Do You Understand Your Enemy?

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.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

I stood mesmerized as I watched the witch doctors in our tiny village in Guatemala do all their incantations, rituals and sacrifices. They burned candles and killed animals, all the while chanting some undecipherable words.

When the village had its annual festival, the Mayans dressed up in ugly witch doctor costumes, complete with masks. They did dances to ward off any evil spirits. Actually, I wonder if they were bringing in the evil spirits. To me, as a young child, it was something fun to watch, because I had no idea what they were really doing.

Then at the boarding school, where I attended for eight years, I heard hellfire and brimstone messages. I became afraid of the devil, believing he was all-powerful. I thought I just needed to be a good little girl and stay out of his way. As a result, I didn’t learn how to recognize the enemy and successfully fight against him. Rather, I wanted to run the other way, thinking he could pulverize me.

In the last twenty years, I’ve begun to learn about spiritual warfare and see it in a proper perspective. Yes, the enemy has power, but we have more power because we are on God’s side (Joshua 5:13–15). It has been a process and I’m sure I’m not there yet.

Imagine going into a war against a powerful army while not having any idea who you are up against. You may know who you are and your side’s strengths, but you don’t know how many people are coming against you. You don’t know what types of weapons they have. You don’t know what types of tactics they use.

Just as that would be unwise and absurd, in the same way it is foolish for us to go into battle not knowing who we are up against.

We are in the middle of a war, so we must know our enemy, but we must not stay focused on him. Our focus needs to be on God, recognizing His power that is available to us.

The Lord is much greater than any enemy that might come against us. But, if we don’t know our enemy, we won’t be aware of what types of attacks he may use. When the attacks come, we won’t be able to stand against Satan if we don’t realize they are from him.

We are not engaging in an ordinary combat. Tremendous issues of life and death, defeat and destruction are at stake.

Excerpted from Battlefield Strategies for Every Believer, a practical guide to spiritual warfare.

Learn more and get a free sample of it by clicking the above link.

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