“Man’s search for meaning—whether in a Broadway penthouse or the darkest corner of hell—is the most basic building block of a successful life (USA Today. Q: Why Religion? By Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America; The Forum; Monday, August 9, 2010, p.11A).
Spiritual Warfare is evident in personal life and has been dramatically described in the work of fiction by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.
Thankfully, The Holy Bible is also very upfront and informative on the nature of Spiritual Warfare, both cosmic and earthly, and its major players: Satan (the Adversary, the Enemy, Lucifer. Isaiah 14:12-15, NKJV), Christ Jesus our Kinsman Redeemer (Job 19:25; Galatians 3:13; NKJV) (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/Redeemer/redeemer.html ), and believers and non-believers in Christ Jesus (Ephesians).
Ephesians 1-3 also establishes the believer’s position in Christ Jesus; and in chapters 3-6, the provision, protection, and requisite practices (regular and ongoing) available to the believer in battle.
It has been a great blessing to me to take Kay Arthur’s Spiritual Warfare class—twice. The first time was overwhelming. The second, I began to get the hang of it and even taught one class. For that class, I created an overview of the course book (Lord, Is It Warfare? Teach Me to Stand) based on 3-“P’s”: Profiles, Position and Practices.
Kay presents profiles from Scripture of both Satan and Jesus; then defines our position—riches in Christ Jesus— by extracting God’s promises to believers from Ephesians 1-3; and finally, she details our recommended practices by collecting the protections outlined in Ephesians 4-6 and describing our armor in spiritual warfare—its defensive, and its offensive weapons and related exercises.
This armor is “must” equipment for the believer for, in truth, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).” Such truth from God’s own Word clearly MEANS that believers are in threat of virtually constant spiritual warfare and they’d better KNOW IT.
As Dr. Charles Stanley says (In Touch Magazine, Early Light, July 14th, p. 38), “We have an Enemy who actively seeks to blind people to the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4).”
Gentle Reader, the ongoing battle between forces of good and forces of evil, whether in the “heavenly places,” or in the minds and hearts of believers, or in actual physical combat with the anti-Christ in the eventual Tribulation and final battle of Armageddon (Revelations 19:11-21), is currently nowhere more evident than in the contentious public debate over meaning and its expression in life.
Is the Muslim burqa a harmless expression of faith as many argue? Or does it demean, even annihilate (by masking) a woman as a person, as others contend? Can it ever be reasonably argued that a woman needs masking, while a man does not? If so, what does that mean to society and a woman’s place in life (USA Today, June 28, 2010)?
What does it mean when entrepreneurs’ are allowed to recklessly exploit priceless and irreplaceable resources, as in the current deep-water oil drilling fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico? Did not the establishment of National Parks already attest to the priceless delicacy of our natural resources? Have we lost the meaning and understanding of taking care of our resources?
To be continued . . .
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