Engaging in Spiritual Warfare

By:  Dale Weckbacher

This Saturday’s post is the third segment of the six-week series on empowered evangelism.  The studies are based upon the Book Empowered Evangelism, which is available on my book page at https://sites.google.com/site/dalesrbooks/

Ephesians 6:12

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.

NKJV

As a Christian my greatest wish and hope is that we could live in a world without war or conflict.  I wish we lived in a world of unity and love where we could work out our differences in a civil manner.  Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world since man’s fall in the Garden and even though Jesus provided complete victory on the cross, we will continue to live in a fallen world until Jesus returns to establish his heavenly kingdom here on earth.  Until that time, we will continue to live in a fallen world and need to wrestle against rulers of darkness of our age and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. 

Like it or not, when we decide to share our faith with others, we place ourselves in the middle of this spiritual war for Satan knows he was defeated at the cross and that his days in power on earth are numbered.  He therefore is now attempting to take as many souls with him to Hell by indoctrinating people into his lies through this world’s secular education system and the media while hampering Christians with fear of sharing their faith.  We indeed find ourselves in a war against,

1)      Principalities and powers – The uproar over a law passed in Indiana protecting religious freedom demonstrates how special interests, in this case the special interest of gay rights, are used by Satan and the forces of darkness in our world to attempt to silence Christians.  Religious liberty has now become a political battlefield in the upcoming 2016 presidential election.  (1)  The mainstream media completely ignores the fact that President Bill Clinton signed a similar law when President.  (2)  In reality, the law is not the issue here, the issue is how can we insure evangelical Christians stay home again in 2016 insuring Republicans run another moderate candidate easily defeated by a liberal Democrat and not a conservative candidate capable of exciting evangelical Christians insuring a Republican victory.  This is why evangelical Christians need to be vocal in standing up for their religious liberties and show up at the poles voting for the candidate best vowing to protect religious liberties. 

2)      Spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places – Behind the earthly principalities and powers are spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.  Daniel had been fervently praying for 21 days with no answer from God when an angel came to him.  The angel told Daniel that his prayer was heard on the first day but the delivery of the answer was delayed because of a spiritual battle involving the prince of the kingdom or Persia (Daniel 10:12-13).  The angel goes on to tell Daniel that he had to enlist the help of Michael and was able to prevail.  We are now seeing violence and persecution against Christians as we have not seen in many years.  In many parts of the world we see Christians beheaded, crucified, or imprisoned for their faith.  Jews also have few friends in the world especially with Israel’s best ally, the United States seeming to turn their backs on them.  Once again, Satan knows his days in power are numbered and where he cannot silence Christians out of fear through political correctness, he attempts to silence them through fear of physical harm or death. 

Fortunately, Christians need not fear for God has provided us with powerful weapons to win this spiritual battle.  We have,

1)      The belt of truth – The Word of God is truthful and remains constant in an ever changing world

2)      The breastplate of righteousness – We are righteous before God because of the work of Jesus on the cross.  However, we are not perfect and all have sin in our past.  Satan attempts to silence us by bringing up our past, a past forgotten by God due to the work of Jesus on the Cross.  The breastplate of righteousness is there to remind us of the finished work of Jesus on the cross

3)      Shoes made with the preparation of the gospel of peace – Wherever we as Christians walk, we have an opportunity to share the good news of the gospel both in how we conduct our lives and our words.

4)      The shield of faith – Satan attacks Christians in an effort to silence and stop us from engaging in spiritual warfare.  He may attack our health, our finances, and even our mental health.  However, we have the shield of faith and the assurance that no weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17).

5)      The helmet of salvation – The last words of Jesus on the cross were it is finished (John 19:30).  There is nothing we must do to earn salvation other than accepting the fact that Jesus came, died, was buried, and rose again to save us from our sins (Romans 10:9-10).  However, Satan will bring up how we have failed God since accepting Him as our savior creating doubt in our minds about our salvation.  The helmet of salvation is there to protect us from these attacks. 

6)      The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God – This is the only offensive weapon in the Christian arsenal but the only offensive weapon we need.  When tempted, Jesus was able to resist using the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11).  The Word of God is a two edged sword  that not only helps us resist temptation but also cuts to the hearts of people either trying to attack us or people we want to receive Christ (Hebrews 4:12).

In an article appearing in the New York Times, Benjamin Fearnow wrote that Muslims would outnumber Christians by 2070 based upon current numerical trends.  (3)    Christians can change this numerical trend by engaging in the spiritual warfare for the souls of lost men and women in our world.  The question is, will those you reading this engage in this spiritual war?

1. Swoyer, Matthew Boyle and Alex. Pence’s Indiana Law Makes Religious Liberty A 2016 Battlefield. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, 30 2015, March. [Cited: 3 2015, April.] http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/30/pences-indiana-law-makes-religious-liberty-a-2016-battlefield/.

2. Swoyer, Alex. Flashback: Bill Clinton on Religious Freedom, ‘The Most Precious of All American Liberties’. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, March 31, 2015. [Cited: April 3, 2015.] http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/31/flashback-bill-clinton-on-religious-freedom-the-most-precious-of-all-american-liberties/.

3. Fearnow, Benjamin. Study: Muslims To Outnumber Christians Worldwide At 2070. www.washington.cbslocal.com. [Online] CBS DC, April 2, 2015. [Cited: April 3, 2015.] http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/04/02/study-muslims-to-outnumber-christians-worldwide-at-2070/.