Spiritual Warfare - The Unseen Battle for our Soul

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