11 Put on the complete armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, 12 because to us the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. |
I cried as I was driving to my destination. I thought about the words that were said and my heart was instantly crushed again. I thought about the reason the argument occurred in the first place, and doubt and fear set in quickly. Who was that person standing before me the day before, talking to me like I was nothing and nobody special?, I thought to myself. Lord, how could someone I love so much hurt me so badly? I was trying to make sense of it. I reminded God that I had been working so hard to be better in that relationship. I just didn’t understand how it got to the point of the harsh words and the I-don’t-care attitude from the other person involved in the heated exchange. As I was pulling up to my destination, God answered my question with a question...
"Do you know who you were fighting?" To which I replied, "Of course, I know, God. I was fighting someone I love very much...and did You hear how he talked to me? Did you see the look of contempt in his eyes as he spoke to me?" Again, God answered me with a question...
"Do you know who you were fighting?" To which I replied, "God, you do know that you just asked me that same question? I was having a very heated argument with someone I love, and he treated me like I would expect to be treated by an enemy. Why would he treat me like he were my enemy?" In true fashion of the game, Questions, God again answered me with a question...
"So, did you recognize him; did you recognize your enemy...?"
At this point, I've had enough one on one conversations with the Wise One to know that He was trying to take me deeper than my human emotions. He wanted me to open myself up spiritually so we could journey together on my quest of gaining a deeper knowledge of Who He is, and He wanted me to spiritually recognize the forces that come against me so heavily the more I draw closer to Him.
I'm going to keep it real, I didn't want to journey away from my emotional state. I wanted God to tell me He was going to "get" that person that hurt me...the one that seemed not to be concerned at all about who I am to him...or at least who I am supposed to be to him. But, alas, I was keenly reminded and aware of the fact that God wasn't going to entertain my antics. He wanted to teach me a lesson that would benefit my soul, not just give me a temporary fix or avenge my hurt feelings.
Who is my real enemy?, I thought. I began to recall all the passages of scripture I could think of that talk about who the enemy is. God wanted me to remember that Satan is my true enemy, and he doesn't present himself as an evil red monster with a horn, a tail and a pitch fork. No, the devil presents himself in the form of someone at your job, or as one of your children, or maybe as a parent or sibling, or your spouse. God wanted me to understand that many battles that we see happening with our physical sight are just small repercussions of the larger battle that is going on behind the scene.
I grabbed my Bible and turned to Ephesians 6:12. I wanted the Holy Spirit to break this passage of scripture down for me so that I could fully understand exactly what it meant.
I looked at the first truth of that scripture and honed in on the word wrestle. I knew what the sport was. I had to watch WWE with my oldest child until he grew out of that phase. Still, I went to the search engine on Google and looked up the history of the sport.
I found several articles but chose to click the link that gave information on wrestling in Ancient Greece. Bear with me as I give you this brief history lesson. I'm going somewhere with it, I promise.
The goal of the wrestlers was to throw their opponents to the ground from a standing position. A point, or fall, was scored when a wrestler's back or shoulders touched the ground. Three points were needed to win the match, and holds were restricted to the upper body.
I thought about this information as it relates to battles we, as believers, face in our daily lives. I thought about how often the enemy hits us hard when we're standing tall in our faith, in a way that we least expect it, with something that trips us up and makes us stumble around in a dizzy haze. When we are able to get our footing and stand straight again, he comes at us even harder with something that knocks us to the ground. Once we are able to get ourselves up and stand, ready to fight him again, he hits us with so much force that it literally takes our breath away and causes us to fall hard on our backs. Gracefully, for us, that third strike doesn't count us out of the game (Proverbs 24:16a).
I thought about the fact that wrestlers' holds or grips on their opponents were restricted to the upper body, and I imagine that it may have even been allowed for them to get a grip on their opponents' heads. Isn't that really how the fight with the enemy begins? He finds a way to get into our minds to the point where the thoughts he plants take hold of our entire beings. Whether it be doubt, fear, addiction or temptation, what starts as small leads to something big, which then leads to us facing some big consequences. These consequences could be a blow to our physical, emotional or spiritual well being, to our relationships and most importantly to our souls.
