Ephesians 6:12 NLT
[12] “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
Some leaders in the modern church have thought up and taught some crazy ideas about spiritual warfare based on their own understanding rather than on the clear teaching of Scripture.
- False teachers teach the wrong war zone.
Their emphasis is on circumstances, not on the battle in our inner man. In the Old Covenant, the people of God had to fight against the ungodly people around them who led them into idolatry. They were instructed to exterminate the Canaanites, to protect God’s people from their evil influence.
However, nowhere are we told, in the New Covenant, to fight against the people or the difficulties we face in this world, especially the bad things that happen to us through people in the fallen world we live in. In fact, Jesus assured His disciples that trouble in this world is inevitable.
John 16:33 NLT
[33] “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
When we try to fight against people or circumstances, we are fighting the very instruments God uses to hone our faith in Him.
James 1:2-5 NLT
[2] “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. [3] For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. [4] So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. [5] If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
We don’t need weapons to fight against the people and circumstances God is using to strengthen our faith and endurance. Quite the opposite. We need wisdom to understand and co-operate with what God is doing.
Paul took the Corinthians to task for using the law to fight injustice between themselves.
1 Corinthians 6:7 NLT
[7] Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?
Does this advice sound like ‘fighting the enemy’?
Paul, himself, tried to escape hardships. He begged God to take them away but God said “No!” because hardships were the very things He was using to teach Paul to rely on His grace. Paul’s response should alert us to the folly of fighting ‘the devil’ in our circumstances.
Paul acknowledged that Satan was in the mix, tempting him to react from his old nature,
2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NLT
[6] If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message,
[7] even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud….”
But…
[8] “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. [9] Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. [10] That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul learned that, though the tests came from the devil, often through ungodly people, God was using them to expose the real war zone inside himself. So, he could explain to the Galatians that the struggle was between the old nature still in him and the Holy Spirit who was his new master, not between him and humans.
Galatians 5:16-17 NLT
[16] “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. [17] The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”
- False teachers teach the wrong weapons.
Again, they use Scripture to endorse their incorrect solution. Take, for example, Paul’s explanation about ‘pulling down strongholds’.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV
[3]”For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Some translators miss the point by inferring that the strongholds are in the people who are warring against us. For example,
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 CEV
[3]”We live in this world, but we don’t act like its people [4] or fight our battles with the weapons of this world. Instead, we use God’s power that can destroy fortresses. We destroy arguments [5] and every bit of pride that keeps anyone from knowing God. We capture people’s thoughts and make them obey Christ.”
However, if this was what Paul intended, he would be contradicting himself because he stated clearly, in our Scripture today, that we are NOT fighting flesh and blood.
If we are fighting a war against people, how is it possible for us to change the way other people think and act towards us by some magical use of words like, for example, ‘taking authority over’ or ‘praying against’? Is this the power of God working through us?
Paul specifically declares that we are not fighting against people. Our struggle is against the spiritual forces in the world that are out to influence us aganst God because they cannot influence God who is their real enemy. How do they do that? By playing on the old nature in us that pulls us towards sin.
The battle zone is not in our circumstances. It is in our minds. Thoughts and beliefs produce actions and behaviour. We cannot magically change what other people think but we can change our own behaviour by thinking and acting according to God’s thoughts instead of in our own.
The old strongholds of error and unbelief can be demolished in us only as we are ‘transformed by the renewing of our minds’.
Romans 12:2 NLT
[2] “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
The power to change other people lies in our godly response to the way they and circumstances treat us.
Luke 6:35 NLT
[35] “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.”
Jesus followed His own instruction. He absorbed into Himself every evil act against Him without retaliation and even prayed for those who killed Him.
Luke 23:34 NLT
[34]”Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.”
1 Peter 2:22-24 NLT
[22]”He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. [23] He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. [24] He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”
God’s mighty power lies, not in our attempts to change other people, but in our own transformation, bringing our unruly spirits under the Holy Spirit’s control.
Romans 5:17 NLT
[17]” For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
To be continued…