Greetings, brethren

The Battleground of Spiritual Warfare

The struggle takes place in within the hearts and lives of believers. Another fundamental truth in spiritual warfare is how we, the believer, allow the devil access into our lives. “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26-27). According to this Scripture, anger is an emotion that if not spiritually controlled, can turn into a sinful action, leaving one in a state of sinfulness, where if left un-repented of, gives the devil open access into the sinners life. God told Cain, “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:7). Again we can see how vulnerable we are to the works of the devil. God provides protection and a way for us to escape reminding us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We as believers have the choice, and in order to stay under God’s protection we must choose to repent when we sin and discover the devil has a hold on us! We must remember the works of the devil have been destroyed and in this truth we can know for certain that he has no power over us other than what we give him. However, we give him power often without knowledge of it and while enabling the devil may not affect our salvation, it certainly destroys our witness to others as well as the joy we can have in Christ while here on earth.

 The Wiles of the Devil (Deception, Temptation, and Accusation)

We are vulnerable to Satan because he is formidable and without the protection of God we are helpless to the prince of this world! Another major foundational truth about spiritual warfare comes to us from Paul’s teachings in Ephesians. “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. 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” (Eph 6:10-12). Our battle is not with what or who we can see but with who and what we cannot see. Without spiritual discernment, God’s armor, we can and will be deceived.

Deception is an evil scheme, a purely evil practice. To deceive someone, is to get a person to believe something that is not true. Once in a state of deception it is easy to create a wall of lies, strongholds, that will eventually lead the deceived into temptation, action, and death (James 1:14, 15). We discover Satan’s strategy of deception in Genesis. First of all he appears as something he is not, a serpent, and in this lowly state of appearance he begins a dialogue with Eve. He starts by injecting doubt into the certain truth Eve has received from God (“Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” (Gen 3:1)). This subtle tactic is very effective on the Christian who is not confident in the Word of God; questioning God’s truth plants seeds of doubt in the believer’s mind; leaving them with the thought that perhaps God’s Word cannot be trusted. If this method of deception gains a foothold, if Satan can actually control the way you think about the certainty of God’s truth, he can and will destroy you! Hosea proclaimed in his warning to the Hebrews, “My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Paul warned believers countless times not to be ignorant concerning the Word of God.

It is while in a state of deception that Satan then entices us with temptation(s). Once the devil had Eve questioning God’s truth, injecting thoughts of doubt into her mind about what God said, he then contradicted God’s warning of death to the disobedient, “You will surely not die” (Gen 3:4) he claimed,  therefore presenting the fruit as both harmless and desirable. Once the fear of death for eating from the forbidden tree was eliminated, Eve was comfortable with eating its fruit and sharing it with Adam. The lie was easy to proclaim to Eve in her state of deception and without the strength and protection of God’s Word to sustain her she was tempted and easily provoked to act on that temptation. This disobedience brought on by the wiles of the devil, coupled with man’s lack of trusting God by obeying His Word, is the essence of spiritual warfare. Deception is Satan’s number one tactic. It is his agenda to get mankind to trust in their own strength apart from God’s protection so he can boast to God of his cleverness over His when it comes to governing the affairs of mankind.

Lastly, Satan likes to remind the sinner of their faults and shortcomings; he is known as the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10). It is an ongoing effort in these accusations to keep the sinner feeling guilty thereby keeping the act of repentance between men to God from occurring. Satan knows that repentance brings cleansing to the unrighteous sinner. So how do we stand firm in this world where Satan is the ruler of the air, against the principalities and powers? In James we are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). How do we do that, resist him? The remainder of this paper will focus on our command to put on God’s armor, stand firm against the schemes of the devil, and pray for the brethren. It will do us well to remember we are not called to defeat the devil that has already been accomplished by Jesus Christ. We are only told to spiritually suit up, stand firm, and pray and as these are the prerequisites for protection in duty, we can be sure God has provided a way for us to exercise these commands.

In Christ,

Jim