EPHESIANS 6:12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

When I read Ephesians 6:10-12 I am reminded of where, when, how, and what this battle is about. The battle that all of us face at one time or another. The battle that is within us. It’s not a battle with a person, place, or “the thing.” Nope, the real battle is where and with what we can not see, touch, or smell. And it is a much harder battle when we are fighting against the unseen. It’s hard to dodge something that you can not see coming at you or to run from something that you can’t foresee coming your way.

The enemy has clever schemes that he uses to try to keep defeating us in the battle of victory and freedom. He will use anything that will keep us from being who God created us to be and from having the life that Jesus died for us to be able to have. It may be food, an attitude, cigarettes, drugs, coffee, shopping, watching t.v., and the list goes on that he uses as the vessels to defeat us. But those vessels are usually a cover for a deeper need within us. Think about it, anything that we do that is not good for us to do we usually (at least) started doing it because it made us feel good inside. It satisfied something within us, rather it be a desire, a need, or a feeling. For example, most drug addicts started using drugs to avoid a bad feeling or a pain inside of them or many people say that they smoke a cigarette to calm them down when they are stressed out, or some people say they watch tv because they are bored. All those things are fulfilling a deeper need. So you see how clever it is for the enemy to use these vessels to defeat us. Instead of trying to force us to have a bad attitude he can simply put someone in our path that will do something to trigger an angry response from us. Or instead of telling someone to waste their time and not accomplish their task he will put the thought in their head to sit down and relax while watching a little bit of tv before they get started because he knows that once they get interested in the show that is on they will get comfortable, lose focus, get lazy and put off what they were suppose to do. Or say that you are trying to create better eating habits and lose some weight. When you first get that feeling of being full or when you finish your plate (which ever comes first) he will put the desire for one more bite, or one piece of cake, or one more roll.So you eat it and then you are over full, feel bad, have sabotaged your diet which makes you feel even worse about yourself, and you may have even put on a pound or two. It is always thoughts or feelings that the enemy is attacking thorough the vessels that he uses to attack us with. If he can get in our thoughts he can get to our emotions. If he can get to our emotions he can get to our behaviors. He can get to our behaviors he can ultimately keep us from our God given destiny. This is how he is able to use temptation to keep us from all that God wants to do in and through us. But we can beat him at his own game if we try.

We have all of God’s armor to be able to fight these battles. We have everything that the bibles says we have no matter what the enemy tries to tell us. We already have peace, righteousness, faith, and salvation. Our Spirit part of us is perfectly fine, whole, free, and clean. We have to get our bodies and our soul to walk in alignment with our Spirit so that we can tangably experience all that is within us already (in our Spirit). And this is exactly what the enemy is trying to stop us from doing. He often times will use condemnation to do this. In fact, I would say that, he uses condemnation to defeat us more than anything else. Think about it. If we feel bad about ourselves or what we have done it can affect our peace, our joy, our freedom, and our faith in our righteousness and salvation. It can make use believe that we have messed up the calling on our life, that God is mad at us, that we will never get it right, that we always mess up, that we are a failure and might as well just give up. Condemnation can destroy our calling if we allow it to. But John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” See, God knew how much of a mess that humanity was and that we wouldn’t have a chance at getting any better as long as we felt condemned so He made the way for us to not have too. “In Christ” sinning is a symptom of humanity NOT our identity! Our identity is IN CHRIST!! We are not what we do but that is what the enemy wants us to think.

For the sake of not making this post too long I will continue with practical ways that the enemy attacks and how we can fight in the next post. But for now think about some ways that the enemy is attacking you. What are some of the habits, behaviors, attitudes, or temptations that he is using to keep you from experiencing peace, love, joy, contentment, gentleness, self-control, freedom, or wholeness? Write them down and be ready to dive deeper into them next post.