The Spiritual War

The Spiritual War

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

It is obvious that according to Ephesians 6 that the people of God are in a war and thus fight battles against the spirits of darkness. I have read and heard a great deal of preaching and teaching on this subject. However, few individuals have understood the full implications of this passage when it is applied literally to the temporal realm. Instead, they either completely spiritualize it or make it a war that one can engage at will, or they insist that Christ has already fought and won and thus we do not have to fight. The Apostle Paul certainly did not have these views of the great spiritual war against God. I can testify that after 35 years of fighting, it is not a war that one can be casual about without becoming a casualty. I will give you the clear truth. There is no rest in this war until Christ returns, and anyone who declares that you are already victorious is not telling the truth. You absolutely have the potential to be victorious, but there is no victory without a battle. To declare victory when one has not fought or is not finished fighting is foolishness. It is the same as declaring spiritual perfection. It is saying that one is never wrong, never makes bad decisions, never makes mistakes, never misses the will of God, and never sins, and never goes through any hardships in life. In such as case the individual ought to be as productive as Christ when He walked in sinless perfection on this earth. Are those perfectly victorious people expressing a Christlike productivity? Not any that I have known personally.

The clear truth is that we have to live by faith and the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith (Ro. 1:17). Those who are children of God fight from battle to battle to enforce and maintain the righteousness of God in our life. Everything in the kingdom of darkness is against us. Satan uses the temporal realm and everything in it to oppose and attack us. Anyone who declares that he or she is a child of God and attempts to live righteously will be attacked. This opposition drives many professing Christians to hide their Christianity from the world except in venues where it does not stand in glaring opposition to the darkness. They only let their little light shine in church meetings or other Christian gatherings. Most of them have failed to grasp, or have long forgotten, that it is in everyday life where Christ is revealed though us. That is where the battles occur. It is also true that people pick their battles. They will resist certain things and attempt to co-exist with other things. As a result, we observe professing Christians that will be strongly opposed to abortion but appear to have no problem submitting to lusts and other evil. They reason that because they are strong on one front, their spirituality on all points is acceptable. They do not realize that Satan is content with such a professing Christian and can accomplish a great deal in their communities and even in their homes. In fact, I have witnessed such individuals in our community militantly oppose liquor sales and homosexual marriage, and yet they never attempt to win lost people, they commit sin without hesitation, live spiritually weak lives, not to mention regularly excommunicating pastors whom they have grown weary of. They believe that public protests against certain sins make up for their unwillingness to fight for godliness in all other areas of their lives.

That brings me to another important fact. It is clear that in many areas of the world there is little spiritual opposition to certain demonic spirits. For example, in some areas there will be the more obvious spirits of gambling, drunkenness, prostitution, drug addition, or party spirits. Consider Las Vegas or Myrtle Beach. However, the subtle spirits may be more powerful and actually cause more damage. I have preached in many venues where people that would never get drunk, never commit any of the other public sins, and yet they had completely submitted to demonic spirits. As a result, their churches are either non-productive or have very little productivity. In some venues I have literally seen a spirit settle over a congregation. When it occurred, there was no use in attempting to preach. I have even told the people what was occurring and asked them to fight against it, but in each case they could not understand. The reason is because they have lived with that spirit since birth. It had been dominating that area for generations. Only someone from the outside could recognize it. It can also be recognized when an individual decides to break free from it and submit totally to God's Holy Spirit. It may take prayer with fasting, but eventually the persistent believer will recognize the demonic spirit that everyone is doing battle with in every area of his or her life. The lost culture is already defeated by the spirit and will reflect the nature of it in their daily lives and in the way they entertain themselves.

