Spiritual Warfare

In 1967, I entered the U.S. Army and was transported to Fort Polk in Louisiana.  Basic training was the first order of business to get each of the young recruits prepared for the inevitable warfare going on in Viet Nam.  To send us into battle without training would have been so very wrong.

The Bible tells us that we are in a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10ff) where we are instructed to put on God's armor.  Notice that it is His armor, not mine or yours. Putting on my own armor, which is weak at best, would be devastating.  Therefore, we are to follow God's directions and use His tested and proven armor. The Apostle Paul instructed his young protégé, Timothy, to get ready for the work of God (which includes "spiritual warfare") by studying God's Word.  He told Timothy to do more than just read the Word...he said, "...dissect it..." (2 Timothy 2:15).

James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church and half-brother of Jesus, knew that this process of spiritual warfare would be next to impossible for us, so his solution was for each of us to "Submit to God (in doing so, we then would be able to) resist the devil and he will flee from you."  (James 4:7)  This might seem a bit simplistic unless we understand the depth of the process of "submitting."  In verse 8, James continues the instruction by telling us that we (he is talking to believers here) are to be contrite concerning our sins...cleansing our hands and purifying our hearts and devoting ourselves to being single-minded (focused on God alone).  In this way, we can "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (us)."  John wrote in his first letter, "If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (1 John 1:9).

A clear understanding of James' teaching reveals that the church in Jerusalem had factions that were at odds over various issues.  What he is trying to tell them (and what we can learn for ourselves) is that the only way to live the Christian life, and to have victory over Satan's evil intentions, is to confess our sins daily and focus on God alone.  He is the "Captain of heaven's armies" (Joshua 5:14).  In the U.S. Army, we were taught to focus on the orders of our commanders and in doing so, we would be victorious.  In the spiritual realm, we must do the same thing...focus on Jesus who has already given us the victory (1 Corinthians 15:57).

One of my favorite Bible study resources, as many already know, is GotQuestions.org.  They have a number of topics for us as answers that speak to the issue of spiritual warfare. If I have piqued your interest, a perusal of these topics might be very helpful for you. The link is: 
http://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_query=What+can+I+do+when+I+am+under+spiritual+attack&search.x=59&search.y=21

May God guide each of us as we face the very obvious spiritual warfare issues against the powers of darkness which surround us at this very hour.  Those evil powers will not give up easily, however we just need to remember that, in Christ Jesus, we are already victors.