In grade school when a fight broke out someone would yell “Fight!”  Everyone would go running to see who’s fighting and ultimately who would emerge the winner. Today I can justifiably yell the same… “Fight!”

It is unnecessary that any come running to see who’s fighting. You have only to look around you and most importantly look inside yourself to see a raging battle. Perhaps unbeknown to you, you’re in the fight. Do you know your opponent? Will you win? Read on.

The Enemy You See

There are things that come up in life that trouble you. They have defined shape, space, predictable ideologies, behaviors and a name. On one hand, these opponents can be a person or a social group. Most times you can see them coming. Then, on the otherhand, there are those opponents that are characterized by their ability to operate outside the range of the natural eye. These enemies are those physical maladies that attack your body and can only be visibly detected through modern imagery such as ultrasound, CAT scan or an MRI. Nevertheless, they can be seen.

When you discover these opponents, you spring into action and either take measures of your own to deflect or solicit help from experts to combat the opponent. In other words, you construct a plan of attack. Depending on when you became aware of the enemy, you may or may not have the advantage of time and fact is, you may or may not win by human standards. Win or lose, these battles have the least impact when compared to fighting the enemy you can’t see.

The Enemy You Can’t See

“Fight!”

Ever fight blindfolded? You can feel the enemy’s impact on your body. The absence of control shakes the very core of your senses. To counter, you swing your fists wildly nailing air blows but never making any contact that would lean the win in your direction. You may not even be able to readily name your attacker. Try as you might, this is a battle you cannot win or effectively strategize unless you know with what or whom you are fighting.  In this case, you, my friend, are engaged in a battle with an enemy you can’t see. It is a battle of the other-worldly proportions; it is spiritual. You are engaged in spiritual warfare. 

“Spiritual warfare?”.

“Yup.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.”

What is Spiritual Warfare?

In the Bible, Ephesians 6:12 introduces that unseen enemy and the war he engages against us whether we are aware of it or not.

Ephesians 6:12

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the           powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.

To further support our engagement in spiritual battles, look at 2 Corinthians 10:3,

³ For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man.

What can we draw from these two passages?

1. There are spiritual powers and forces of darkness (evil) that wage war against us. This is the unseen enemy.

Let’s continue with 2 Corinthians 10:4,

⁴The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of strongholds. 

2. The weapons by which we must fight this unseen enemy are not physical. The battle will not be won with physical or even intellectual strength.
3. The weapons used to defeat the enemy are of Divine invention.
4. The enemy has built strongholds in our minds. Think of strongholds as military bunkers. Compartments in our minds and in the minds of others that are hard to break through. Compartments such as traditional norms or contemporary mindsets that have cemented our minds closed to any consideration outside our own.

Now let’s look at verse 5. Keep in mind, the Bible was written over 2000 years ago yet it addresses contemporary arguments some have today about warring against a spiritual enemy.

⁵ We are destroying sophisticated arguments* and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, 

Bingo! This passage points out that…

5. There will be intelligent and sophisticated arguments that purport spiritual warfare is for the primitive, uneducated mind. However, your intellect is what the enemy most uses against you to win. For the enemy of your soul tells you that this is foolishness! He will tell you that you are too educated to believe such utter nonsense.
6. These arguments stem from a spirit of pride and egocentric narcissism that will not submit to the simple truth that God is all in all. Pride is what caused Lucifer (Satan) to fall from grace.
7. The first enemy we must take captive in this spiritual war is the enemy between our ears. Our thoughts and ideologies that are in direct revolt against God’s foundational truth for peaceable co-habitation.

*The King James version of the Bible uses the word “imaginations” instead of “arguments”.  The scripture instructs us to search and destroy every imagination, argument or association that influences our spirit to oppose the will and Spirit of God.

What is Spirit?

Let me explain this way. Spirit has intelligence, attributes and personality. Let me make this absolutely clear, when speaking of spirit, I am not referring to apparitions, ghosts, ghouls or the likes. I am speaking expressly of the spirit as it is presented in the Bible. Now that that has been established, I can continue.

A spirit’s movement is somewhat like that of air in that it exists but requires a source of power to direct it one way or another. One source of power can produce a gentle breeze while another can create a terrorizing tornado. You can’t see either the breeze or the tornado. What you do see is the dirt and debris they have picked up. So, when the air’s power source is of a mild nature, you get a breeze. When the power source is of a cataclysmic nature you get a tornado. The basic composition of both is air but the power sources define very different results.

Every Person has a Spirit

Every man has a spirit. The spirit of every man and woman born has a strong inclination to believe in a higher power, something bigger than themselves. Over the span of time, humankind has shifted this inclination from the true and living God to other things, people, activities and even to self-aggrandizement. Concerning our substitutions for God, Luke the Apostle says in Acts 17: 29-30,

²⁹So then, being God’s children, we should not think that the Divine Nature (deity) is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination or skill of man.

 ³⁰ Therefore God overlooked and disregarded the former ages of ignorance; but now He commands all people everywhere to repent [that is, to change their old way of thinking, to regret their past sins, and to seek God’s purpose for their lives],

With regard to humankind exalting themselves above others, here’s what Paul the Apostle had to say about that.

2 Corinthians 10:12

¹²We do not have the audacity to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with some who [supply testimonials to] commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they lack wisdom and behave like fools.

Regardless as to whom or what man’s spirit is inclined to “worship”, the fact is, man has a spirit. This separates him from the animal kingdom.

Principalities and Rulers

Returning to Ephesians 6:12 it says,

¹²For 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.

Every meaningful activity has a spirit connected to it. For instance, if you were to be in the company of a very happy person, the spirit of that person’s happiness will rub off on you. If you were to hang with people who are depressed and suicidal all the time, your thoughts would be influenced by the spirit of their despair. As you’ve witnessed and been a part of a spirit of comradery in team sports, you then must acknowledge that one can be caught up “in the spirit of_(fill in the blank)_” .  The mentality of that spirit charges the atmosphere influencing its subjects by promoting its ideological themes. There are no such things as friendly, cordial, unattached associations. If you associate, you are influenced by that spirit’s theme to some degree.

Now you should have a good idea of what I mean when I use the term “spirit” in this context. With the meaning of the term being satisfied, you should know that God established that there should be communion and communication between His Spirit and our spirit. 

spirit to Spirit

To be spiritual is to be able to communicate with the Spirit of God within your spirit. The spirit-to-Spirit relationship is shown in the following scriptures.

John 4:24

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth

Romans 8:16

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

These scriptures further establishes that,

1. One of the elements of our composition as humankind is spirit.
2. The Spirit of God communicates with the spirit in humankind.
3. Unless the spirit in you is actively connected to the Spirit of God, all the things written in this blog and in the scriptures is foolishness.

In Summary

You are in a spiritual battle, not of choice, but by circumstances beyond your control. Your real opponent is not the one you see, it is the man behind the curtain manipulating those you see.  Knowing the enemy and his approach is the first step in winning this spiritual battle.

One thing I’ve learned is the enemy uses the same strategies again and again, he just repackages it.

Up Next: Spiritual Warfare Part 2 – The Man Behind the Curtain – Where it All Began