Monday, September 21, 2026
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. Ephesians 6:10-12 CSB
Know Your Enemy – The Opposition in Spiritual Warfare
Last Sunday Pastor Jim began leading us through a series on Spiritual Warfare called Stand: Equipped for the Battle. As Christians we stand in a war that wages all around us unseen – a spiritual battle. As we walk through this series we will learn about nature of spiritual warfare and the weapons God has given us to fight this battle. We will learn how to fight spiritual battles in a way that honors God while being a witness for him to the world. We will embrace our key truth: We fight from victory, not for victory, because the battle belongs to the Lord.
Who do you see as your enemy? Most of the time we mistake the people in front of us for the true enemy of our lives. Satan wants us to see the people around us as our enemy. This is how he destroys families and tears churches apart. We see each other as the enemy and destroy each other instead of seeing that Satan is the real enemy.
We are in an unseen battle with unseen forces, but the battle is real and we can feel it and its effects. We have a God who loves us and an enemy who hates him and who sole purpose is to make us feel defeated, helpless and worthless for the kingdom of God. He wants to distract us from the purpose God has for us. It is imperative for us to know this enemy and how he works, as well as to know the power we have from God to stand firm against him.
Pastor Jim gave us a lot of great information yesterday about our opposition in Spiritual Warfare.
The Battle is real. The enemy is real and the battle is real. He wants us to underestimate him or not believe that it could even be real. Even though he is real and he attacks us in more ways than we realize, we have all the power we ever need to stand firm. We have the power of Jesus in our hearts. We would never have the power in our own strength to stand firm against the attacks of the enemy.
Why don’t we stand in his power? Pastor Jim gave us four reasons we don’t stand in the power we have been given when we are followers of Jesus.
We are spiritually immature – make light of the battle because we are not growing up in our faith. We do not take God, our faith, or spiritual battles seriously. We cannot see the real enemy, misinterpreting who the enemy is and his strategy, leaving us vulnerable in battle.
We still have habitual or unconfessed sins. No confession or repentance. We have not dealt with the sin in our lives, allowing Jesus to transform us so we don’t ask for his help, leaving us vulnerable in battle.
We are too self-reliant. We think we can do it in our own power (which stems from pride), but sometimes we feel like we have to do it in our own power. We believe we can fight the battle in own power leaving us vulnerable in the battle.
We have a weak and ineffective prayer life. We don’t seek God because – we are spiritually immature, have habitual or unconfessed sin, and are self-reliant so we have an ineffective prayer life, leaving us vulnerable in the battle.
The devil has a plan. Satan wants us to believe that we have no strength in the battle. He wants to distract us from God with everything else. He has a plan to lure us away. He uses fleshly means to distract us from God and the work he has for us to be doing. He cannot defeat us so he will deceive us and distract us so we are not useful or effective for the kingdom of God. The armor of God, which we will learn about in this series, is the only way to defend against the devil’s plan.
Four specific stages within the enemy’s battle plan:?
Desire – this is temptation – Satan tempting us to fill real desires with counterfeit things.
Deception – desire leads to deception. Our desires can begin to control our minds.
Disobedience – when we are tempted by desire and allow it to control our minds in deception we act in disobedience. We eventually act on our sinful desire.
Death – sin leads to death, which would be Satan’s ultimate goal – to take us out of the battle.
The enemy is spiritual. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. We are not fighting flesh and blood enemies so we cannot fight them with man’s weapons. We can only fight with spiritual means.
How does understanding Satan’s plans and strategies help us to walk more faithfully with Jesus? We know that Satan’s plan is to deceive us and distract us so we will not be effective for the Kingdom of God. He wants to lead us away through desire, deception, disobedience and death. Walking faithfully with Jesus helps us to resist Satan and his schemes, stand firm in the battle and claim the victory that is already ours in Jesus.
Are you engaged in the battle? How has the enemy deceived or distracted you? How will you fight back using the armor of God?
