Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We are in a battle! The moment each of us became a Christian, we were drafted into the Lord’s army. Not only that, but Satan and his demons also declared war against us. No wonder then that one of the titles used for the Christian is that he/she is a soldier. And soldiers fight. However, we seem to sometimes fall into two extremes. The first extreme is the ignorance of the fact that we are in a spiritual battle. On the other hand, there are those who see every human struggle as battle. Both of these extremes are not useful in helping us engage in a winsome manner in this war.
The Ephesian church was one that was delivered from deep pagan worship and magic practices (Acts 19). Paul then writes to them in today’s text to assure them of the awesome spiritual arsenal they have and the guaranteed victory. He teaches them, and us by extension, that ours is a different kind of battle, a spiritual one. And because you never go to a gun fight with a knife, we can not employ earthly and fleshly tactics to engage. This understanding of the nature of the battle and the weapons that we engage with is extremely useful. Every believer must, therefore, be fully armed with both knowledge of the battle and the accompanying war regalia – the full armour.
Reflections
1. What is your understanding of spiritual warfare?
2. How would you distinguish what is warfare from what is normal human struggle?
