Spiritual Warfare
Lets begin by looking at Ephesians 6:10-13:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Most of us have heard of spiritual warfare, but what does this mean and how does it apply to our daily lives as Christians? Often times the issue of spiritual warfare gets convoluted by sensationalism, superstition and now by the new wave of ‘Jerry Springer’ style spiritual programming carried on many religious cable TV stations today. These only serve to misguide believers and drive the world away from the true message of the gospel. Does satan hold such great power that he can distribute to his followers and use to oppresses the Christians? My goal today is to take a no-nonsense approach to examining what the scriptures say about spiritual warfare and how we should equip ourselves to stand in the heat of battle. I want to expound on three principles of spiritual warfare as it affects our lives. 1) We have the power to stand through God’s might. 2) What is satan’s power and how does he use it? 3) How do we stand?
1. We can stand through His might.
Verse 10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might”. The word in which we get ‘be strong’ literally means to receive strength. It is not your strength that equips you to stand; it is God’s strength invested in us when we submit to God. That is why James 4:7-8 tells us that the power of resisting is found through submitting to God. The devil does not flee from your power, but from God’s power within us that overcomes him. We have the promise that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. Resistance is no longer measured by our strength, but the strength of God who draws us out of temptation. To make sure we don’t miss the point, James 4:8 concludes with the instruction to “cleanse your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded”. To be double-minded means to have a divided interest. Those who are divided between living for Christ and living for the world will never experience the power of God in their lives until they allow God to cleanse, purify and renew them with a Christ-centered focus. Look at 2 Timothy 2:2-3:
3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
You cannot be a soldier of Christ and abandon Him and entangle yourself in the world. Strength comes from God and you must abide in Christ to live in his strength. You must receive your strength from God. The Bible says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”(1 Corinthians 10:12) Your strength will only stand as long as your opposition is weak or temptation is small. When the battle rages, those who stand on the rock of Christ have the power to stand even when their own strength fails.
2. How satan wields his power.
Before we can accurately understand satan’s power, we have to look at his limitations. Many people view satan as being the opposite of God and on par with God. Satan is not an evil god; he is merely an angel and a fallen one at that. Power belongs to God and when satan rebelled there is no logical reason to believe that he was allowed to keep the power that was invested in him for the purpose of fulfilling God’s will. We are given a glimpse of the devil’s power in Revelation 20:1-2. After the Great Tribulation, an angel was given a chain and sent to bind satan and cast him in a pit for 1,000 years. It is interesting to note that it didn’t take an army to subdue satan. It wasn’t even an angel of great authority. When God uses high ranking angels to proclaim a great event, they are named. God didn’t send Michael the Archangel or Gabriel who carried God’s message to both Daniel in the Old Testament and appeared to both Zacharius and Mary in the New Testament to proclaim the good news of the coming Messiah. God sent an angel of average stature to bind the ‘mighty’ satan.
Another misconception about angels and demons for that matter is that they are running wild wreaking havoc. All angels must obey God regardless of their stature. Any angel who will not obey receives swift judgment. 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment”. This is past tense; the angels who refuse to obey are already bound and awaiting judgment. Satan also knows his time is limited, but to disobey is to pronounce immediate judgment on himself. Those who will not conform are already bound. We also see that 4 wicked angels are bound and will be released during the tribulation period. We also see that demons (or fallen angels) fear a premature judgment. In Luke 8, Jesus encountered a man possessed with a legion of demons who begged Jesus not to send them to the abyss but pleaded to enter a heard of swine. In Matthew 8 we also see demons crying out and asking Jesus if He has come to torment them before the time. Satan and those who fell with him know that there is an appointed time and they have a limit to what they can do and a short time in which to do it. There is an appointed judgment and all angels are subject to God regardless of which side they are on. Satan may hate God, but he also knows where his boundaries are. Even the ‘war in heaven’ is nothing more than a round-up in which satan is cast out of heaven and limited only to earth as part of God’s final time of judgment. Satan is never referred to as having power in the Bible beyond the ability to deceive those who are willing to believe his lies and the limited power granted to him to perform a specific task that he has permission to do.
