Scripture clearly indicates that we are in a world where we are not just fighting against human forces of evil but against spiritual forces of evil.
(Ephesians 6:10-17) leaves us with no doubt that behind human evil there exists the dark forces of Satan and his horde of demons. And this is no more clearly stated than in (Ephesians 6), for we read:
“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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
So, the natural question to ask is how can we read these verses and apply them to our own spiritual warfare battle that all Christians are engaged in? I believe that Sinclair B. Ferguson gives us great insight here when he stated: “As in all warfare, the two essential elements in victory are knowing your enemy and knowing your resources.”1 Notice that Ferguson states that his advice applies to all warfare, whether human or spiritual.
Let’s look at his two elements and see how it pertains to spiritual warfare.
First, he says that we need to know who our enemy is. And in the case of spiritual warfare we are in a battle against an invisible foe named Satan. Sadly, many people want you to believe that the devil doesn’t exist and that there are no such things as demons. But if one re-reads (Ephesians 6:10-17) the Scriptures can’t be more plain that Satan is alive and well and is a powerful foe that we shouldn’t underestimate. And while Christians, when protected with the full armor of God, need not be afraid to battle the devil, nonetheless many believers fail to suit up with the armor that God has provided them with. And without this armor we can suffer major setbacks in our battles in life.
The second essential element, in winning the spiritual warfare that we as believers are engaged in, is that we need to know what resources we have at our disposal to wage war again our arch enemy – Satan. And that is where our above Scripture verses from (Ephesians 6) are critical to win the battle. In (Ephesians 6:10) we read: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Here we see that we have God’s mighty power at our disposal and when we arm ourselves with His armor victory is assured.
For example, when we put on the shield of faith we are told that we “can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16). Satan is no match for a Christians following the prescription given to him in our (Ephesian 6) verses. We are also told in (verse 17): “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Knowing the Bible and believing and being obedient to its commands is a very powerful offensive weapon that Satan is powerless to combat. For remember in (Matthew 4), when the devil tested Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus quoted three verses from the book of Deuteronomy, and he had to flee. Satan is just no match for the mighty power that the Word of God can unleash against his schemes.
So, knowing that our real enemy is Satan and that we have unlimited resources from God, such as His armor, Scripture, and prayer, we can have victory in the spiritual warfare we face every day. And that my friends is super exciting and liberating!