Are We in a Spiritual War? How to Stand Strong Against Satan’s Attacks
What I am preaching to you in these weeks is not something God wants to do for you. It is something God has told you to do for yourself. He has told you to get the armor and put it on. It is your job to do that. If you get defeated in the warfare, if you are shot in an unprotected place because you are without armor, it is not God’s fault.
The armor is sitting there waiting for you to put it on. He has asked you to do it. It is your personal duty. It is your primary duty. It is your paramount duty and it is your perpetual duty to put on the armor of God. Many people today don’t believe in the devil or spiritual warfare anymore. I’ve seen all of the surveys as you have.
Uh they think this is kind of old hat stuff that modern Christians, even modern intellectuals, would never believe in anything that bizarre. Others vaguely recognize the presence of a struggle, but they don’t give it too much thought. I mean, yes, they think we find it difficult from time to time to practice our Christianity.
We find it hard to forgive people. We find it hard to pray regularly, to resist temptation, to learn more about the faith. Yes, it’s hard. But but as far as they’re concerned, that’s it. However, the Bible, this book that we study and that we cherish, the Bible takes Satan and his minions very seriously, declaring that our ultimate battle is a spiritual battle.
And for this reason, nothing will be more practical or relevant to your life than the verses we will study over these next few weeks. What we need and what our passage provides is a realistic assessment of both the struggle we are engaged in and the weapons that we possess in order for us to be victorious.
These are indeed the terms of engagement. Chapter 6:10 begins with a call to battle. In order for you to understand that this is not just David Jeremiah talking up here, I thought I would run some of these scriptures by you and just let you read them with me from the screen. I’ll read them and you you follow along. Verses like 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.
” 2 Timothy 2:3, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 2 Timothy 2:4, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who has enlisted him as a soldier.” 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