Now that we have looked at the limitations of satan, lets look at his power. To understand satan’s powers, lets take a closer look at Ephesians 6:11-12. We are told to defend ourselves with the God’s armor and stand by God’s strength so that we can ‘stand against the wiles of the devil’. The definition of ‘wiles’ is cunning arts, deceit and trickery. It is very important that you grasp this principle. Deceit, seduction and lies are the powers of satan. No more, no less. Satan does not have the power to physically harm you, force you to act nor does he wield any power over you. Satan is a caged lion that seeks to devour. He can only devour those he can convince to come into his territory by submitting to him. There is no such thing as ‘the devil made me do it’. There is no such thing as spiritual beings physically harming a physical being. Those who have given him control may harm themselves, but the spiritual can’t inflict physical damage. Satan and demonic forces only have the power that a man or woman submits to them or God allows to them. That is why satan is the master of lies. We are deceived into unknowingly submitting our desires to satan in hopes of having our selfish desires met.
Verse 12 says, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, rulers, darkness, and spiritual wickedness”. Lets do a quick word study of the Greek definitions by which we translate these words.
Powers - 1) the power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases. 2) The power of influence.
Rulers - lord of the world, prince of this age...the devil and his demons.
Darkness - darkened eyesight or blindness; ignorance that causes lack of respect to divine things and human duties which leads to immorality.
Spiritual - human spirit as belonging to God.
Heavenly places - the heavenly temple or sanctuary.
Don’t forget that you are the temple of God. We indeed are in a spiritual war and are called and equipped to stand against an enemy we cannot see. The war may be between heaven and the forces of hell, but it is played out in the lives of each individual man and woman. Throughout scripture we are warned over and over to both equip ourselves for the battle and to not be ignorant of satan’s schemes. The power of satan is his ability to convince you to act contrary to God’s will. If you can recognize his deceptions and choose to surrender yourselves to God, satan’s powers are completely deflated. There are two ways that we can be attacked, but none of these attacks can harm our spirit without our submission. Satan can attack our circumstances and he can attack our feelings. Lets take a quick look at these two.
Circumstances. We are given an inside glimpse at spiritual attacks on our physical bodies by the story of Job. In the trials of Job we see that God first equipped Job and built a hedge around him and built up Job’s faith. Only by permission was satan able to attack Job with any outside circumstances. God knew Job’s heart and knew his faith could stand. We have the absolute promise that we will never be tested beyond what we can endure. Job lived his life for God and God was his focus. This was evident because when everything was stripped, Job remained faithful. Job had a real faith, which enabled him to trust God even when he didn’t understand why. His faith was not dependent upon blessings, but the knowledge of the truth of God. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”. Job knew with absolute certainty that God cared and was out for his good. He was so confident in God’s purposes that he was willing to die before he would abandon God. Job’s focus wasn’t on things or circumstances, but on God.
We see the reverse is true with Judas Iscariot. His focus was not on God, but on the blessings he expected. When Jesus’ plan did not fall in line with Judas’ desires, he abandon and betrayed Christ so that he could fulfill his greed and his own self-interest. He stayed with Christ until it became clear that Jesus was not going for an earthly throne. Self-gain was the only thing that made sense to Judas and Jesus’ call to deny self did not offer the gratification Judas was focusing on. Out of greed, Judas betrayed Jesus for a purse full of silver. When his greed failed to fulfill him, he committed suicide. Judas’ faith was not in Christ; instead it was on what Christ could give him. His focus was on his own fulfillment. Like Judas, if we put our trust in things or our focus on self-gratification, we will not stand when God’s plan doesn’t make since. We won’t be able to trust that God sees the end and works all things to our good. If circumstances are the foundation that supports our faith, we will become angry with God when trials come instead of trusting in God’s plan. Neither Job nor Judas understood God’s plan and they could not see the end result. Judas lost everything including his soul, but Job inherited rewards in heaven, became an icon of faith and found God’s best which exceeded all that he had before the trials began. Judas sought self and what he found was worthlessness. Job denied himself and sought God. He found God and the complete fulfillment that only comes from God. Job never loved the things, but his reward was God and in the end he found what he was looking for and also obtained what Judas was looking for.
