November 15, 2015

“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.”  Ephesians 6:12

                As Christians, we take our lives far too lightly.  As we continue our journey through the book of Daniel on Sunday mornings, we are finding out some incredible things that are hard for us to understand.  This Sunday we will discuss spiritual warfare.  This is a topic that most of us have a difficult time understanding.  This warfare is real and it occurs on a daily basis.  In the passage above, Paul makes it very clear that it is not people that we are fighting against but evil forces in the spiritual realm.  Obviously there are things going on around us that we cannot see and our minds really cannot understand.  How often do we really consider the spiritual realm?

                Paul warns us to put on the full armor of God.  He says to be careful that we do not skip any piece of the armor and be prepared for full combat every day.  Our goal in the warfare is to be able to constantly and consistently stand our ground against the enemy’s schemes.  The way that we are able to stand is found in Ephesians 6:10.  The passage says, “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power”.  Our combat strategy is not about winning the ultimate battle because Jesus has already been victorious.  Through the strength of the Lord, we are able to stand against the flaming arrows of the devil.  We really have no idea what is going on around us in the spiritual realm.  Certain passages (such as the one above and in Daniel 10) help us to understand that a real battle is waging between good and evil.

                We should be extremely mindful of our combat armor every day.  The enemy looks for any crack in our defense and will use that to wreak havoc in our lives.  Thankfully, by the power of God, we are able to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”.  Sometimes we foolishly think we are able to fight the battles ourselves though we know it doesn’t work that way.  Maybe you are there right now.  Maybe you are struggling with a situation because you are trying to fight the battle on your own.  Why do we so often have to find out the hard way that we only stand against the evil one by the mighty power of God?  Let’s close this week with Ephesians 6:10-11 which says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.  May your week be filled with the awesome power of the Lord!

 

We love you,
Brad and Virginia