We Are At War

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV) “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
 
Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV) “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
 
Has your experience in the past few weeks been characterized by an increase in tension in your relationships or a greater than normal struggle spiritually?  Sometimes these things can be understood by the changes that our lives go through such as work changes and stresses or family changes such as school starting back up again or a child going through growing pains.  At other times we recognize that the evil one is bringing about a well-timed attack through fears, lies, deception or his other weapons.  Regardless of the source of increased stresses and challenges and difficulties, our best response is to be led by the Spirit.  The Spirit may lead us to take authority over our household and forbid the work of the evil one in our family relationships.  The Spirit may lead us to dig deeper into the word of God and strengthen our spiritual foundations.  The Spirit may lead us to grow in our love for those who are wounded and whose response is to wound others.  First and foremost, we must realize that all of our struggles have a spiritual component, and we must learn how to respond as Spirit-filled and Spirit-led people.
 
But beyond being trained to use spiritual weapons and learning how to be led by the Spirit, we must understand that we are in a spiritual war at all times.  A war-time mentality is very different than a peace-time mentality.  Normal peace-time actions can get a person killed in a war zone.  Likewise, in spiritual war, if we are not prepared and ready to fight, we WILL get run over by the evil one.  In my corner of the world I have been seeing an increase in spiritual attacks.  In one sense this is a good thing because it teaches Christ-followers how to fight spiritually.  How else do we learn how to use the sword of the Spirit?  When you are in the middle of an attack against your identity in Christ or against your marriage and family or against the harmony of relationships in your church, that’s when the word of God becomes mighty to stand against the devil’s schemes.  Let us not be frightened by the reality of spiritual battle on our doorstep, but let us resolve to grow up into the overcomers that we are called to be and is our destiny as Christ-followers.  We are at war, yes, but remember that we are on winning side.  Therefore, let us be confident and engage in this spiritual battle.