Many of God’s people have struggled in life, even experiencing devastation because of a lack of knowledge concerning the spiritual warfare in which we are to be engaged. Jesus has defeated Satan and all of his minions. However, the churches responsibility is to clean up with the help of the Holy Spirit the mess that the kingdom of darkness has made on the earth. God purposed that His redeemed people would finish the work with the help of the Holy Spirit through intercession, proclamation, and demonstration of the Good News of triumph over the kingdom of darkness, by setting captives free, and discipling the nations until the whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord. Habakkuk declared:
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14 NKJV
The Enemies We Face
Know Your Enemy
Three major enemies are identified in the Bible: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Each of these enemies attempts to exert power upon us to be conformed to something other than the will of God. I say upon us because it is a spiritual battle we must fight every day. Our whole being (spirit, soul, and body) is involved in this battle. Remember, the Bible establishes God’s will for the believer’s life and teaches us how to conduct ourselves. It is powerful because biblical instruction comes from the Holy Spirit who lives in us and empowers us to apply God’s Word in our daily lives. We are to be filled with His Holy Spirit and live out Christ’s life here on earth in everything that we say and do.
As we walk out the new life that Christ has given to us through His overcoming power, we will experience resistance every day from the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is an inescapable battle that every believer will face. The believer lives in a world of conflict, a world filled with vain philosophies and fleshly desires, and the unseen world in which principalities and demonic powers exist. The believer, in corporate relationship with Christ’s body, is called and mandated to deal with the enemies of the righteousness of Christ. Even as Christ overcame, we, too, overcome through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Just as Jesus did, we must learn obedience through the things we suffer:
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8 NASB