
A friend of mine has been going through some very difficult things recently. He grew up on the streets, selling drugs, drinking, and for many years that was his life. He was on the run, causing trouble, messing around with life. But slowly, God got ahold of his heart. It took years and years. But it finally happened. He started attending a church in town, helping with the various ministries, bible study, men’s choir, and so on. And just recently he finally decided to get baptized.
And as he came to the day, he faced attacks from the enemy, attempting to stop it from happening. Then the day came and he went under the waters and came out a new man. And in the days after, the enemy has continued his attacks on this transformation, to stop it in it’s tracks.
The word of God tells us that the entire world is in the power of the evil one. And the evil one has many demons working for him. The demons have various ranks, from low ranking demons assigned to attack different people, to high ranking demons that are considered powers and authorities over various regions. Much like our communities are divided up by state, county, and city, demonic powers have areas which they have authority over on the Earth.
And in those areas, they seek to prevent humans from becoming followers of Jesus the Nazarene.
The attacks they are able to levy against humans are limited. They couldn’t necessary just send a group of people to kill someone who was about to become a Christian. But demons are able to influence other humans in various ways. They can influence someone to be rude to us, or to flirt with us, or to tempt us to do something wrong.
The enemy can send people to us, who could trip us up. The enemy can also send demons to us to whisper to us, lie to us, and attempt to get us caught in sin.
That would probably best explain the enemy’s goal, to get you caught in sins. And at all costs, to keep you away from Christians, the church or anything that might melt your heart toward Jesus.
My friend finds himself in the midst of the spiritual battle. He made a decision to give his life to Christ and the enemy first attempted to prevent that day from coming, but now after, he seeks to uproot him from it, and bring him back to the world of sin.
Yet God at the same time is protecting him, wooing him, encouraging him, and using fellow Christians to strengthen him.
This is the spiritual battle that we face each day. And in this series we’ve been addressing how to engage in and win the battle.
You can open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3, and we’ll see someone who is experiencing his own serious spiritual battles.
Starting in verse 1: “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—”
His name was Paul, and he wrote much of the New Testament, including the letter to the Ephesians, which we’ve been going through the last few weeks.
Did you notice what Paul wrote? A prisoner, of Christ Jesus. Did you know that Paul was in prison when we wrote this letter to the church at Ephesus?
It’s true. He was imprisoned in Rome, the dating is approximately AD 60-62. Now that is spiritual warfare. Paul had so faithfully spread the good news about Jesus that the enemy had to try to lock him away in jail.
We see the purpose here, for the sake of you Gentiles. When the Bible talks about gentiles, who is that referring to? I remember growing up Catholic and they would talk about the gentiles and I was like who is that? Gentile is a term used by Jews to describe non-jews. So when you see that in the Bible, it just means someone who is not Jewish. So basically, you and me.
Next it says, “2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.”
Paul speaks about mysteries made known to him by revelation. In our spiritual warfare battles we will find that God will reveal things to us about what is really going on. But we have to ask Him.
God is always nudging me, letting me know, you need to pray for this person. Many times I’m sure you’ve even had God wake you up in the night to pray for someone. Do it, because it’s very needed in the moment. If someone keeps coming to mind, pray for them. And if God tells you to, even call them or find some way to connect with them.
God is revealing things to us always, if we are intimately connected with Him. He does this in so many interesting ways. God recently spoke to me through a movie of all things. He nudged me to write down some things from my past, ancient memories of some very bad things that happened to me when I was young. God prompted me to write, and cry, and confess, and heal from it. He tied together all these memories that have stuck with me for years, and showed me, these are signs of something that happened to you when you were very young, that damaged you greatly.
He takes us on journeys of healing, all of this is a practice that God does, revealing mysteries to Christians, through a process called revelation. Revelation, that word means revealing. God reveals things. Sometimes God keeps showing me something in scripture or just in my mind and I have to pray and ask God, “Why do you keep showing me that Lord?”