Our circumstances can be attacked and God will use it for our eternal benefit. By permission, the devil can attack our finances, health, and any other part of our physical world. However, we must also be aware that satan can’t do these things without a physical messenger. People, disease, the elements are used. Satan is not a physical being and cannot bite people or do any of the sensational things as superstition often claims. Not all physical circumstances are a part of God’s plan. When we abandon God and pursue the world, we cannot expect to remain under the umbrella of God’s authority. Sometimes pain is the consequences of bad choices. God can use these hardships to drive us back to Him, but they are not the best that God desires to give us. Scripture teaches that troubles are sometimes the consequences of sin, but sometimes they are not the result of sin at all. If we are following God with our whole heart, we can be confident that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. We not only have to belong to God, but to answer the call of His purpose.
Sometimes hardship is how God directs us. Look at Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies be at peace with him”. God uses His word, our desires, events, people and circumstances to shape and direct our lives. We are trying to walk by the Spirit but we live in a physical world whose demands often convolute our way. This is why it is so important to recognize that we don’t war against flesh and blood. When an enemy rises up and we allow this to create bitterness in our heart, we prevent God from working good in our lives. Even when I fell like my motives are sincere, there will be times when I will get sidetracked from God’s calling. God can use our enemies to close doors that we should not go through. Our enemies will be painfully honest and often reveal what we need to see. God often uses our enemies to build our character, test our faith and direct our path. We can’t see tomorrow, but God can. We must learn to trust God regardless of our problems or obstacles. They may still be your enemy, but God can give us peace among them.
Selfish desires. Perhaps the greatest tool at satan’s disposal is our selfish desires. All the power of hell is unleashed upon someone who will follow wholeheartedly after their desires. Hitler, Stalin and a host of others have massacred millions upon millions for the sole purpose of fulfilling their own desires. Desires of power, greed, lust and any other selfish driven motive that goes unchecked. Every serial killer has one thing in common. An unquenchable desire that is calling the shots. When we submit to our desires, our desires will make our decisions. As Christians, we have the power to choose to be Spirit lead instead of desire driven. Satan cannot make you do anything. He can only present to you a deception with the goal of influencing you to make bad choices. The responsibility rests solely upon your will. Satan exercises his power by jerking the chains of desire that grips each person who does not live by the spiritual standard Christ has set.
Many times we hear people say that they are oppressed when in fact they are succumbing to temptation. It is not demonic oppression, it is a double-minded Christian. They are torn between knowing what is right and wanting what the world offers. Satan cannot oppress a Christian. Satan cannot possess a Christian. By oppress, I mean spiritually. In Christ, you have been set free. You have the power to live as a child of God. You also have the power to submit to sin. The problem is not that we are oppressed or are under attack, the problem is that we want to be a child of God and live for the world. The two are incompatible.
Look at Philippians 3:
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame -- who set their mind on earthly things.
If your mind is on earthly desires, your belly (or gratification selfish desires) is your god and you living in opposition to Christ. To live by desires is to make desires into your god. In this modern age we have been duped into believing that grace means we can live by our desires without consequences. This idea is refuted throughout the Bible, Old and New Testaments. The grace of God is the unmerited favor of God that reaches out to us who are sinners, pulls us out of the pit created by selfish desires, and sets us on a rock so that we have the power to live for God. You can’t be a part of Christ without submitting to Christ. It is the grace of God offered through faith in Christ that breaks the chains that bind us to our desires. We are now free to live by faith, not by sight. We longer base our lifestyle on getting everything our eyes lust after, but by living by faith – believing and trusting in God’s plan for our lives and trusting God to fulfill our desires. We believe that He who created us knows better than the world what it takes to satisfy and fulfill us.
The world does not have this benefit. The world lives by desire and searches for fulfillment based on what feels good. Worldly desires are satan’s domain. If satan can convince you to live by your desires, you will be controlled by your passions and drawn by what he presents. Jesus warned the church, “You are the salt of the world. If the salt looses its savor, where will it be salted?” Salt adds flavor and preserves. Before refrigeration was invented, salt was often used to prevent decay. The church has lost the savor of God and has become like the world. In the past, this country was morally preserved by the flavor of the church. Now as the church decays, so does society. The secret of cultural renewal is not in politics, but in a return to living for Christ. If we live for Christ, we will flavor our culture and politics. Without godly men and women, there is nothing to prevent decay. If you are living for your desires, you will be driven by your passions. Self-gratification is a consuming passion. It spreads like wildfire but never fulfills; it only destroys. Look at Romans 6:16-18
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
If you submit yourselves to sin, you become a slave to sin. You cannot live for the world without becoming a slave to sin. You will submit. You will either reap righteousness or you will reap spiritual death. Physical death is inevitable, but to die spiritually is a fate worse than death. The heat of the spiritual battle is fought at the level of your desires. It is unfortunate that we see the consequences of sin all around us, yet we are more willing to believe the devil who promotes it than we are to believe God who says, “Follow me. If you are willing to lose your life for my sake, you will find it.” Our selfish desires call us to lust for what we can get now and worry about the consequences later; whereas Jesus calls us to trust Him now so that we can reap the benefits of God in this life and for all of eternity.
