May 7, 2021: Battles We Have in Our Lives Is Not Against Each Other, But Against Spiritual Forces.

s we live our everyday lives in this world, we will come upon battles in our lives, either created by other people or by uncontrolled circumstances. But the most important thing we must remember, many of these battles are being created by the "spiritual forces and darkness" all around us that we do not see. The Apostle Paul describes these battles to the people of Ephesus in the Book of Ephesians. Please read the follow:

Ephesians 6: 12-13

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Writing from prison, Paul ignored his physical hardships and instead warned of the spiritual nature of the battle that wages all around us. The weapons for this battle are defensive as described in verses 14-17 in Chapter 6 of Ephesians, with one exception—“ the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (v. 17).

Our real battle is spiritual, and God’s Holy Spirit is essential for this struggle, and Paul urges us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions” (v. 18). And for us to have any success in our battles, we must give the Holy Spirit full control of these battles on our behalf. We must not try to stand on our own, or we will lose. We must "surrender" our battle to the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit may fight on our behalf. Then, and only then will we see victory.

The work we must be willing to do in our preparation for battle is be prepared. We must be in God's word daily in our lives so that we can know the promises and truths of God that are given to us. With these truths and promises in our minds, the Holy Spirit can readily bring them up for us as we need them for the battle.

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

It is only through our "absolute surrender" to the Holy Spirit, that we can remain humble to the needs of each other, as believers, and to the world around us. Let us not rely on our own strength as we go into these "spiritual battles", but to rely on the full power of the Holy Spirit to battle them for us.