Devotionals

Spiritual Warfare

by Stephen Wong
07/08/20
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“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…. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”        Ephesians 6:12, 18 NIV

In his 1836 book, Quakerism Examined: In a Reply to the Letter of Samuel Tuke, John Wilkinson states that, “one of the artifices of Satan is, to induce men to believe that he does not exist…” There is still a lot of truth in this statement today. With so many caricatures of the devil in our pop culture, it is tempting to think of him more as a concept or as a product of the human imagination. At the very least, the type of devil portrayed in many of our movies and television shows is not one that encourages people to take him seriously. Even in Christian circles, it can sometimes make us uncomfortable to bring up the topic of the devil.

In contrast to our world, Paul does not ignore the dangers of our adversary. In his words to the Ephesian believers, it is clear that we need to be aware of the true nature of our enemy. As Christians, we can be confident in the hope that one day God will complete his plan and bring all things to unity under Christ (Ephesians 1:10). However, until that time, we are stuck in a spiritual battle against evil forces that oppose God and seek to do us harm. We can’t afford to simply dismiss the devil as some irrelevant or fanciful concept. The Bible tells us that the devil is a real being who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 NIV). We need to constantly be on our guard against him.

Although Paul highlights that our fight is against evil spiritual forces, his intention is not for us to get caught up in speculating or trying to study them in detail. Instead, he immediately focuses our attention on how we can stand firm against the attacks of the devil. We are to put on the spiritual armour of God (Ephesians 6:13). Notice that one of the weapons we have in the armour is prayer (Ephesians 6:18). To help us stand firm, God’s Spirit empowers us to pray both for ourselves and others.

Do our daily prayers to God reflect the reality that we are in a continuous spiritual battle? Are we regularly praying that God would help us and our brothers and sisters in Christ stand firm against the devil? In particular, do we regularly lift up our Christian leaders in prayer? Often our leaders can be particularly vulnerable to temptation and spiritual attack because of the great responsibility God has given them. May we continue to uphold one another through prayer.

Lord God,

I pray that you would remind us of the serious reality that we are in a spiritual warfare against the devil. However, I thank you Lord that we can be confident that Christ has already won the victory, and that you give us the spiritual armour to stand firm. Help us not to be afraid of the devil, but continue to strengthen us by your Spirit to be constant in prayer for ourselves and each other. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.