Day 94: How Are We At War?
1 John 5:19
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of The Evil One.
We are living in a world that is engaged in a Great Spiritual War. There are only two sides in this Great War: those who are allied with the One True God as His beloved Children and those who are still enslaved by Satan—The Devil—in the Dominion of Darkness. This week, we begin to explore how we engage in the spiritual struggles that take place around and within us.
What Are The First Steps in Preparing For Our Battles?
WORDwork:
Ephesians 6:10–12
Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of His power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the Devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
What does Paul encourage us to do in verse 10?
What are we to “put on” according to verse 11?
What will be the result of this “putting on” according to the end of verse 11?
Who are we “wrestling” against according to verse 12?
Who are these rulers and authorities? Where do they now reside?
How Do We See What is Really Real?
We are living in the middle of a war. Most people are totally unaware of this war. Yet it rages all around us. In Phase 1, we only briefly touched on the chapter of The Master Story where Satan—The Adversary, The Devil—led a rebellion against The LORD God in the past, in the heavenly realm. This rebellion came to Earth in the Rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden in Eden. In this phase, we are emphasizing the reality that we have an Enemy and he seeks to ruin us; he seeks to ruin you. We also hope to help you become AWAKE to the reality of the World in which we live and set you FREE through the means that your Heavenly Father has made available to you.
Notice in the passage above, Paul speaks of “rulers” and “authorities” and “world rulers” that we struggle against. Our present world lies under the power and influence of the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” In the Scriptures, “Heaven” and “Heavens” is often used to refer to the general spiritual “place” or realm where the Lord God lives and where other spiritual beings reside: angels, heavenly creatures, Satan, demons, etc. Everything of spiritual significance has its origin in Heaven and the Heavens.
Notice also the mention of the Devil here. He is our key spiritual Adversary. He schemes to divide, destroy, and cause general chaos in Creation. We will say more about him in the next session.
There are also spiritual forces of good in this war—the Lord God and His holy or elect angels (Luke 9:29; 1 Timothy 5:21) and the Children of God who are in Christ, who stand firm, opposed to the Powers of Darkness. But there is Good News! In our time, the victory of this War is already won. Father God has already stripped and shamed these rulers and authorities in Christ, at the Cross!
Now, we are just waiting for the fulfillment of God’s purposes, the day when He will subject all things fully to the authority of His One Unique Son, Our King, Our Savior—Jesus Christ. These spiritual enemies have been defeated, but they have not yet been deposed or destroyed and so there are battles still to fight.
Our World is caught in the battle between these two opposing spiritual forces. On the one hand, there is the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of the Beloved Son, that seeks to bring peace and eternal rest to the Earth. On the other hand, the Dominion of Darkness seeks only “to kill, to steal, and to destroy” through deceit and treachery (John 10:10). Every human being born on this planet begins life in the Dominion of Darkness. But as you have already learned, Father God, by His grace and mercy, saves us and transfers us to His Kingdom through faith in Christ.
How Does the Reality of The Kingdom Keep Us Focused?
Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
The Bible clearly reveals that Jesus will return to bring an end to the current age of human history and bring a new age and a new creation—a New Heaven and New Earth—into existence. In the passage from Revelation above, we hear this announcement: the Kingdom of the Lord has come and He shall reign forever!!!! This is future reality. The Kingdom IS coming; it cannot be stopped.
In this New Creation, sin, corruption and death will no longer be present. As we look toward the future reality, we are encouraged to deal with life as it comes to us in the present in hope and faith. The Bible clearly reveals that this present life is not all there is. There is a better life coming for all those who are in Christ. Although, we have been initiated into this eternal kind of life in the here and now, we will not receive all of its benefits until the hereafter.
In the following sessions, we will turn to see how we can prepare for the battles that we must engage until the time of Jesus’ return. While we are alive, there is still much work to be done for the King and the Kingdom. Knowing how all things will turn out helps us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus our Redeemer and our soon Returning King. The truth and reality of the coming Kingdom gives us HOPE.
We began this unit by discussing all the blessings that come to us in Christ and how these shape our identity as Father God’s beloved children. We are convinced that our Adversary, the Devil seeks to keep us from realizing how loved and powerful we are in Christ. Because of this, we need to know how to deal with his schemes.
But we also need to understand how to deal with the power of Sin that is still present with us, in our flesh. This is a topic that has been greatly neglected in popular teaching and one of the key reasons we see so many who are beat down and discouraged while trying to follow Christ.
In the Ephesians passage above, Paul tells us to be “strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of His power.” As we have already heard, this strength and power comes through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Father God has given us everything we need to stand firm against the assaults of our Enemy. Standing firm is a core thread of truth that will run through this unit. We are called to stand firm in Christ and not allow our enemies to distract us from all that Christ has given to us.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