The one who controls your desires, controls you. You will submit to one or the other. If you trust God, you will submit in faith and the Bible says that your faith is accounted for righteousness. The Bible also tells us that when we don’t trust God, we have an evil heart of unbelief. To disbelieve God is sin, but to have faith is credited for righteousness. To have faith is not only to believe, but to believe and trust God by acting upon that belief. Each area of your life that you can surrender to God is an act of faith that God credits for righteousness. Your faith allows you to grow closer to God. When you don’t believe God and act on sinful desires, you are driven from God. The spiritual battle is won or lost at your desires. Who do you believe and which way will you choose?
3. How do we resist?
Verse 13 says to take up the whole armor of God. God does not give us a pick-and-choose religion, but gives us a choice of a lifestyle according to His will. You cannot arm yourself for this warfare with a weak, half-armed defense. Satan knows your weaknesses and anyone who does not follow God will suffer the loss. Let’s conclude by looking at the armor. Notice this is written assuming that you are willing to prepare before heading into battle. This passage often refers to ‘having’ put on the armor. God does not send us into confusion, but prepares us ahead of time so that we can stand. All of the advantages of this war are in our favor. God protects us from blind attacks and prepares us for victory.
“Having girded your waist with truth”. Truth is the foundation on which everything is built. If you don’t know what is true, you cannot avoid deception and will fall to the ‘wiles’ or deception of the devil. There are not multiple truths. The Bible expressly rules out anything but itself and God’s truth. Either the Bible is wrong, or all other religions are wrong. We must choose whose word we believe. This belt is what holds all things together. Everything in our spiritual life is fastened and held in place by truth. Without a solid understanding of truth, all defenses are compromised.
“Having put on the breastplate of righteousness”. The breastplate guards the heart and vital organs. Only by righteousness can we protect our heart from attack. If I am living in sin, every problem in life will shake my foundation. Only living according to God’s righteousness can I have the confidence that everything is according to God’s purpose. My heart will never fail if I am confident in God and I can only be confident in God if I know my lifestyle pleases Him.
“Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace”. Paul wrote this epistle while observing the Roman soldiers who held him captive. Unlike the standard of this era, Roman soldiers did not wear heavy armor to protect their feet. Instead the Roman army successfully implemented a new strategy. They wore a very lightweight sandal that laced up over their calves with leather bands for support. Underneath the sandals were metal spikes that assured them of a firm footing. Their plan was to be the one pushing forward. The Romans realized that the soldier with the best footing will have victory on the battlefield. The same is true for the Christian. The Christian who knows, not only what he or she believes, but why they believe what they believe. A faith that is dependent of feelings will fail when emotions dive, but a faith that is based on truth will stand strong regardless of circumstances. We as believers must know not only what it takes to receive salvation by faith, but also what it means to live by faith in God. The gospel is not just getting a ticket to heaven, but the good news of God’s plan of salvation that includes God’s plan for our lives. We have a purpose that has benefits which extend to our daily lives and the hope of eternity. Anything short of a Christ focused lifestyle will create a weak faith that cannot provide you with the footing needed to live a victorious and abundant life. If you are disappointed in God, you need to shod your feet with the whole gospel.
“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one”. Roman soldiers carried lightweight shields that consisted mostly of wood. Enemy archers would shoot flaming arrows, so to protect themselves, they would soak their shields in water so the flaming arrows and darts would be extinguished. Faith is your shield. If you don’t trust God, you will not withstand against satan’s attacks. A defeated Christian is one who quickly falls away when problems rise. Their focus is on circumstances and have expectations that must be fulfilled in order to believe. They expect God to exempt them from the struggles of life. When pain or trials come along, they don’t trust God so they abandon the battle and feel like God has failed them. If you obey and are prepared by taking on the whole armor, and you trust God’s complete plan beyond what you can see, you will stand strong and your faith in God’s purposes will quench the devil attempts to use to draw you away or create doubt.
