Into the Fire

How did it happen?

Not very many people care to engage in discussions about spiritual warfare. A lot of people associate such talk with cults, fanatics, and, worse: Pentecostals (!) (written in a hushed whisper). In fact, a fair number of those same people think Pentecostals are cultish.

Another good number of people think Frank Peretti’s novels This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness were fair imaginings of the evil side of the spiritual realm and left it at that. Others felt the stories were probably a pretty good depiction of how it really is, much like Randy Alcorn’s interpretations of heaven in his Deadline, Dominion, and Deception trilogy.

Regardless of your denomination and inclinations, the spiritual realm contains both angels and demons. Jesus told us that the evil one’s intensive desire is to rob, kill, and destroy those of us created by a loving Father. Jesus identified our enemy as the “father of lies”, Satan, the accuser of the brethren, and the “author of confusion”. No conscious human being who has been engaged in this life can honestly say he’s never been confused or lied to in some capacity. We’re lied to every day on the news or in the newspapers or in the advertisements of products, and those lies can create confusion at some level.

So is this talk leading to the humorously suggested, “The devil made me do it.”? No. But it could be said, “The devil tempted me to do it.” Think of what you consider has been your greatest failing. Did it happen in an instant, or did it begin gradually with you mulling it over in your mind, then rejecting it, then having it reappear again with even more enticing propositions. How many times did you reject it before you gave in to it? Or is it ongoing? Or was it done as a snap decision the first time it was dangled in front of you? Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. We are sinners. We are tempted daily to do the right thing or the wrong thing in the simplest arenas or in the most complex situations, often confusing, and even involving lies.

Deception is a major tool of our enemy. Think about it. If we think or believe something is harmless to us, if it’s attractive in any way, we’re in. So many things immediately become that infamous piece of fruit after we’ve indulged ourselves. Then we wonder how we could’ve been so stupid, so foolish, so blankety-blank inept as a Christian to become involved in such a mess.

Well, it’s not hard to understand if you’re of the notion that spiritual warfare is optional in the Christian walk. Picture Jesus in his encounters in the gospels with people possessed by demons. Addressing spirits. Taking authority over them. Instructing his disciples about what they’d be doing when He was no longer directly with them. Follow those same disciples into Acts, the coming of the Holy Spirit to reside in believers for this current dispensation, their battles with the enemy, and on throughout the Word, giving instruction about the oppression and attempted overwhelming of believers by the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. Remember those scriptures? Throughout the New Testament? They’re there. And not for random attention. They’re part and parcel of the continuing battle for our souls here on earth. It’s not a “sweet dream”, “everything’s good” heyday we have here. It’s a war. For us. For the lost. Against a foe so evil we cannot imagine him.

Fear, lies, deception, sexual lust . . . just a few of the more prominent temptations in our world today. If you have no idea how to battle them beyond self-help manuals which require your “will power” to overcome, chances are you will be bound by any one of them or perhaps all of them. Why did we get “authority” in the Name of Jesus? Why would we need it? The world doesn’t consciously recognize it, but, oh, do those demons ever recognize it. They shiver and shudder at a believer who knows and uses the power behind that Name.

I would simply suggest to you if you are suffering from the onslaught of any repeated temptations and/or succumbing to them, put on the armor, use the Name above all names, know your place of authority given to you by the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, and war against the enemy of your soul. He’s not backing down, so you better not either. You have the power. Use it.

If you choose to ignore or neglect this area of your walk with Christ, you open yourself up to major deception, and eventually . . . all hell breaks loose.

Take it from one who knows.

Father, you have given us all the tools, equipped us for battle, and given us “how to” instructions. Let us not neglect this portion of the gospel of provision for our lives on planet earth. Mighty warrior, let us be clothed in you and go forward against the gates of hell in the Name of Jesus, Amen.