No matter who we are or what we do for a living, all of us are bound to face struggles in life.  Financial pressures, job loss, personality conflicts, time demands, injury, illness, emotional pain, death, etc.  When faced with setbacks like these, people often tend to blame God for their circumstances, or other people, or even themselves. 

However, Scripture urges us to consider another, more sinister source for troubles, what Paul called the “ruler,” “authorities” and “cosmic powers” in the heavenly places.  Our struggle is not against God or other people but against “spiritual forces of evil”

Certainly there is a place for human responsibility.  However, Satan and his hosts have numerous other ways to influence human activity and carry out their ultimate purpose, the capture of people away from God. 

Thus, Paul is telling us that ultimately, people are not our enemy, sin and Satan are.  In today’s Scripture, Paul says simply, “there is evil.  It’s out there.  It will attack you.  Be ready.  Arm yourself.  Do not imagine you will have special immunity from it. 

Some people think that there is no Satan.  Perhaps the following story will be instructive to them.  Once there was a boxer who was being badly beaten.  Battered and bruised, he leaned over the ropes and said to his trainer, “Throw in the towel!  This guy is killing me!”  The trainer said, “Oh, no, he’s not.  He’s not even hitting you.  He hasn’t laid a glove on you!”  At that point the boxer wiped the blood away from his eye and said, “Well, then, I wish you’d watch that referee.  Somebody is sure hitting me!” 

 We fight a spiritual battle, but we might well ask, who is the enemy?  It’s not the nonbeliever, although occasionally you will meet a person so full of evil and rebellion against God that he or she actually declares himself or herself the enemy of Christianity.  The secular media or world systems work endlessly to undermine God’s truth, but they are not the enemy either, although they are often tools in his hands.  Our enemy is Satan and the spiritual forces of evil. 

Satan the deceiver (Genesis 3), the accuser (Zechariah 3), the destroyer (1 Peter 5), is the enemy of our souls and of the souls of our friends and loved ones.  As Paul sounded this battle call, he wanted us to know whom we’re fighting.  We are not in an earthly military campaign—our battle is not against enemies of blood and flesh.  Instead, we battle the demons over which Satan has control.  Satan’s work is to tempt people to sin. 

There are many other ways in which the powers of darkness attempt to undermine the purposes of God.  But it is pointless for us to try to determine at any moment whether something is being “caused” by wicked spiritual power.  A preoccupation with that leads only to foolish speculation.

Well, we may not feel like we are under direct attack a lot of the time.  We may not be aware of the poison hidden around us.  But this is a spiritual battle Paul is talking about, not one “of flesh and blood.”  So it is more subtle and cunning, but even more serious, because our spirit is at stake.

According to Daniel Schaeffer in his book Dancing with a Shadow, the Eskimos devised a way of killing wolves.  They planted a knife in the ice with the handle buried.  Then they put chunks of fresh meat on the blade and let it freeze.  The wolves would smell the blood from afar and come to lick it.  As they licked the frozen meat, they worked themselves into frenzy.  Soon they cut their tongues on the razor-sharp blade and began feeding their hunger with their own blood.  They would lick until they slowly bled to death.

This is Satan’s favorite way to tempt and destroy people.  Satan will not fight fair; his plan will often include subtle tricks and schemes.   When we fail to recognize the danger of Satan’s sweet temptation and allow ourselves to become obsessed with it, we are in danger of self-destruction. 

In the Christian life, we battle against Satan.  The apostle Paul reminds us of what many hymns assert; that Christians are engaged in spiritual warfare with active evil.  We face a powerful army whose goal is to defeat Christ’s church.  When we believe in Christ, the satanic beings become our enemies, and they try every device to turn us away from Christ and back to sin.  All believers find themselves subject to Satan’s attacks because they are no longer on Satan’s side. 

We need to be fully prepared for battle, needing the whole armor of God.  There are many things we need to arm ourselves with, to “be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  This also tells us that we win not by slaying the enemy.  This is not a battle in which we attack.  We win just by standing firm and holding our own ground.

 To withstand their attacks, we must depend on God’s strength and use every piece of his armor.  The whole body needs to be armed.  As we battle against “the powers of this dark world,” fight in the name of the Lord, whose power comes from the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it would be impossible to stand on our strength alone.  We must participate in Christ’s victory over Satan.

One night while John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Island his mission station was surrounded by hostile natives.  They were intent on killing the Patons and burning the station.  Paton and his wife prayed through the night in hopes that God would deliver them.  When daylight came the natives left. 

A year later when the chief was converted to Christ, Paton asked him why they did not attack.  The chief was surprised by Paton’s question.  He asked, “Who were all those men with you?” Although Paton knew of no other men, the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments who circled the mission station with their swords ready.  God’s fight and victory is real whether or not we see it.

In today’s Scripture, “Be strong in the Lord” refers to strength derived from God, not strength we humans have to somehow obtain.  God’s strength and His mighty power are part of the kingdom blessings available to God’s people.  The power that raised Christ from the dead empowers God’s people as they prepare for the spiritual battle they must face on this earth. 

I’m not sure exactly which martial arts movie, but I remember a comic scene when the good guy is showing off his powerful martial arts moves to the enemy, while the enemy just stares at him without expression.  Then, after a pause, the enemy takes out a gun and shoots him.  Satan is the bad guy, and we need to wear the full armor of God in order to shield ourselves from his deadly shot.  It is not enough if we try to fight Satan only by our own strength. 

All believers need supernatural power to defeat Satan, and God has provided this power by giving us his Holy Spirit within us and his armor surrounding us.  Paul gives us a powerful strategy for standing firm against our spiritual enemies: “put on the whole armor of God.”  That armor is made up entirely of spiritual weapons: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer. 

As God’s people, we must put on the whole armor of God.  The believers’ response to the reality of this warfare should be to take up the whole armor of God.  The armor is ready for us; we just need to take it.  Our “ability to stand” in battle depends on our use of “the whole armor of God.”