The Devil
Ephesians 6:12 Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world's darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places.
Question: do you believe in the existence of the devil or not? Do you believe in the existence of a personal, spiritual force of evil, or not?
Anyone who’s spent any time in the military will tell you that a defence force spends most of its time training to defeat the enemy. They’ll assess the threat, understand their enemy and train ad infinitum to defeat him. That is, after all, what a defence force does.
And whether we realise it or not, we too live on a spiritual battlefield. The moment you set your heart like flint on following Jesus; the moment you make that God-first decision in your life, make no mistake about it, you have just stepped onto a spiritual battlefield and your enemy, the devil, has you in his sights. People sometimes think I’m crazy, because I believe in the existence of the devil, but …
Ephesians 6:12 Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places.
The great children’s author, C.S. Lewis, who wrote the Narnia books, was also quite the theologian. This is what he said about the devil:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
You and I live on a spiritual battlefield. Assess the threat, understand the enemy, and in Christ, learn to defeat him. That is, after all, what Jesus’ disciples do.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Jatinder Kumar Ahooja
Of course, the devil exists, as Ephesians 6:12 tells – there is a struggle, a battle in life, which must be ...
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Of course, the devil exists, as Ephesians 6:12 tells – there is a struggle, a battle in life, which must be assumed immediately by all as they see the world, i.e., whether it is against flesh and blood, or against the unearthly power of the evil. Possibly, the word “blood” is put first here to prevent even a moment’s confusion with the idea of wrestling against ‘the flesh’ as an evil power within ourselves. St. Paul is rebuking and putting to shame the works of darkness, warning us that the struggle is not a struggle with the ‘flesh and blood’ of wicked men – a struggle which may still admit of some reserve sympathy – but a truce less with the spiritual powers of evil themselves.