Do you want to experience the next level of revelation? Do a 21 Daniel fast where you only eat fruits and vegetables. Do a full fast for one day, or three days, or more. Fasting and seeking God’s heart is very powerful.
Yet Paul is referring to a different mystery here in Ephesians 3.
The mystery is, verses 4-6: "In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
The mystery Paul discovered through the Holy Spirit is that Jews and Gentiles would together, as one family, share in the promises of Christ Jesus. That’s true for us today. People of all nations who turn to Jesus all will inherit the kingdom of God.
People from every tribe and nation were standing before the throne of God in the book of Revelation. Every tribe, every nation, from Kenya and Nigeria to Egypt and Turkey to China and Korea, to the Philippines, Japan, France, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, and even the good ol USA.
And there are demonic powers and authorities over every nation there, attempting to promote false religions, attempting to block the spread of the teaching about Jesus, and attempting to stifle Christians. Yet God is at work, with angelic armies, and guardian angels and His infinite power, working to bring people to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In spiritual warfare we must understand that the battlefield is the entire planet of Earth, every nation, and more specifically, the real battlefield is every single person ever born. They are the battlefield. You are the battlefield.
Next, verse Ephesians 3:7: "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.”
What kind of attitude should we have as we fight our spiritual battles? We should see ourselves as recipients of God’s grace. It is God’s power working in us. We are not warlocks or witches casting spells or conjuring power within ourselves. We are praying to God, talking to God, seeing what God is doing through revelation, and then acting in alignment with God’s power. Then God’s power flows through us.
We discover what God wants us to do, whether it’s praying for someone, finding rest, ministering to someone, fasting, enjoying a beautiful sunrise, reading a particular scripture or book, enjoying a fun outing with our children, or taking a particular pathway in our life. We will know through talking to God what it is he wants us to do, then we act on it.
And as we act in His will, we see the power of God flow through us to others. Simple example: God nudges us to pray for healing for someone. We respond and go up to them, offer to pray for them, God then enters the situation and as we pray, God heals them. Do you see it? We watch God work through us, we don’t conjure it ourselves.
God nudges us to cast out a demon, so we begin to pray and rebuke the demon and bind it and cast it out in Jesus name, and God brings the power into the situation, God’s power responds to our request, which God inspired us to do, mind you, and then the demon is removed.
This is how God’s system works. The Holy Spirit is not “the force” from Star Wars that obeys our commands. Rather, we obey God’s commands, and as we act in alignment with God, the power of God flows through us to bringing healing, overcoming, salvation, or victory over demonic powers.
That’s an attitude of the mind, of following the leading of God, and letting God work through us, as we walk in alignment with His will.
Let’s look more at what attitude we should have in spiritual warfare: Ephesians 3:8, "Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ”
Paul, who is regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the Christian church for the last two thousand years, how does he view himself? As a powerhouse Christian soldier? No. He calls himself the least of all the Lord’s people.
In our spiritual battles we must have an attitude of intense humility. Not false humility, not pretending we are humble but actually being prideful. No, we should be deeply humble, deeply dependent on God. Pride is a deadly enemy, keep it in check by believing we are the least of God’s servants.
Next, Ephesians 3:9, "...and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things."
We see that God is making clear to everyone how the mystery is to come into the real world. How would it be that Jews and Gentiles would come together as one united people of God? Through the spread of the church, the body of Christ on Earth.
Paul planted the first churches throughout the Roman empire two thousand years ago. And his work did not fail. The church spread across the world, and Christian churches are now present in virtually every nation on planet Earth.
But notice that God wants to take the mysteries he reveals to us and translate them, administer them into the real world. God uses people to fulfill his purposes, plain average people like you and me.
God is always using his people to do beautiful things in the world. Rest assured he is revealing things to you. He’s giving you a vision for something. Continue to pray about it. Continue to seek God’s face on what he is showing you. Keep coming to Him. And the revelation will be clear, the mystery of what you were always meant to do with your life will be clear.