As I continued to read Ephesians 6:12, I was still trying to figure out how God wanted me to see past the physical form of the person I had had that argument with and see something other than what my eyes could behold. If we don't really fight against flesh and blood enemies, I needed to know more about these evil spirits and wickedness in high places.
I was taken to the Book of Daniel. In that book, starting with the tenth chapter, God revealed some very powerful things to Daniel after he had endured a period of mourning, had fasted, prayed, and confessed his sins and the sins of his people. Daniel was given a glimpse of the realm between heaven and earth. Daniel was given a peak into the heavenly realms and what was taking place there.
I'll pause for a moment before continuing to explain these realms because I couldn't really understand how there were wicked and evil spirits in the heavenly realms. After doing some research I now know that there is a distinct difference between heaven and the heavenly realms. Heaven is God's home and where we as believers will reside with Him when this world no longer exists. The heavenly realms is the world where both angelic and demonic activity take place. In essence, the heavenly realm is the spiritual world.
Ok, now back to Daniel and the power of the truth that was revealed to him.
In Daniel, chapter 10, Daniel encountered what appeared to be a man but was really a messenger of God. The messenger explained to Daniel that he had come to him because his prayer request was heard in heaven. He went on to tell Daniel that he had been delayed because the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia had blocked his way.
Wait...spirit prince...?
I read this part of the scripture again to make sure I wasn't mistaken.
I don't know why I was surprised to see the exact same words when I read over it again. I closed my eyes and thought about this for a little while. I sat up and read on. As I went on and got to verse 20, I read of the messenger telling Daniel that he couldn't stay much longer because he had to go back and continue his fight with the spirit prince of Persia, and after that he would have to face the spirit prince of Greece. He went on to say that no one helped him in his fight against these spirit princes except Michael, who was Daniel's spirit prince.
I immediately understood that the spirit princes of Persia and Greece were evil spirits, and Michael and the messenger God sent to Daniel were spirit princes of good.
Good versus evil...isn't that the age old battle?
So, we really don't fight against flesh and blood enemies. Humans, in and of themselves, don't have the power to hurt us deep in our souls. It's the evil spirits, who belong to Satan, that give them the power to do things to hurt us to the point that we feel we might die. Remember, it's the devil's job to steal, kill and destroy any peace, hope, joy and love that we have (John 10:10a).
Satan is the ruler of this dark world, and he has physical beings in high places carrying out his work for him. Listen, these high places don't necessarily mean people in position of power over countries and armies. The people in position of power could also be people who are in high places in your heart. Satan will often use the people closest to you to try to keep you from growing deeper in relationship with God, and ultimately keeping you from spending eternity with God.
Before you point your finger in judgement at your loved ones, acknowledge the fact that Satan may have also used you as an instrument of darkness against the very one who has hurt or is hurting you now. Just because we're believers doesn't mean that we are immune to the tactics of the devil. In fact, he may try harder to use us as his instruments to prove to God that we don't walk with Him as closely as He thinks we do.
When this last thought came to me, I literally said, "Ouch!". I recalled some very hurtful things that I have said to the person I had perceived to be my enemy a few days ago. I know things that I have said have hurt him to the point of breaking his heart, just as he had broken mine in the moment of that passionately charged conversation.
After this realization, I knew that I needed to be in the Word more and praying daily, several times a day and night, for God to keep me from allowing the enemy to use me against people that I love, care about and encounter in my daily walk. I know it won't always be easy, and I may fall sometimes, but I know I can get back up and be better and better each day.
As I am writing this to share with you, another thought has occurred to me. The messenger of God in Daniel 10 had explained to Daniel that he had intended to visit him sooner, but the spirit prince of Persia delayed him by 21 days (Daniel 10:13a). It was a "wow" moment for me! I've often heard people say that when we don't get immediate answers to prayers it's either because God is saying "no" or "not yet". However, as I read this portion of the scripture, I came to understand that God may have immediately sent His answer through our spirit princes, but our spirit princes were delayed by spirit princes of darkness.
Could it be that just as God has assigned each of us a spirit prince of good, the devil has also assigned an evil spirit prince to continuously come against our own spirit prince to keep us doubting God and believing that He doesn't hear our prayers or care about rescuing us in times of great need?
