Winning Spiritual Battles

Every human being has a common adversary. He is the devil. The Bible does not portray him as a grotesque and chill-raising creature...

“Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” [1]

Hunters do not scare prey from a trap. They lure prey to a trap. Satan tempted Jesus with food when He was hungry. He tempted Jesus to misuse spiritual power. He tempted Jesus with the kingdoms of the world. Each shiny temptation was a lure to a trap, namely, the great loss that comes when one betrays God’s leadership for Satan’s. Jesus rebuked the devil. [2]

So, the Lord urges us to prepare for battle...

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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.” [3]

The armor we wear is spiritual because we are not contending with people, but with evil itself. Our goal is to defeat the devil from winning the minds of people away from God to his way of thinking. This battle began when Satan convinced our first parents, Adam, and Eve, to exchange God’s narrative for his lie. Scripture states that this battle is ongoing...

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” [4]

So, what are our weapons?

“Stand therefore, having the belt of truth, having the breastplate of righteousness, and having on your feet the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit...” [5]

We need God’s truth, His righteousness, His Gospel, faith, salvation (be saved by God), God’s Word – the Bible, and prayer. We need to pray to God. Prayer can be challenging work. It can be wearisome, but we need to pray. Our prayers rise to God like incense. He turns our prayers into firepower that yield results. [6]

We hear a lot about resistance movements these days. We need to resist the devil...

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” [7]

How do we win? By steadfastly (never letting up) believing in Christ...

“Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” [7]

[1] 2 Corinthians 11:14
[2] Matthew 4:1-10
[3] Ephesians 6:11-12
[4] 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
[5] Ephesians 6:14-18
[6] Revelation 8:3-5
[7] James 4:7
[8] 1 John 5:5