Pondering His Holy Word

Spiritual Warfare and Spiritual Weapons

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.

When I was 9 years old. A friend of mine had a significant fascination with animals. This kid had all types of pets: insects, spiders, frogs, and… Now that I think about it, he never had mammals, but that’s beside the point. Whenever we visited, he’d bring a lot of his animals out. One time, I recall him telling me about an animal that I refused to accept as existing. He tried to explain the eating habits of this animal. I don’t remember the type of animal, but I told him, “I don’t believe in those animals.” He responded, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in it. They are still there.” 

My comment about not believing in this animal reminds me of how people live today. “I don’t believe in it. Therefore, it doesn’t exist.” People do this with God. “I don’t believe in him. Therefore, he doesn’t exist.” People do this with the devil. People definitely do this with the spiritual realm. This is especially true with Christians. Many Christians do not believe in the spiritual realm which is a real place that exists outside the material world of space and time. 

A June 2023 study indicated that about 58% of Americans believed in the devil. To put that in perspective, that is about a 10% decrease from 68% in 2001 (Shapero). Let me add that in 2001, about 90% of Americans believed in God. Fast forward to 2023, when the student was conducted, 74% of Americans believe in God. That is a 16% drop in 22 years. In 2001, about 83% of people believed in heaven; now, about 67% of Americans believe in heaven. I will take into account that this student was conducted in the United States. These numbers could be a lot lower or higher depending on where in the world this study can be replicated. What is becoming evident is that more and more is that people are starting not to believe in God, the Devil, or the spiritual realm. 

Fighting Spiritual Battles are Not a Mental or Psychological Exercise.

Years ago, I was listening to a song. One of the lyrics made a reference to not fighting a physical war. I remember thinking, “I agree. This war is deeper than a physical war.” It sounded so deep, but a few days later, I listened to it again, and I started thinking that it didn’t make sense. What other kinds of war are there? Even if we are fighting a war of strategy, it will manifest physically. I didn’t have the slightest understanding of the spiritual realm. To me, it was all physical, mental, emotional, and psychological. 

Before I go forward, I want to be clear. I don’t want anyone to get the impression that I’m talking about mental or what is happening within our mind when I’m referencing the spiritual realm. I’m not talking about mental or psychological. 

Two Realms: Physical and Spiritual 

One thing we should know is that there are two realms of existence. The physical realm is the material realm. It encompasses space and time. We make sense of the physical realm with our five senses. God gave us our bodies within the physical realm, and this is where we experience death. Everything we perceive physically takes place in the physical realm. 

There is another realm we do not perceive, at least not with our senses: the spiritual. Although the spiritual realm is immaterial (from our perspective), it is just as literal as the physical realm. Paul explains that this realm exists in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). Both the physical and spiritual realms exist parallel. However, what happens in the spiritual realm has real implications and directly affects what happens in the material world. 

Many people, even Christians, speculate on what happens in the spiritual realm. But if we were to be honest, it’s just pure speculation. I’m careful not to speculate or go beyond what scripture teaches. However, the Bible does teach and illustrate that there is a spiritual realm. Moreover, cosmic battles take place and impact the physical world. The devil and his angels are at war with God and his holy angels. Make no mistake; God has already won the battle, but Satan has not surrendered. When the seventy-two returned, they rejoiced that even demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:17-18).

In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John describes a cosmic battle between the dragon and his angels and Michael and his angels. Michael prevailed, and Satan was thrown down to earth and could no longer return to the spiritual realm (Revelations 12:7-12). 

In the Book of Daniel, an angel from God explained to Daniel that God heard his prayers from the first day and the angel was sent to him, but he was withstood by the prince of the kingdom of Persia for twenty-one days until Michael came and helped him break through (Daniel 10:10-14). This passage does not refer to a physical battle but a cosmic battle that took place. The angel would return to continue to fight against the prince of Persia, but when he leaves, the prince of Greece will come (Daniel 10:20). 

At the beginning of Job, Satan argued with God about the faithfulness of Job because he believed that Job was only faithful because of what God gave him. So God delivered Job over to Satan for a time. That is an example of an event in the spiritual realm directly impacting the physical realm. Another incident occurred when Elisha prayed that God would open the eyes of the servant. “So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). 

Declaration of War

As the Apostle Paul says, we are not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting against the god of this present darkness. When Christ redeemed us from the world, He called us out of this world to walk with Him. Our walk with Christ will result in the world hating us (John 15:18). The god of this world has blinded those who don’t believe (2 Corinthians 4:4). The only thing that will save those who don’t believe is an act of the Holy Spirit. The same act opened our eyes to Jesus Christ. One quote from The Matrix really sums up those who are blinded.  

“The Matrix is a system… That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”

Does that mean that everyone who is not a Christian intends to kill me? Does anyone who lives a life that is contrary to the faith is out to destroy us? Should we be ready to physically oppose all of those people? My answer is not likely, probably not, and no. Don’t get me wrong, there are some people who are strongly opposed to the Christian faith. Depending on where you are, they could seek to kill you. That is the reality for many believers around the world. When we become Christians, we are declaring war on Satan, who is the ruler of this present darkness. 

Should we physically oppose them? No, because this war is not physical but spiritual. The battle we are fighting is taking place in the spiritual realm. We are not fighting against other people who are also created in the image of God but against the rulers over this present darkness. We are fighting against spiritual forces far superior to our most powerful army and potent weapon in this physical world. 

