Our Spiritual WARFARE

Christians have one common enemy - Satan. We are constantly in a battle against the hordes of hell. Satan comes at us in different ways. All that the devil wants is to get the believer to sin against his God. He uses the fancies and fantasies of this world to trap the believer.

Peter says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1Pet.5:8). That's our common enemy. He walks about. That's all he does - looking for the slightest chance to strike.

Our Lord Himself says, "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mt.16:18).

From the lips of Christ we can understand that from inception the church in building is already up against the Gates of Hell, but the Lord gives us the first assurance that they shall not prevail against us. The little word "not" is absolute negative in the Greek. It means that the gates of hell shall NEVER prevail against the church. That means that the church is invincible - absolutely unbeatable. God is saying to us that we are fighting a battle we are never going to lose, because our victory has already been determined by the finished work of God on the cross. We are covered in the blood of Christ Jesus. We are hid in Christ and Christ is hid in God.

No matter how fierce or deadly the battle may seem, we are assured of victory.

Paul reveals further that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph.6:12).

In 2Cor.10, he says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;" (10:4).

God has given us all the weapons required for victory in this spiritual warfare. According to Ephesians 6, we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, and the shoe of the preparation of the gospel of peace (Eph.6:14-17).

The believer has all it takes to win or remain a winner. Christ has recovered our territory and wants us to stand our ground and withstand the enemy.

We are facing the battles of the mind and worldliness - the anti-God and humanistic systems of this life.

But the good news is that the Spirit dwells in us and God is for us. We are completely condemned to victory. Hallelujah! Amen.