Although the devil isn't all-knowing and all-seeing like God, I wonder if when he can see the tenacity and determination in which our assigned angels race out of the heavenly realms to deliver certain answers to our prayers to us on the earthly realm, he knows that whatever our spirit prince is coming to deliver will make us even mightier in God than we already are. I have prayed so many times to go harder and deeper in the ways of God and to see some supernatural changes in the ones that I love. Some of these prayers are prayers I have been praying for years, and many of those prayers have yet to be answered.
This is why we have to pray unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We cannot stop praying for those things that will make us stronger in Christ and give us more wisdom to understand the ways of God. Whether you've been praying for a year, 15 years or 33 years, don't give up, and keep expecting to see the change you're praying for. When it comes, I can only imaging how powerful it will be because the enemy and his minions fought against you receiving it for so long.
Well, I think I've taken enough of your time with this blog, so I'll wrap it up now.
If you're in a battle with someone in your life right now, remember that you're not really fighting a flesh and blood enemy; instead, look past that person in their physical and allow God to reveal the evil spirits at work behind the scene.
Remember, as you become more and more aware of who your enemy really is, don't allow him to use you as an instrument to fight against another; especially someone with whom you have close relationship. When words are said and actions take place that hurt you, tap into God's strength and allow your tongue to be tamed and your actions to only display love and a spirit of service towards the other person. The whole point of the enemy using you and the other person against each other is because he has a small clue as to just how powerful you can be together if you truly tap into the power of Christ within you, and fight against your enemy together instead of fighting against each other.
There is a real war going on in the heavenly realms. It is the cause of so many things going on in the earthly realm. I believe that Christ will be coming back for His church sooner than later. As believers we have a charge to fight against the vices of the enemy. Don't get caught up in your own flesh. Always remember that even though a war is waging, the fight is fixed and was already defeated when Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead (Colossians 2:15).
The next time you find yourself in a battle, no matter how big or small, I challenge you to take a moment before responding. Close your eyes, tap into the spirit of God and ask Him to reveal the real warriors in the battle. If you do this, I believe that when you open your eyes and your spiritual mind, standing in front of you won't be the form of the physical person with whom you believe you are having this battle. I believe, instead, when you look through your spiritual sight, you will see the real opponent; through your spiritual sight you will recognize your enemy.
"Do you know who you were fighting?" To which I replied, "Of course, I know, God. I was fighting someone I love very much...and did You hear how he talked to me? Did you see the look of contempt in his eyes as he spoke to me?" Again, God answered me with a question...
"Do you know who you were fighting?" To which I replied, "God, you do know that you just asked me that same question? I was having a very heated argument with someone I love, and he treated me like I would expect to be treated by an enemy. Why would he treat me like he were my enemy?" In true fashion of the game, Questions, God again answered me with a question...
"So, did you recognize him; did you recognize your enemy...?"
At this point, I've had enough one on one conversations with the Wise One to know that He was trying to take me deeper than my human emotions. He wanted me to open myself up spiritually so we could journey together on my quest of gaining a deeper knowledge of Who He is, and He wanted me to spiritually recognize the forces that come against me so heavily the more I draw closer to Him.
I'm going to keep it real, I didn't want to journey away from my emotional state. I wanted God to tell me He was going to "get" that person that hurt me...the one that seemed not to be concerned at all about who I am to him...or at least who I am supposed to be to him. But, alas, I was keenly reminded and aware of the fact that God wasn't going to entertain my antics. He wanted to teach me a lesson that would benefit my soul, not just give me a temporary fix or avenge my hurt feelings.
Who is my real enemy?, I thought. I began to recall all the passages of scripture I could think of that talk about who the enemy is. God wanted me to remember that Satan is my true enemy, and he doesn't present himself as an evil red monster with a horn, a tail and a pitch fork. No, the devil presents himself in the form of someone at your job, or as one of your children, or maybe as a parent or sibling, or your spouse. God wanted me to understand that many battles that we see happening with our physical sight are just small repercussions of the larger battle that is going on behind the scene.
