Many millions have read the spiritual-fiction (isn’t that an oxymoron? Anything truly spiritual isn’t/can’t be made up…hmm…maybe another post, another time.) — ANYWAY… Many millions have read the works of fiction by Christian author, Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, The Oath, Monster, and a few others). He writes of the spiritual battles in the heavenly realms and he even writes of how it sometimes reaches into the physical world.
But what does the Bible say about it?
Ephesians 6:12 ESV — For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV — For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…
Ephesians 6:11 ESV — Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
That’s just three of over 40 verses that I found on a first pass…
It is satan’s desire (I left the “s” uncapitalized on purpose…even the first letter of his name doesn’t deserve the same reverence as our Lord’s Name does)… It is satan’s desire to take what is God’s. To thwart His plans. To show Him in repayment for throwing satan out of heaven because of his sin. satan’s only weapon against God is us, really…even he knows that he has no power over the Almighty. James 2:19 reminds us that even the demons believe the Lord is One and they shudder. That verse is in a different context than spiritual warfare, but it’s a statement that lets us know that the minions of satan know Who God is.
The plan of satan is to hurt our God. If he can keep us from being what God wants us to be and doing what God wants us to do…he is getting what he wants (at least temporarily).
The 2 Corinthians verse above states it pretty plainly that his goal is sometimes to keep us from obeying. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” It’s our goal as a family to have one-track focus in this and follow God with all of our hearts, no matter what.
God’s desire is for us to be formed in Jesus Christ, and in Him as Lord. Satan wants us to be centered on anything but that; he wants us disobedient and distorted to the things of God, and God wants us surrendered and dependant with faith upon Him. This is the battle of real “Spiritual Warfare,” where the line is drawn, where what we choose will determine whether we serve Satan or Christ. There is no in-between, no middle ground, and no other choice for us to undertake. a short excerpt from an article on “intothyword.org”
We talked to the kids last night about spiritual warfare and were pretty surprised to hear them attribute all the things that have been going on in our house the last week or so as spiritual warfare. Today’s a new day.
God WILL prove Himself…Deuteronomy 4:32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.