“Take the helmet of salvation”. All the religion in the world will not benefit you without taking God’s offering of salvation. Salvation is not found in deeds or good works. Salvation only comes by receiving God’s gift of grace. To believe in God and to believe Jesus died for my sins is only half the picture. There must be a point in time when I reach out and take God’s free gift. To receive salvation, there must be a submission to Christ. When I recognize my ways can not make me right before God, I turn from my own ways and choose God’s way. Contrary to the new popular belief, it is a complete surrender. Salvation is not received at the convenience of breaking away from my lifestyle getting salvation and then going back to my same ways. It is a change of citizenship. I surrender my sinful life in exchange for the righteous life that God has prepared for me. The lifestyle I choose represents my citizenship. If I confess to have faith in Christ and then refuse to transfer my citizenship out of the world, I have not surrendered. Consider 1 John 1
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The evidence for our salvation is that we walk in the light, and if we fall into sin, Jesus cleanses our sins and we return to walking in the light. If our life is in Christ, we will want to walk in Christ. There is a big difference between living for Christ, blowing it, repenting and getting back into His will as opposed to living for the world and only coming to Christ to unload some guilt. Those who press toward holiness and fall into sin are forgiven when the repent and get up again. Those who press toward the world and don’t regard God’s ways don’t have forgiveness until they repent. Repentance and forgiveness cannot be separated. Repentance is a change of heart and mind. It is turning from the way you have been going and following the will of God. If we walk in the light and blow it, we return and forgiveness is an ongoing process along with our learning how to live godly. Walking in the darkness (or a sinful, worldly lifestyle) has no place in God’s plan.
“And [take up] the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. This is the only offensive part of the armor. The gospel of Christ advances by the word of God. The church only becomes weakened when the people abandon the word of God. There are many avenues in which we become involved and as Christians we are commanded to be lights to the world. The problem is that many times we abandon the word in order to stand for what we feel is important. Politics are important and we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the freedom God has given us and we should vote and be involved in our culture. However, the battle cannot be won in the political arena. When God’s people submit themselves to God, His blessings will follow. The farther we get from the word, the weaker our faith and our influence on our culture will become. The farther our culture gets from the word, the more opposed they become to the word of God. The word of God shines light on sin and the greater the sin of the people; the more resistant they will be to anything that exposes their sins. The moral failure of our culture is a direct reflection on the power of the church. The power of the church is a direct reflection on the spiritual condition of God’s people.
Our study ends at verse 18 as we are instructed to pray always with prayers and supplications in the Spirit and to be watchful. Prayer is crucial for everything. To pray in the Spirit is to pray with a spiritual perspective. In 1 John 5:14 we are told that if we ask anything according to God’s will, we can be confident that we will have the petitions we ask. To pray in the Spirit is to seek the things of God in prayer. We can be confident that if we are following God and seeking God’s purposes we will be blessed. The purpose of prayer is to seek God’s will. God’s promises are obtained by obedience. Prayer is to seek God’s will and to put our hearts in line with His will. Through prayer, I learn to commune with God, I seek God to meet my needs and direct my paths. I use prayer to minister petition for others who have needs and to requests God’s power. God’s heart is touched through spiritual prayer. God is not touched through selfish and greedy prayers.
Indeed we are in the middle of a spiritual battle, but we have already been given the victory. This is clarified in the following passages:
John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Colossian 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
The spiritual battle is won by submission to Christ:
Galatians 5: 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
It all boils down to two choices. One, let Christ crucify your flesh with its passions and desires; or two, let satan lead your life by pulling you by the chains of your desires. You can’t crucify your flesh, you can only surrender to Christ, follow Him and allow Him to crucify your flesh.
This is Part 1 of a two part study. Part 2 is ’The Sovereignty of God’.
*** This sermon can be downloaded as a Word document by following the link at http://www.exchangedlife.com/Sermons/Eph/spiritual_warfare.htm ***