I grabbed my Bible and turned to Ephesians 6:12. I wanted the Holy Spirit to break this passage of scripture down for me so that I could fully understand exactly what it meant.
I looked at the first truth of that scripture and honed in on the word wrestle. I knew what the sport was. I had to watch WWE with my oldest child until he grew out of that phase. Still, I went to the search engine on Google and looked up the history of the sport.
I found several articles but chose to click the link that gave information on wrestling in Ancient Greece. Bear with me as I give you this brief history lesson. I'm going somewhere with it, I promise.
The goal of the wrestlers was to throw their opponents to the ground from a standing position. A point, or fall, was scored when a wrestler's back or shoulders touched the ground. Three points were needed to win the match, and holds were restricted to the upper body.
I thought about this information as it relates to battles we, as believers, face in our daily lives. I thought about how often the enemy hits us hard when we're standing tall in our faith, in a way that we least expect it, with something that trips us up and makes us stumble around in a dizzy haze. When we are able to get our footing and stand straight again, he comes at us even harder with something that knocks us to the ground. Once we are able to get ourselves up and stand, ready to fight him again, he hits us with so much force that it literally takes our breath away and causes us to fall hard on our backs. Gracefully, for us, that third strike doesn't count us out of the game (Proverbs 24:16a).
I thought about the fact that wrestlers' holds or grips on their opponents were restricted to the upper body, and I imagine that it may have even been allowed for them to get a grip on their opponents' heads. Isn't that really how the fight with the enemy begins? He finds a way to get into our minds to the point where the thoughts he plants take hold of our entire beings. Whether it be doubt, fear, addiction or temptation, what starts as small leads to something big, which then leads to us facing some big consequences. These consequences could be a blow to our physical, emotional or spiritual well being, to our relationships and most importantly to our souls.
As I continued to read Ephesians 6:12, I was still trying to figure out how God wanted me to see past the physical form of the person I had had that argument with and see something other than what my eyes could behold. If we don't really fight against flesh and blood enemies, I needed to know more about these evil spirits and wickedness in high places.
I was taken to the Book of Daniel. In that book, starting with the tenth chapter, God revealed some very powerful things to Daniel after he had endured a period of mourning, had fasted, prayed, and confessed his sins and the sins of his people. Daniel was given a glimpse of the realm between heaven and earth. Daniel was given a peak into the heavenly realms and what was taking place there.
I'll pause for a moment before continuing to explain these realms because I couldn't really understand how there were wicked and evil spirits in the heavenly realms. After doing some research I now know that there is a distinct difference between heaven and the heavenly realms. Heaven is God's home and where we as believers will reside with Him when this world no longer exists. The heavenly realms is the world where both angelic and demonic activity take place. In essence, the heavenly realm is the spiritual world.
Ok, now back to Daniel and the power of the truth that was revealed to him.
In Daniel, chapter 10, Daniel encountered what appeared to be a man but was really a messenger of God. The messenger explained to Daniel that he had come to him because his prayer request was heard in heaven. He went on to tell Daniel that he had been delayed because the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia had blocked his way.
Wait...spirit prince...?
I read this part of the scripture again to make sure I wasn't mistaken.
I don't know why I was surprised to see the exact same words when I read over it again. I closed my eyes and thought about this for a little while. I sat up and read on. As I went on and got to verse 20, I read of the messenger telling Daniel that he couldn't stay much longer because he had to go back and continue his fight with the spirit prince of Persia, and after that he would have to face the spirit prince of Greece. He went on to say that no one helped him in his fight against these spirit princes except Michael, who was Daniel's spirit prince.
I immediately understood that the spirit princes of Persia and Greece were evil spirits, and Michael and the messenger God sent to Daniel were spirit princes of good.
Good versus evil...isn't that the age old battle?
So, we really don't fight against flesh and blood enemies. Humans, in and of themselves, don't have the power to hurt us deep in our souls. It's the evil spirits, who belong to Satan, that give them the power to do things to hurt us to the point that we feel we might die. Remember, it's the devil's job to steal, kill and destroy any peace, hope, joy and love that we have (John 10:10a).
