It's A War

I'm reading Ephesians 6: 10 -18 as part of my quiet time.  Verse 12 is pretty clear: ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Unfortunately we can fall off the balance beam to the left or to the right when thinking about demonic activity.  The ultra charismatics go too far left and see a demon behind every bush.  They thus have a reason for every sin known to man.  The ultra reformed go too far right and say that there is no such thing as demonic activity. Everything is a result of our fleshly disobedience solely. The Scripture takes a balanced approach.  It acknowledges the existence of spiritual forces of wickedness and rulers to name two groups.  We shouldn't look over our shoulders for every hint of demonic influence but we can't look down with our heads in the sand either.

The answer is to be wise about the existence of the enemy and his work.  We fight not against flesh and blood but a spiritual battle. That means we must fight with spiritual armor.  This includes the truth, righteousness, faith and the Gospel. Once we have appropriated such grace of the Lord we are to stand firm.  But only when we have fully dressed ourselves are we to stand.  To try and stand without the armor is an invitation for a mortal wound that the enemy would love to inflict.  We are to be strong in the Lord and the power of His, not our might, but we must dress in the garb that He has provided us.  We must do it daily.  Anything less is asking for it. May this new year we remember that it is a battle.  We know who wins at the end but it is our responsibility to fight.  Every believer here on earth is part of the church militant.  Only when we see the face of Jesus do we join the church at rest.