Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 71

March 12;    Ephesians 6:12;    71/260(II);    ‘Our Real Enemy’

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We are saddened and shocked, almost every day, when we read about or see on TV the atrocities people do to others.  How could a human being do such things to another?  This verse gives us the answer.  When the Lord created Adam, Adam was given the authority to ‘rule’ the earth and had the nature of the Lord.  When Adam sinned, he gave that authority to satan and the nature of mankind would no longer be the nature of God, but the nature of the devil.  That nature is pride.  Pride manifests itself in many ways, virtually none of them good.  Just as the Lord was to fellowship with Adam and work together with him, the devil influences the unsaved to ‘do his work.’  This verse teaches that the kingdom of darkness has a military type chain of command.  These demonic forces are our real enemy.  They influence the lost to commit the unspeakable things that we see.  Knowing this helps Christians focus our attention on who our real enemy is.  When Jesus rose from the dead, He humiliated satan in the spiritual realm.  Every angel and demon knows that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Jesus took the authority from the devil and gave it back to us.  A large part of our ministry, is to help the lost come out of the kingdom of darkness and out from under the dictates of our demonic adversaries.  Christians are mocked when the lost know that we believe that there is a devil and demons.  That is exactly what satan wants them to do.  He is best served when people do not believe in him, for then people will seek secular answers.  As Christians, we know the truth.  Our job is to liberate the lost by the Word & power.