Satan is the ruler of this dark world, and he has physical beings in high places carrying out his work for him. Listen, these high places don't necessarily mean people in position of power over countries and armies. The people in position of power could also be people who are in high places in your heart. Satan will often use the people closest to you to try to keep you from growing deeper in relationship with God, and ultimately keeping you from spending eternity with God.
Before you point your finger in judgement at your loved ones, acknowledge the fact that Satan may have also used you as an instrument of darkness against the very one who has hurt or is hurting you now. Just because we're believers doesn't mean that we are immune to the tactics of the devil. In fact, he may try harder to use us as his instruments to prove to God that we don't walk with Him as closely as He thinks we do.
When this last thought came to me, I literally said, "Ouch!". I recalled some very hurtful things that I have said to the person I had perceived to be my enemy a few days ago. I know things that I have said have hurt him to the point of breaking his heart, just as he had broken mine in the moment of that passionately charged conversation.
After this realization, I knew that I needed to be in the Word more and praying daily, several times a day and night, for God to keep me from allowing the enemy to use me against people that I love, care about and encounter in my daily walk. I know it won't always be easy, and I may fall sometimes, but I know I can get back up and be better and better each day.
As I am writing this to share with you, another thought has occurred to me. The messenger of God in Daniel 10 had explained to Daniel that he had intended to visit him sooner, but the spirit prince of Persia delayed him by 21 days (Daniel 10:13a). It was a "wow" moment for me! I've often heard people say that when we don't get immediate answers to prayers it's either because God is saying "no" or "not yet". However, as I read this portion of the scripture, I came to understand that God may have immediately sent His answer through our spirit princes, but our spirit princes were delayed by spirit princes of darkness.
Could it be that just as God has assigned each of us a spirit prince of good, the devil has also assigned an evil spirit prince to continuously come against our own spirit prince to keep us doubting God and believing that He doesn't hear our prayers or care about rescuing us in times of great need?
Although the devil isn't all-knowing and all-seeing like God, I wonder if when he can see the tenacity and determination in which our assigned angels race out of the heavenly realms to deliver certain answers to our prayers to us on the earthly realm, he knows that whatever our spirit prince is coming to deliver will make us even mightier in God than we already are. I have prayed so many times to go harder and deeper in the ways of God and to see some supernatural changes in the ones that I love. Some of these prayers are prayers I have been praying for years, and many of those prayers have yet to be answered.
This is why we have to pray unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We cannot stop praying for those things that will make us stronger in Christ and give us more wisdom to understand the ways of God. Whether you've been praying for a year, 15 years or 33 years, don't give up, and keep expecting to see the change you're praying for. When it comes, I can only imaging how powerful it will be because the enemy and his minions fought against you receiving it for so long.
Well, I think I've taken enough of your time with this blog, so I'll wrap it up now.
If you're in a battle with someone in your life right now, remember that you're not really fighting a flesh and blood enemy; instead, look past that person in their physical and allow God to reveal the evil spirits at work behind the scene.
Remember, as you become more and more aware of who your enemy really is, don't allow him to use you as an instrument to fight against another; especially someone with whom you have close relationship. When words are said and actions take place that hurt you, tap into God's strength and allow your tongue to be tamed and your actions to only display love and a spirit of service towards the other person. The whole point of the enemy using you and the other person against each other is because he has a small clue as to just how powerful you can be together if you truly tap into the power of Christ within you, and fight against your enemy together instead of fighting against each other.
There is a real war going on in the heavenly realms. It is the cause of so many things going on in the earthly realm. I believe that Christ will be coming back for His church sooner than later. As believers we have a charge to fight against the vices of the enemy. Don't get caught up in your own flesh. Always remember that even though a war is waging, the fight is fixed and was already defeated when Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead (Colossians 2:15).
The next time you find yourself in a battle, no matter how big or small, I challenge you to take a moment before responding. Close your eyes, tap into the spirit of God and ask Him to reveal the real warriors in the battle. If you do this, I believe that when you open your eyes and your spiritual mind, standing in front of you won't be the form of the physical person with whom you believe you are having this battle. I believe, instead, when you look through your spiritual sight, you will see the real opponent; through your spiritual sight you will recognize your enemy.