| “Endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” | |
| —2 Timothy 2:3 |
Most Christians don’t often consider the spiritual battle waged against them. Yes, they would say that Satan exists and prompts evil in the world. But, when it comes to understanding the ceaseless battle Satan wages against their lives, they usually don’t see it. Here’s how Joni Eareckson Tada explains it: 1
The King’s most trusted officer turns renegade and gathers a powerful army around him to lead a rebellion. Through treachery and deceit, the rebel leader usurps the authority of the King and sets up his own rival government, enslaving the citizens of the kingdom. In order to free the captives, the King sends His own Son into the heart of enemy territory with a battle plan more shocking than anyone could imagine.
Not only does the “rebel leader”—Satan—want to tempt us to sin, he also works hard to defeat us in our Christian walk, and also in our work on behalf of God’s Kingdom here on earth. Satan endeavors to discourage us and tempt us to turn back. Satan generally does everything he can, in any way that he can, to disrupt our lives. When we pray in Jesus’ name against the weapons Satan uses, we can successfully upset his battle plan—we can outflank his attack on us.
Jesus took on this enemy, Satan, at the cross. As Colossians 2:15 tells us:
“… having disarmed the powers and authorities, he [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
And with this overcoming power that Jesus gives to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can fight against the war that Satan will continue to instigate against us until Jesus comes back to earth.
God has not left us alone to live defeated lives. Instead, God has armed His people with the weapons we need: prayer and His written Word. Here’s how 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 describes it:
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
When we pray in Jesus’ name, we join with Him in defeating the powers and authorities of this dark world, along with all the spiritual forces of evil. Jesus already disarmed them on the cross. But, when we pray, we appropriate that same power into our own lives.
When we see evil around us and feel it coming at us from every side, we have Christ and His power as our strong defense. He gives us the opportunity to outflank the enemy and win the skirmishes. And one day, our King—Christ Jesus—will return to end the battle with total victory against all evil, utterly and completely.
Praise His name!
| 1 Tada, Joni Eareckson. Diamonds in the Dust. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing Company, 2010. Devotional for April 9th. Please note that whenever a citation of Copyrighted material is made on a blog post of this blog, such a citation is given strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder. |
