts to this, that our enemies are such as no human power can withstand. By flesh and blood the apostle denotes men, who are so denominated in order to contrast them with spiritual assailants. This is no bodily struggle.

Let us remember this when the injurious treatment of others provokes us to revenge. Our natural disposition would lead us to direct all our exertions against the men themselves; but this foolish desire will be restrained by the consideration that the men who annoy us are nothing more than darts thrown by the hand of Satan. While we are employed in destroying those darts, we lay ourselves open to be wounded on all sides. To wrestle with flesh and blood will not only be useless, but highly pernicious. We must go straight to the enemy, who attacks and wounds us from his concealment, -- who slays before he appears.

I really like what Dr. Steve Gaines says in his book, Morning Manna, in the devotional for January 28th, about spiritual warfare. He asks the question, how can we overcome Satan?

We Must Know Our Position. Jesus is Lord over the spirit world. He sits sovereignly at the right hand of God the Father who is making all of His enemies, including the devil, a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1). As Christians, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-6). Since Satan is under Christ's feet, he is under ours as well. "In Christ" we have the authority to cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15), and to tread victoriously upon demonic "serpants and scorpions" (Luke 10:19).

We Must Use Our Protection. Christians must regularly put on the whole armor of God through prayer in order to defeat the devil (Ephesians 6:10-18). The girdle of truth, shoes of the Gospel of peace, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, shield of faith, and sword of the Spirit (Word of God) are spiritual weapons that empower us to tear down demonic strongholds and defeat the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

We Must Rely on God's Power. Believers have power over the devil through the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 John 4:4), the name of Jesus (Acts 16:18), the blood of Jesus (Revelation 12:10-11), and the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). If we appropriate and utilize these resources, we will see the demonic forces around us begin to fall.

For whatever reason we tend to forget about the spiritual battles being waged, and focus solely instead on fighting fellow images of God. Perhaps it's because we like to think we can overcome sin ourselves, without God's help. Don't get me wrong - Christians should take stands against people who do wrong and oppose truth; but we should not let bitterness to take root. Keeping Paul's words about spiritual warfare in mind will remind us of our duty to pray continually for God's help. For indeed, as Genesis 4 says, "If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." I'll close with something Dr. Richard L. Pratt says in his book, Designed for Dignity:

Recognizing the threat of evil is essential to overcoming the effects of sin. As long as we think that sin is merely an internal struggle - a flaw within us - we will never take it as seriously as we ought. We can manage that kind of devil. But what about a supernatural Satan with the goal of conquering and ruining us? We have to take that kind of Devil seriously. We put up our defenses and form our counterstrategies. We work hard to master sin before it masters us.

And a couple questions to think about:

1. How should Paul's words in Ephesians 6:12 affect how we treat other people?
2. And, how should Paul's words in Ephesians 6:12 affect how we respond to the threat of sin in our everyday lives?