Verse of the Day 7-22-22

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

We, as followers of Christ, must keep in mind that our primary source of conflict in life is not circumstances or other people who irritate, offend, annoy or hurt us; they are not the real enemy. The enemy with whom we are at war is Satan and a multitude of evil spirits. And there are two things that we need to remember about the real enemy we are facing on a daily basis.

1. These powers of darkness are the spiritual forces of evil that energize, influence and control ungodly people. These dark forces oppose God’s purposes, plans and desires. They frequently attack people-particularly Christians-using various schemes and strategies.
2. There are multitudes of these evil powers, and they are highly organized into an empire of evil with rank and order.

To put this in easy to understand terms for all of you: As followers of Christ we are not engaged in primarily in battle with earthly forces that we can see, but rather we are engaged in battle with spiritual forces that we cannot see. And that is the most important thing that we must remember. That is why Paul in this last teaching section of his letter to the church at Ephesus spent time talking about preparing ourselves of doing battle not with physical forces using physical weapons, but with spiritual forces using spiritual weapons. I urge you to read Ephesians 6:10-19 and then read my blog post entitled “Put on the Whole Armor of God” (https://upstatechristian.com/2021/10/03/put-on-the-whole-armor-of-god/).

Today’s Bible Readings:

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10, Romans 7:14-8:8, Psalm 18:1-15 and Proverbs 19:24-25