Finally, I want to identify the demonic spirit that is operating in the area where I am currently working. In this are there is a very strong spirit of depression. This spirit causes, discouragement, poverty, hopelessness and negativism, and limits spiritual productivity in professing Christians. People may read and believe in God's word, and yet they may not realize that they being oppressed by a very strong demonic spirit in their community. My son-in-law Mark and I came to the town of Spiro, Oklahoma to do a simple bathroom remodel for my mother and father-in-law. Every step of progress was met by very unusual problems. It slowed down productivity to a crawl. When we would get the problems with job and other material issues overcome so that we could move forward, violent storms would appear in the midst of this drought-stricken area. The last one knocked out the electricity, ending our day of work, and even snapped a large tree in the yard next to the house we were working on. Mark's youngest daughter came down with pneumonia one morning and had to be taken to the emergency room, keeping him from the job for most of the day. There were other numerous battles that made the job much more difficult and long. We prayed much, had other people praying, but still fought. One evening when we made one of our many trips to get materials I prayed all the way to the store that was about 30 minutes away and prayed all the way back. We got more accomplished in the two hours we had left in the work day than we had the other part of the day. This revealed to me that there was a demonic spirit in opposition to us and that the normal amount of prayer would not be enough to overcome its power.

Now I don't want to hear from all the individuals that continually offer little spiritual platitudes about faith, spirituality, victory, destiny, and so forth, that they have not walked in. I am not a rookie when it comes to spiritual battles and subsequent victories. Very little repulses me more than people who play spiritual games and attempt to impose the results on individuals who have actually been engaged in spiritual warfare. These low output, high maintenance, and deluded individuals have for decades cluttered up Christianity with their false doctrines, limiting the productivity while deceiving people into a false sense of security. That is a work of Satan. If the works of darkness are to be overcome, then people who claim they are children of God must engage in the battle. One cannot simply go about claiming and professing everything is okay. The tongue is indeed a deadly member, but it has no value at all against the powers of darkness when it is not connected to a warriors heart. You cannot talk the devil to death. Our words must be accompanied with action. Further, our words must be truth. The most effective thing we can do against the powers of darkness is pray. However, if we want to defeat its power in a certain venue, the most effective way is to first allow the nature of Christ to shine through us, and to convince lost souls to surrender to Him. The more people that become Christians and are filled with the Holy Spirit, the less power Satan has in a community. That is not accomplished overnight.

When I was praying today, a verse came to mind that perplexes some folks.

Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. (Matt. 13:58)

When people in an are submit to the dominant spirit they will unbelief will poison their faith. What Satan wants is for professing Christians to accept the dominion of a demonic spirit over them. In return, he will give activities to do in their spare time that present no problem for him. He will allow them to attend church meetings unhindered because he knows that they are simply going to hear what they do not intend to assimilate and activate in their lives. The strongest response to most preaching and teaching comes immediately afterward in the form of a compliment to the preacher or teacher. Satan does not mind how many Christian music concerts one attends. He cares little if the youth have pizza parties or the church has fellowship dinners. He does little to impede the progress of erecting large buildings except to use the occasion to spread disunity. The truth is that unless one directly oppose the demonic spirit that has control over a community, that is driving people away from God and into the various corridors that lead to death, a professing Christian can live a fairly peaceful life just vegetating, having fun, and attending church meetings.

Of course, no one has to believe a word that I have written. But then it is incumbent on such a person not just to feel that I am wrong, but to prove me wrong. Do what I do for a few days. Arise early in the morning an pray for a hour or two. Eject from one's life the various involvements that do not lead to or that hinder spiritual growth and maturity. That means limiting television and other activities. Focus at length daily on ones relationship with God. When ones mind wanders to earthly things, reject those thoughts and think about godly things. Last, surrender to God's will, go where He wants you to go, do what He wants you to do, and say what He wants you to say. Eventually one will reach the point to where he or she will recognize the powers of darkness at work around him or her. Of course, one can at that point decide that he or she doesn't want to be in this war and simply go back to sleep. But one thing is for certain, and that is, they will have no ground for complaining when they experience the effect of living in a venue where the ruling demonic spirit operates unhindered by professing Christians who are called and equipped to oppose it. That's the truth if anyone can accept it.