Thoughts on Spiritual Warfare

With my new transition as the Youth Leader at Hillcrest Christian Church, I have been thinking a lot about the teens in the youth group and the spiritual warfare that happens in their lives every day.

First of all, let me address the naysayers who will tell me that spiritual warfare does not exist or is at least not as big of a deal as it is made up to be. In Daniel 10:12-14 we read of an angel's response who came to Daniel to answer his prayers. His statement in verse 13 is very interesting, "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me for I was left there with the kings of Persia..." This verse interests me besides the fact that I share a name with the chief of warrior angels. It shows me that when I pray God responds (in this case, sending an angel with a message) and Satan's demons try to stop that from happening. THE WAR IS REAL! and it is still happening today.

Now that I have established the fact that spiritual warfare exists, let me explain how this affects us. As Christians, the devil only has as much power in our lives as we allow him to have. Let me make myself very clear, the devil is real and he will do everything in his power to get us to sin against God. But the Bible is also clear in telling us that if anyone "is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17). Galatians say we have become "sons of God", and because of this Romans says we are no longer "slaves of sin". Bottom line is the devil can not control what you do. He is going tempt you in any way he possibly can, but he does not have the power to control you. 


The question now becomes how do we fight temptation and deal with the spiritual warfare that comes from the people the devil can control (non-believers). I want to point out two ways which I fight spiritual warfare. There are probably more, but these are my "go-to" weapons to fight with. First, is prayer. Prayer is way for us to communicate with God. Through prayer we can receive strength, faith, grace, and other provision that we need in our everyday lives. We may sometimes think we need more than what God gives us, but God is all-knowing and his faithful to give us what we need. The second way is through the power of God's Word. That's right, quoting scripture. The prime example for this is in Matthew 4:1-17. In this passage Jesus is fasting in the wilderness and the devil comes to tempt him. With each temptation that Satan gives, Jesus responds with truth from scripture to rebuke the enemy.

In conclusion, let me tell you a common misconception and trap that Christians can often fall into when it comes to spiritual warfare. Christians start to lose focus of who the true enemy is. We often will treat non-Christians as the enemy, but they are not. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." As we go about our lives and face the temptations of the devil, often brought to us through non-believers, let us not forget to treat them how Jesus would, with love. Let us fight the true enemy, Satan and all his demons, through prayer and the Word of God.

God Glorified in "The Inner Cell"

I have decided to start blogging........again. That's right, I used to have a blog......but I never updated it. Somehow when I merged my Google accounts it got deleted and is nowhere to be found. I can't even use the same URL I had before. So here goes another shot at successfully sharing life with all of my friends and family.

You might be thinking to yourself, "Why is he calling his blog 'The Inner Cell'? That sounds so gloomy and depressing." I have found in life that times that are gloomy and depressing are often when God glorifies himself most. That is certainly the experience Paul and Silas had when they were thrown into prison together.

We read in the second half of Acts 16 (starting in verse 16) a story of these two men who were journeying together proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. Paul casts a demon out of a slave girl, and her master wasn't very happy about that. They are turned over to the Roman officials who have them beaten and tell a jailer to put them in prison. We read in verse 20, "Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." (ESV, italics added). So we find Paul and Silas in an extremely gloomy and depressing place, and on top of that they were just beaten. However, instead of letting their circumstances control how they acted they continued to glorify God. Acts 16: 25-26 says, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened." 

FASCINATING! Did you catch what just happened? It wasn't just Paul and Silas whose chains were broke looks.....it happened to everyone! I believe that as Christians our worship of God should impact those around us. And, as in the case of Paul and Silas, it should bring freedom to their lives. The story goes on to tell us that the jailer and his entire family received Christ and were baptized.

I hope that through this blog God will impact the lives of those who read it. In some cases, I pray, it will set them free from sin. That is what God desires, isn't it? For every human being to have freedom in the name of Jesus Christ.