WE ARE AT WAR

Ephesians 6:10-13 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil 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 firm.” 

We live on a planet that is at war. It is an unseen war, and it is going on around us all the time. Humanity has an adversary committed to deceiving, distracting and decimating humanity by any possible means. Satan, a fallen Arch Angel, and the angels he deceived into rebelling against God with him are the cosmic powers that St. Paul is describing in his Epistle to the young church in the city of Ephesus noted above.

Humanity at large is alienated from the Life God created us for; Life grounded in Him. He is meant to BE Life within us revealing meaning and purpose. Our separation from God because of our rebellion, whether sophisticated or crude, has caused mankind to be spiritually dead, essentially dead at the center of what is meant to be authentically human. Sin is the evidence that our rebellious separation is real. Sin, in its varied forms, is an attempt to draw life, meaning and purpose from something or someone other than God, Himself.

In this spiritual war, satanic and demonic forces prey upon the emptiness of those separated from God. People are deceived into taking things that God created as good and to misuse them, abuse them and distort them so that what God meant for good become instruments of destruction individually and socially. Human sexuality is a gift from God. Pornography is the exploitation and perversion of that intimacy meant to be a blessing in marriage. Learning and discovery are twisted into indoctrination or become a ground for arrogance or manipulative propaganda.  Technology can be a great help or become a kind of addiction where we do become victims of our own devices. Money is not the root of all evil, but the love of, the lust for, the idolatry of money is. Jealousy, envy, greed, and pride are the wellspring of all wars, all subjugation and slavery, all inhumanity to mankind.

Humanity is wired for community. Solitary confinement is one of the harshest forms of punishment for incarcerated people. In the midst of this raging spiritual war, you need to know that you are the target marked for destruction, eternal destruction. You need to understand that Satan is a liar.  When you hear the whispered words in your mind’s ear that God made a mistake and you should have been born a man when you were born a woman, or a woman when you were born a man, it’s a satanic lie. If the devil can convince you that God made a mistake, the corollary then is that God cannot be trusted. Then you are left to your own damaged moral compass to try and discover who you are. That may be based on how you feel rather than objective reality. It may be based on the opinions of other folk who have also believed the lie that God cannot be trusted.

However that distrust of God manifests itself, you will find that people with similar wounds on their soul will be drawn into a “community” that seems to confirm that the lie believed is actually the truth. Satan wants people distracted from God’s truth and absorbed by things that can never fully satisfy the hunger for meaning and purpose. The spiritual forces of wickedness that are warring against your very being to kill, steal, and destroy the real “you” don’t even care if you say you believe in God, they just want you to believe He doesn’t matter. The lust for power, for wealth, for sensual pleasure, for control and domination consume the time, resources, and strength of anyone seduced by the lie that you are on your own and God cannot be trusted.

Trying to navigate in an unseen war against seductive and satanic forces while relying solely on your own finite, human resources is like charging into battle in your underwear armed with a rubber band against a host armed with deadly automatic weapons. Being deceived, you are no match for those bent on your destruction, your missing out on the meaning of life and your ultimate separation from all goodness for eternity.

Victory in this spiritual war requires a supernatural intervention that only God can provide. Jesus Christ has already defeated the devil, sin, death, hell and the grave by His death and resurrection. Satan is a defeated and disarmed foe who now relies on lies to deceive humanity and to rob people of ultimate meaning and purpose so they will share in the eternal punishment he is destined for. Satan hates humanity, wants it disfigured, marred, confused, and self-destructive.

The only remedy for our collective plight is to turn to God, believing what He has done for us in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. God alone can save us in this war. The indestructible armor He provides is the Lord Jesus, Himself. He “clothes us” with a new nature, a new spiritual DNA; Jesus Christ is our armor in this deadly spiritual war. God, Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have become Life within those who follow Him. He is Creator, Redeemer, and Life-Transformer.

The passage below is the continuation of the one we started with. Jesus Christ is the Truth that holds all things together. Jesus is our righteousness guarding our hearts. Jesus is HIMSELF the Gospel; He is the Good News of salvation from God. He makes us stable, enabling us to run and not become weary, to walk and not faint. Galatians 2:20 from the Greek states that the life we live, we live by the faith OF the Son of God. The tense of the word is in the genitive, the tense of possession telling you whose faith it is that we live by. Jesus is that shield of faith. Jesus is our salvation, the One renewing and protecting our minds from any thought that tries to exalt itself in pretense above the knowledge of God. Jesus is the Living Word, the Word made flesh, He is the Sword of the Spirit. It is His authority exercised by the Holy Spirit as Heaven’s offensive weapon against the defeated foe that Satan is.

Jesus Christ is, Himself, the armor of God for every Christian, every disciple of Jesus Christ. You don’t “take off” your armor at the end of the day any more than you remove your skin when the sun goes down. Followers of Jesus Christ are spiritual warriors who go to bed and get up clothed in Christ Jesus, fully armored. We need to remind ourselves daily that this is the truth. God equips us for the battle.

Ephesians 6:14-18 “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication."

In Christ Jesus, God has made a way for all who will believe and surrender their lives to Him to no longer be victims in the spiritual war raging unseen around us. You no longer need to subject yourself to the destructive deception of your ancient enemy. You can begin to live a new life, a new way, participating in the victory of Jesus Christ and enforcing His authority to set captives free. The war is real. Retreat is not an option. Arm yourself by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.