Recently I read a post and a sentence in it got me thinking. The author said, “When dealing with non-believers, any distraction or conflict must be viewed as spiritual warfare.” She was talking about dealing with them in the context of sharing Christ.
When I read that sentence, I immediately noticed the word “any” in “any distraction or conflict must be viewed as spiritual warfare.” You probably know how one is often advised to be careful about making assertions that include “always” or “never”. In the past, I would have viewed the sentence from that angle and wondered if that is totally accurate. But the truth is that I actually agree with what she said. In the last few weeks, I have been doing a lot of reading on the area of Spiritual Warfare. I have read four books on Spiritual warfare and done a lot of thinking about the subject. In one of them, the author, Jerry Rankin says the following:
“Satan is against us, seeking to defeat us; the flesh is within us, seeking to defile us; and the world is around us, seeking to distract us. They are all in collaboration, influencing us to choose selfish and carnal values and deprive God of His glory in our lives.” [1]
Satan is the god of this world. He blinds the eyes of those that have not believed so that they cannot see the gospel. Not only that, he controls the kingdoms of the world. He has created a culture that is hostile to the gospel. As such, on the outside, he uses demons to fight the spread of the gospel. He also uses the world (human culture and systems that are corrupted by the devil). On the inside, he uses the flesh which is corrupted because Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. When these three things come together, as Rankin says, they collaborate to aid Satan’s cause. Because of that, I agree with her that every distraction or conflict should be viewed as spiritual warfare. This is not to say that we should blame the devil for everything and absolve ourselves of all responsibility. This acknowledges the fact that the degree of entanglement to which the devil has subjected unbelievers is extremely profound. His web of deception runs amazingly deep. Satan has planted strongholds that act many times without even a need for a real demon to thwart the work of God. He has made of people automatons that are wired to reject the gospel. It is a real miracle that anyone gets saved at all!
Some scriptures that I have alluded above are:
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:1-17
Romans 7:14-25 as well.
What I have been learning makes me really believe that spiritual warfare is more pervasive than we make it seem. Not everything is directly subject to Satan’s influence but nothing has escaped his corruptive influences. And only on our knees and in prayer and spiritual warfare can we find real success.
My prayer is that God will open our eyes like he opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6 to see the great number of heavenly chariots of fire that were for standing to fight for them in the spiritual warfare. I pray that God will open our eyes to see the tremendous help that is available to us in his power when we pray. I pray that He will also pour on us a spirit of fervent prayer to pray for the lost. In Jesus Name, Amen!
I close with S.D. Gordon’s words from his book Quiet Talks on Prayer. He says, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
Bibliography
[1] Rankin, Jerry. Spiritual Warfare: The Battle For God’s Glory. Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2009.