But then comes the part where the rubber meets the road: You must strike out to do what he’s put on your heart. I did that 11 years ago when I felt the call to become a Salvation Army officer. And I chased it down, at first working at the homeless shelter, then doing a two year internship in upper Michigan, then two years in Chicago, then finally, I became an officer and was appointed to my first corps. What has God put on your heart to do?
Believe it and then strike out in faith to see it come into the real world. It won’t always be easy. There will be set backs. There will be challenges. Never give up. Keep believing. Follow God no matter what. And God will cause you to give birth to the vision and bring it into the real world.
Next, Ephesians 3:10-11: "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God is showing off his wisdom and power through the church, the body of Christ on Earth. It’s a giant rebuke to the demonic rulers and authorities, the rebels who thought they could overthrow God. They came to the Earth and corrupted humans. But now God shows off his power that even when we live in occupied territory, in realms controlled by demons, the power of the church grows up among those occupied territories as a stern rebuke to the powers of hell. They had thought that all man would follow demons to hell. But they were wrong, God made a way through Jesus for us to be saved, and those of us who follow him, though he don’t even see him face to face, are a marvel to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. They thought they had an iron grip on humanity, but they were wrong. God built up a peculiar people among them, despite them, and to even overthrow them.
I remember driving to my first pastoral position in Owosso, Michigan I could sense the downtrodden nature of the area, and what I was sensing was the principality over the area. It had total control. It was like a mighty stronghold over the area, blocking the light of God. As we served there and prayed and fasted and held events, you could sense the atmosphere of the area slowly changing. We were breaking through the glass ceiling, and the light of God was shining through. This is your privilege and power as a believer, to overthrow the principalities over your city.
Lastly, Ephesians 3:12-13: "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.”
Paul reminds us to approach God with freedom and confidence. And to not be discouraged because of the sufferings of the believers, for these sufferings bring great glory to God.
I want to point you to a portion of scripture elsewhere to illustrate how spiritual warfare works, and it's going to tie together everything we've discussed so far.
The disciples of Jesus are on a boat on the lake, and a powerful storm hits suddenly. The storm threatened to overthrow the boat. They were buffeted by the waves.
From Matthew 14:25-31, "Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
When the enemy attacks us, or we face trials in our lives, it’s like the disciples on the boat, the storm hits and we hold on for dear life. We cry out to God for help. We don’t give up. Yet the storm gets stronger.
So many times in the battles we face it gets worse first. The enemy strikes. The principalities and powers attempt to harm us.
But Jesus comes to us, walking on the water, showing us there is reason for great hope.
Peter sees Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the storm. At first he is shocked and disturbed like the others. But then he realized it was Jesus. His heart began to glow, and revelation came into His heart from the Lord, and he realized something few have ever understood even today in the body of Christ: I am called to walk in His power.
And he asks Jesus to call him onto the water. And Jesus calls him out and Peter steps out of that boat and onto the water. Not into the water, but onto it.
In your spiritual battles, realize like Peter, who saw the truth for the first time that day, you will do greater things in Jesus. You have the power in you, with Christ in your heart. You can walk on the water too. And the enemy will fall defeated at your feet.
How? If you will believe. Notice Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, and the power remained, but, as he looked at the waves and doubted, he began to sink. If our faith is strong, and we stand in the realization, the mystery that the power of Christ resides in us, we will overthrow the principalities and powers of this world. We do this by approaching God with confidence and freedom.
Let’s review our main points for today:
A. Spiritual warfare involves overcoming attacks from principalities & powers
B. God delights to reveal his mysteries to us His followers
C. The battlefield in spiritual warfare is humans (you)
D. God’s power works through us in spiritual warfare as we seek and follow God’s will and timing
E. Intense humility is the goal in spiritual warfare, pride is defeated this way
F. The purpose of God revealing his mysteries to us is that we would put them into action in the real world
G. Demonic principalities and powers are like strongholds over areas, but they can be broken by walking in God’s power.
H. We must approach God with freedom and confidence, like Peter who perceived the mystery of God’s gift of authority in Christ and translated that mystery through faith into the real world by walking on the water with Jesus