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Spiritual Warfare

Ephesians 6:10-20

If you have ever wondered why your life became more problematic and challenging after becoming a follower of Christ than it was before, the simple answer is that, by your conversion to Christ, you switched sides. We were born into the kingdom of darkness by virtue of our ancestor Adam's sin (Rom. 5:18, 19). But by faith in Christ, we are now citizens of His kingdom, the kingdom of light. The leader of darkness is not happy about our change of allegiance.

Jesus fully understood and was engaged in the mission of overcoming the darkness with the light (John 1:4, 5). John wrote that "the Son of Man was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). Shortly after the beginning of His earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness "to be tempted by the devil" (Matt. 4:1). This encounter between Satan and Jesus, "the last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45), was a replay of the encounter between Satan and the first Adam in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1ff.)—a spiritual battle that Adam and Eve lost. Of course, Jesus prevailed (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10, 11). As followers of Jesus, we can also prevail in our own encounters with the enemy because we have the authority to take "every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). God has also provided spiritual armor—truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation (Eph. 6:10–17)—that protects us from Satan's lies and accusations. Offensively, our weapon is the one Jesus used in the wilderness against Satan: "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17). The question is: are you using every piece of equipment that you've been given to fight the battle?

Satan's ultimate target is God—he strives to destroy God's reputation and make Him appear unfaithful and unkind. When Satan attacked Job, his intent was to get Job to "curse God" for not protecting and blessing Job and his family (Job 2:9). It takes almost nothing for Satan to make the world question God's character, but if Satan convinces the Lord's people to stop trusting in His faithfulness and goodness, a greater battle is won. It is up to the Christian to recognize Satan's strategies (2 Cor. 2:11; Eph. 6:11) and—clothed in God's armor—to resist him.

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