Spiritual Warfare - The Unseen Battle for our Soul

Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesian that Satan has an organization with a hierarchical command structure. He states that our real battle is not with the people caught up in sin and Satan’s schemes, but with Satan himself and his army. Notice how Satan’s army has rulers at the top, then authorities, followed by powers of darkness, and finally spiritual forces of evil: 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 6:12-13 Not every fallen angel (demon) in Satan’s army has the same position and power. Some are fairly weak demons that spend all of their time blinding the non Christians to the truth and harassing Christians, tempting us to detour from our calling. Others, however are much more powerful rulers over geographical regions, such as cities or even countries. Still others are authorities over specifi

Satan is a fallen angel, and his demons are fallen angels that chose to join him and rebel against God. Many make out Satan to be more than he is, to be equal to God, but the fact is he is no more than a fallen angel. We, as Christians, are sons of God, and the scripture tells us we will one day judge angels (1 Cor 6).   We are not inferior to angels, and certainly not to fallen ones, such as Satan. So, where does Satan get all of his power? After the fall of Adam, Satan gained control of the earth. You see this when Satan offers it back to Jesus when he tempted him during the start of his ministry while fasting in the wilderness. However, Jesus regained all authority over the earth with his death and resurrection. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Matt 28:18-19 Although Satan has power over those that have not accepted Jesus as Lord, for Christians he operates primarily through our ignorance of o

Many argue that because of Jesus ’ death and resurrection , Satan has been defeated, and we do not need to bother with him anymore. However, if this were the case, why does the apostle Paul tell us in his letter to the Ephesians that we are to expect a struggle with spiritual forces of evil? He then goes on to describe the spiritual armor we are to wear in this struggle, hardly necessary if we are not in conflict with forces of darkness:   stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:14-17 If we are to ignore Satan, why does the Apostle Peter tell us that the devil is our enemy and is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 3:8)? Then there’s

Many Christians feel that because of Satan’s ultimate defeat as foretold in The book of Revelation, that we should not bother ourselves with spiritual battle. They go on to state that focusing on spiritual battle is giving Satan a stage ; giving him attention that we should be giving to God alone. Jesus did not feel this way. We are told in the Bible that a primary purpose of Jesus ’ coming was to destroy the devil’s work: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 1 John 3:8-9 We see all through Jesus ’ life confrontation with Satan and the demonic. Charles Kraft in Defeating Dark Angles states that the gospel of Mark catalogues Jesus spending more time confronting demons than he did in both teaching and healing the sick. Surprised? When Jesus sent the twelve disciples out into the world he instructed them, among other things, to cast out demons (Mark 4).   When Jesus sent out the seventy - two followers , they returned declaring that

Many deny the existence of a spiritual battle. They say it is nothing more than fairy tales of the imagination. However, if we accept the evidence found in the Bible, we clearly see this warfare is very real, that it always has been, and it will be until the end of the age.  If the Bible portrays a spiritual warfare taking place throughout the spectrum of mankind, starting in the beginning of God’s creation, being depicted all through the Old and New Testaments, and culminating in a final battle with Satan’s defeat in Revelation, why would we think the battle has somehow stopped in our generation? Any casual observer would see both the evil and the compassion in the world today and wonder if it were not possibly due to an unseen spiritual battle raging for the soul of man. Although many wish to pin the darkness in the world today on a cold and uncaring God, a more reasonable explanation is an evil army on a mission to kill and destroy mankind, as the Bible clearly states .

We are in a battle, although most are unaware of its existence. It is a battle for our very lives, and much more importantly, it is a battle for control over our heart and our soul. You might say, “I don’t see a battle, where is this great battle you speak of?” Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians where: 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. Ephesians 6:12 This battle that we are in is not in the news, nor is it being fought with our armed forces. This battle is against the powers of darkness; the spiritual forces of evil that are doing everything in their power to destroy God’s creation and prevent us from fulfilling our destiny as sons of God. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the battle is taking place all around each and every one of us, no matter where you live or what you