Spiritual Weapons: 

As a result, we need to put down the physical weapons and pick up the spiritual weapons. When we talk about the weapons of spiritual warfare, there is the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword, which is the word of God. Paul uses analogies here, but these are real weapons. 

The Belt of Truth: 

To engage spirituality, we need to gird ourselves with the truth. Satan is the father of lies. The first time the devil is mentioned in the bible in Genesis 3. He asked the question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). He knowingly asked a question about God that he knew was false, but his intent was to deceive. As a result, God implores us to wear the truth. As Christians, we should always seek the truth in His word. We should always pray that God reveals His truth to us.

The Breastplate of Righteousness 

The actual breastplate protects the warrior’s vital organs. Much like the bulletproof vest protects the heart of police officers. The breastplate of righteousness protects our hearts. The Evil one will tempt us through the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes (1 John 2:16). These things have a tendency to appeal to what is in our hearts. God protects our hearts with not only His righteousness but with the desire to obey His word. As Christians, we all struggle with being obedient. That is where prayer and accountability come in. We should not only pray alone with God but also pray corporately as a Church. Moreover, it is also essential to be under the submissions of a local church so that we would have support with accountability.

The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

God gave us the gospel of peace to advance deep into the enemy’s territory. Satan has placed many traps that hinder Christians from proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the dangerous traps that Satan set is error and outright heresy. In His Epistle to the Galatians, Paul tells the church that He is astonished that they were deserting the grace of Christ because some legalists were troubling them (Galatians 1:6-7). Paul made a strong statement to those who are preaching a different Gospel. His exact words were, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8-9). To be clear, he says that anyone who is preaching a different gospel other than the true gospel should be placed under an anathema or devoted to destruction. 

As Christians, we have to be careful of the traps. Moreover, we must stand firm in the confidence of our positions.  We can not be tempted into legalism or antinomianism or all points in between. We must be confident in our salvation by grace and bring this gospel of grace to others. We must immerse ourselves in the word of God and the teaching of the word of God.

The Shield of Faith

Satan knows that we are justified by faith through the works and person of Jesus Christ. He knows that God has protected us from him. As a result, he took the route of Balaam and placed stumbling blocks in front of believers. He shoots flaming arrows of doubt, worries, and unbelief. Moreover, he seeks to turn our joy and victory into worry and sometimes spiritual depression (See Martyn Lloyd Jones) and parade it around nonbelievers.”See! Look at this person who is following Christ. Look how sad and depressed he is. Do you want to follow a God that makes you feel this way?” We should keep our shield of faith. It will protect us because Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). God perfects our faith by refining it with fire to remove all of the impurities from it so that it will protect us from the Evil One’s flaming darts. We can take confidence that the substance of our faith is based on the person, the work, and the return of Jesus Christ and not anything we have done. Once we have saving faith, we cannot lose it. 

The Helmet of Salvation

The purpose of this armor is to protect our heads and preserve our salvation. It protects us from false doctrine. As baby Christians, like actual babies, we seek food from everyone. Sometimes, this food is good, but mostly, it is terrible for us. That’s why we should “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple enough that a child can understand it but sufficient that mature belief will continue to grow in it. 

The helmet of salvation protects our minds from harmful things. By the time we are 18 years old, we know that we should not drink poison. We know that even a little poison can kill us. It is the same as false doctrine; it doesn’t take much for us to fall into error. The best way to avoid a counterfeit word of God is to know the actual word of God. Staying immersed in the word of God is the most effective way to prevent error.  Most people don’t seek error but fall into error and even heresy by not constantly studying the word of God. Our experience can lead us into error. Our feelings lead us to error. Knowing God’s word is the only way to protect our minds from error. 

The Sword of the Spirit

The sword of the spirit is the word of God.  The word of God can keep us firm, protect us from error, and help us fight the enemy. Jesus provides an example when He was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. When the Devil tempted Him, Jesus quoted scripture. When Satan tried to use scripture to tempt Jesus, Jesus said, “It is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” The word of God was written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Satan can not defeat God’s word, so he tries to disarm the believer. 

Satan has used subtle attacks to get Christians to put down their swords. In Western culture, you hear about the worship of the written word as a form of white supremacy, which is not about the bible but about how Western society only legally validates what is written down. However, in so-called progressive churches, this concept has assaulted the inerrancy of the bible. Some accuse evangelicals of making the bible an idol by dismissing a person’s “lived experience.”

As I said in the previous section, our lived experiences or feelings are not God’s word. They will not protect us from error. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it.” (Jeremiah 17:9). If you put your sword down, you might as well take off your other armor because that is what ultimately will happen.

 Don’t put down your sword. Be ready to use the word of God to fight and stand firm. 

With all of our armor, Paul tells us to “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplications for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

Work Cited 

GotQuestions.org. “Home.” GotQuestions.Org, 4 Apr. 2009, http://www.gotquestions.org/full-armor-of-God.html.

Motl, April. “What Is the Armor of God? Full List & Bible Meaning.” Christianity.Com, 8 Apr. 2024, http://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-is-the-full-armor-of-god-how-can-i-put-on-the-whole-armor-of-god.html.

Shapero, Julia. “Belief in God, the Devil Falls to New Low: Gallup – the Hill.” Https://Thehill.Com/, 20 July 2023, thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/4107968-belief-in-god-the-devil-falls-to-new-low-gallup/.