Daily Devotional

-January 26, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Spiritual Warfare: The Real Enemy We Fight Against And How To Fight Him-

“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. 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.”

(Ephesians 6:12-13).

Ephesians 6:10-18 is the fullest teaching on spiritual warfare in all the Bible. The title of this section is: the Whole Armor of God. It tells us who we fight, how we fight, and how to prepare ourselves with the armor of God. Of all the armor of God, all parts are defensive with the exception of the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Paul also mentions prayer for our fellow believers and prayer for him. Prayer is the key to our victory.

The first thing to remember is who the real enemy is, the devil and all his demons. Though we cannot see them, they are real, they are powerful, and they are against us. They want to destroy us and the church as a whole. The devil is a defeated foe, but he and his evil forces keep fighting on. Jesus defeated the devil on the cross. He is greatly limited what he can do to us. Still we must protect ourselves and fight him in the Lord’s power not in our own power.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, that is the people we see around us. There are evil hosts, demons, who behind the governments of this world. Paul calls them principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. They are unseen armies that fight against Michael the archangel and the angelic forces of God. This why prayer is so important to defeat them.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Spiritual battles against evil and wicked spiritual forces must be fought with spiritual weapons. We are assured of the victory in Christ. The devil and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire after the Millennium. He knows his fate. His mission is to stop people from getting saved and to destroy the church.

Paul tells us in verse 13, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.” the apostle uses the world stand twice in this verse. We are living in the last days, evil days. Things are going from worse to worse. Evil is prevailing around us, we must stand firm for Christ more than ever before.

In verses 14-18, Paul lists the armor of God piece by piece: waist girded with truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. The Christian soldier must put on the whole armor, not just a part of it, as we go to battle each day. We must stand and withstand. It depends on us for both offense and defense.

Let us fight the good fight of faith, knowing who are real enemies are, putting on the whole armor of God, so that we can stand and withstand against the devil and his demons. The hymn writer Charles Wesley wrote, “And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him— his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure: one little word shall fell him.”

Have a blessed and victorious day in our spiritual warfare. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean