Knowing Your Enemy (Part 1)
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Many Christians stop at “we wrestle not.” They don’t want to hear about or talk about our spiritual enemy. We do have a real enemy whose desire is to destroy Christians and every other person on this earth. Our enemy is Satan and demon spirits. Jesus said in John 10:10 that the thief comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. Choosing not to talk or learn about your spiritual enemy will not keep them from bothering you. In this case, ignorance is not bliss. God said in Hosea 4:6 that “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” Spiritually speaking, many Christians want to bury their heads in the sand about this topic. In John 8:32 Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” I want you to notice that it is the known truth that will make you free. The Bible has much to say about the Devil and demon spirits.
Satan is the commander of evil on this earth, so to speak. Satan is not all knowing, not all powerful, and he cannot be everywhere at one time like God can. Most of his bidding or work is accomplished by demons or evil spirits, which are the angels that rebelled against God in Heaven and were cast down to the earth with Satan. Have you ever heard a person say, “Anyone who talks about the Devil or demons is bringing glory to them?” If that were the case, Jesus must have brought a lot of glory to them because He sure wasn’t silent about demons and the devil. In fact, Jesus spent much of His earthly ministry confronting and exposing them.
Wouldn’t it be foolish if the leaders in our military were trying to teach soldiers the tactics of one of the enemies of the United States of America, but the soldiers said that they did not want to talk about the enemy or his tactics because they don’t want to bring glory to him? Instead they just want to talk about the President of the United States. Do you see how foolish that sounds? That kind of scenario happens in the Body of Christ when Christians refuse to talk about or learn about Satan and demonic spirits and how to effectively war against them. Some simply say, “The devil and demons are defeated foes.” They say that phrase as if to excuse themselves from any responsibility in the matter. Legally speaking, they are defeated because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross and through His resurrection, but that victory must still be enforced by you, the Christian. You must exercise your authority in Christ, or else you will be overcome by them. For example, a relative may have left you a million dollars in their will, but you still have to go to the courthouse to sign papers to collect the money. Legally, that money is yours, but you still have a part to play. As a Christian, your authority in Christ is of no advantage to you unless you use it!
The more knowledge you have as a Christian, the more equipped you will be to live a victorious life on this earth in the name of Jesus!
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