Bible Reading: Isaiah 20,21 &22: Ephesians 6
“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”. Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
The spiritual warfare is quite complicated and dicey. It is not a war to be fought with arm of flesh. It is no respecter of the physical size and power of a man. It has no regard for your intellectual ability or how brilliant you are. Its antidote is in the word of God, in the blood of Jesus Christ and the authority the name of Jesus carries. A poor understanding of the setting of this warfare results in most casualty and defeat Christians suffer in the Christian race. Different tactics and attacks on our flesh and soul are used by the enemy to weaken our spiritual base in order to create a crack in our spiritual fortification. “He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Ecclesiastes 10:8 (KJV).
Most times in our spiritual warfare, out of ignorance of the setting of the battle we face the wrong enemy while the real enemy is firing dangerous arrows at our unguarded backside from behind. Who is our enemy in our continuous spiritual warfare is properly stated in our above scriptural verse of the day. They are the cohorts of Satan in their graduated forms. The devil and his agents are our real enemies. They are the ones responsible for initiating disputes in relationships such as marriage, friendship, etc. They operate through our mind to make us believe we are the one thinking by so doing transmitting lies and evil thoughts which when accommodated begins to weaken our spiritual base. The wife that poisoned and killed the husband was only a pawn in their hand. Potiphar’s wife was a pawn in their hands in an attempt to derail the enviable destiny of Joseph. They were the voices speaking through the youths to Rehoboam, they were the voices that invoked greed in Gehazi leading to destiny derailment. They invoked the jealousy in Cain to murder his bother Abel, the same devil tempted Jesus even quoting the bible. They are the powers behind the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt. All these and many more are their behind the scene operation that has ravaged and enslaved men over the years. They are collectively referred to as forces of darkness and duly represent the dark side of creation.
Glory be to God who has given us the understanding of the antidote and conquering power in Jesus Christ who is the Word, Wisdom and power of God. The antics of the enemy is exposed by the knowledge of God’s word, their forces are crushed by the Blood of Jesus Christ and by His name we establish authority over the powers of darkness. When we operate righteously with the tripartite power of His Word, Blood and Name we gain victory over all the darts of the enemy. We must operate all the components of holiness as our protective armour and our approach must be attack and never turning back.
My dear reader, it is for this reason that I request your urgent reconciliation to God through Christ Jesus so that you can be adequately fortified against this raging forces of darkness.
Prayer: O God, grant me grace to abide in you and be properly fortified for this continuous life battle.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo