I have no patience at all for websites that don’t have fresh content. If I check CNN and they don’t have new articles every hour, I get annoyed. Don’t they know I am trying to avoid doing my real work and need a newsflash to justify wasting more time. That is why I know it is death on a stick that I haven’t had a new post in 3 days. I could give you a good excuse, like spending all day flying back home and having jetlag, but if you are as microwave society as I am, I won’t waste any more time. Let’s talk about Spiritual Warfare.
Oh yea, we are tackling that fun topic known as spiritual warfare. If you ask 10 people what they think of spiritual warfare, you will end up with 17 different answers. You have the extremes from people who believe that there is a demon under every rock, to those who believe we have “advanced” beyond believing in such “ancient nonsense” like people being possessed. Hollywood sure has realized that people are still fascinated with this stuff. A huge part of the market is dominated by horror and psuedo horror films about the supernatural. The Exorcist was just the beginning of a long line of kids’ heads spinning around and spewing what looks like green pea soup.
To me, Ephesians 2:1-3 lays the foundation of spiritual warfare in a 3 front battle. ” And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Paul knew that the Ephesians were new believers in the midst of a heavily charged spiritual atmosphere in Ephesus. Acts 19 records how deeply they were into magic before becoming Christians. In one day, they burned their magic scrolls whose value would have amounted to one person working for 50,000 days!
Paul lists out three main areas of spiritual warfare that the Ephesians need to be aware of. 1) “The course of this world”: this refers to the anti-God worldview and culture. It is the oppressive system of this “evil age” that seeks to enslave and ensnare (and a whole bunch of other things that start with “ens”). 2) prince of the power of the air: not only is this referring to Satan, but to all demons looking to “steal, kill, and destroy”. 3) lusts of our flesh: the sinful nature that was passed on to us by Adam, constantly fighting against the Spirit. If we want to have success and victory in spiritual warfare, we must think through how to wage war in each of these areas. In the next few posts, we will not only discuss each of these, but will address some of the difficult questions.
Can Christians be possessed by a demon? are there “territorial spirits”, and if so, what are they and what do they do? is there a Biblical basis for spiritual mapping? are generational curses real? how can they be broken? how do you cast out a demon? when did Satan fall and where is he now? why does Satan have a pitchfork and a weird, pointy beard? In all of this, our goal will not be to give any glory to Satan or demons. We have to remember that it is Ephesians 1:19-21 itself that reminds us, “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Jesus rules!
The Bible Nerd 