The Armor of God-Who We are Fighting Against

Originally posted in 2014

Ephesians 6:11,12

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

---

 

We are continuing our devotional series on the Armor of God, found in Ephesians Chapter 6.

Who do we struggle against? Well, our text clearly tells us that. It is the Devil of course; it is Satan and his minions of demons under his command.

Why does Satan attack us? Satan hates God, therefore he hates us. Due to his pride and jealousy, Satan was ejected from Heaven and God’s presence at some point in time. Satan hates God and would love to destroy His work. Satan, however, is not powerful enough to assault God directly. We are another story, however; we are far weaker than Satan and his demons. Since he cannot launch a direct attack on God and hope to win, he attacks God’s children instead.

Satan and his demons are real, and they are organized. Verse 12 of our text gives us some idea of the organization of the evil we  struggle against. We aren’t here to do an organizational chart of Satan and his crew, but they have one and it is well organized.

Is is vital for believers to understand that our enemy is real. We often have a tendency to dismiss and minimize the presence of Satan in the world and in our lives. That us just how he would like it. In the world of real warfare, armies tend to only prepare to fight an enemy they know about and believe is a real threat. That is true for us as well. If we don’t recognize we even have an enemy, why would we bother preparing ourselves to fight him?

Yet, God made it clear to us, through the Apostle Paul, that our enemy is real and that we need to be prepared to engage in a struggle with him.