Spiritual Warfare

This subject may perplex any non-Christian readers but I want to talk openly about some recent experiences. For those of you who are Christians reading this you will at least be familiar with the concept of spiritual warfare. The last few days have been difficult for me, I have struggled with temptations (of various kinds) as well as deception from the Devil. This barrage and unholy alliance between sin and Satan was jeopordising my faith. Physical and mental fatigue are widely accepted but I also believe in spiritual fatigue too. By not reading my Bible regularly as I should I was becoming spiritually fatigued and spiritual atrophy had started to kick in. I was starting to become frustrated with my life's circumstances.

Sometimes life seems to have a way of kicking you when you're down and there is always the temptation to blame God for your troubles. However I know that God is not a capricious deity who callously allows people to be tormented or suffer (whether that is perceived or real). Whenever this particular temptation arises I always remind myself of Job in the Old Testament who refused to curse God. Job refused the council of his friends and wife who thought that it would be sagacious of Job to curse God and die rather than live in prolonged suffering. Yet Job had the foresight and faith to realise that as human beings we owe God nothing and that God's ways are unfathomable.

As regards other temptation that results in sinning against God again it is not right to attribute this to God. As it says in James:

"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God', for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no-one." James 1:13

Temptation is a result of the sinful human nature, which conflicts with God's moral and natural law. The solution? The Bible refers to temptation that is 'common to man', meaning that we do not experience any form of temptation that others have not been tempted with themselves. We are never alone in our struggles. Jesus was God incarnate: God made man. The Bible teaches that Jesus is able to strengthen us because He has also experienced similar temptations and yet overcame because He was without sin (see Hebrews 4:15). The way in which Jesus strengthens the believer, as well as His example in the Gospels of a righteous life, is through the Holy Spirit:

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galations 5:16

Conversely, as I have been struggling with, if we do not continually refresh ourselves with the Word of God and keep our focus on Jesus then we will fail to walk in the Spirit, fail in our own self-righteousness to live a life pleasing to God. Regarding the Word of God I want to now turn to the issue of Satanic deception.

Through the failure to live a pure and holy life the Devil was able to sow seeds of doubt in my mind: doubt, confusion and worthlessness. I began to feel unworthy of God and consequently felt miserable. As I listened, unperceptively at first, to the lies of the Devil I became increasingly disillusioned with my status before God. But the Devil is a liar, indeed Jesus describes him as the 'father of lies' (see John 8:44). In fact it is quite literally the oldest trick in the book (see Genesis 3:1). The Devil mercilessly seeks to turn humanity against God by deceiving us that God is not who He says He is and that we are not truly saved through Jesus. As a Christian I should be more conscious of this, but so many times I fail to perceive it until it has done some damage.

As Christians we are ceaselessly at war with Satan, which as I said earlier can become tiresome. Therefore it is imperative we know and understand through the renewal of our minds by the Word of God that it is not in our own strength but God's! God is our warrior King who defeats Satan for us. Let me share with you a passage of Scripture that truly spoke to me this morning from my daily reading. It is from Ephesians 1:3-14. I will not quote the entire passage but will pick out the key points that God used to speak to me of His divine sovereignty, Love and the power of His grace:

"even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world... In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ..." Ephesians 1:4&5

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the richness of His grace, which He has lavished upon us..." Ephesians 1:7&8

"In Him (Jesus) we have obtained an inheritance... In Him you also... were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance..." Ephesians 1:11 &13,14

That is the truth, and how liberating it is! Praise be to almighty God, hallelujah! Elsewhere in the Bible it speaks of the extraordinary thought that God is mindful of man, despite how seemingly insignificant man is compared with the rest of the universe. Yet the truth is even more amazing than that! God not only is mindful of us but loves us, chosen us personally out of the billions who have lived presently and throughout the ages, adopted us into His family so that we have a marvelous inheritance that awaits us in eternity and has made sure of that by his grace which he does not give begrudginly, or even withholds, but lavishes on us as well as through the Holy Spirit. Am I worthless to God? No! Am I a failure in God's eyes? No. As long as I continue to trust in Jesus for my salvation I am secure in the grace of God, empowered by His Spirit.

In the analogy of spiritual armour, the Word of God is said to be our sword. The Bible is our very own excalibur and we should wield it at all times against the Devil in this spiritual war. The truth will destroy the empty lies of the Devil as well as give us the strength we continually need, through the Holy Spirit, as we put our faith, hope and trust in Jesus. I know I will face many battles in my life, but I endeavour to meet them all not in my strength but in God's as I draw strength from the truth of His Word and from His Holy Spirit.