Rejoice:

This is one of my favorite youtube groups. They partner songs with scripture and put them together in a smooth session. I really enjoy the atmosphere of praise created here! Let’s dive into some beautiful worship to prepare our hearts, changing our emotions and demeanor.

Respond:

God I am praying for transparency today. As I read these verses and meditate upon 6:12 I pray you settle it in my heart.

Read:

¹² 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.

I prefaced a sermon about unity in the body with this verse. Too often we feel heavily attacked by other people. Wether it is doctrine, our parenting, our lifestyle, our style of clothes, we feel someone has personally attacked us and we become hurt and angry with that person. This is because we  forget, or maybe don’t even know the truth found in these verses. We are not at war with flesh and blood! We get offended by people, feel attacked by the person, feel let down and question the people’s motives, all focused on the individual. We need to realize that just like how verses 10-11 told us we are at war and need to be equipped for it we ALSO need to realize we aren’t attacking humans and they aren’t attacking us. The other people we interact with and “become offended by” are actually victims. They are being surrounded by the enemy and may have given in to most of his attacks. They have been misguided, moved from a position of love, and now they are responding to you in their attacked state. They need freed. They need help. They are powerlessly giving way to the enemy and if we begin to accuse and attack them we are just allowing the same forces that are attacking them to work their ways into our lives.

Christ died for us when we were still enemies of God, we were walking in disobedience, slaves to sin, spitting in His face. Yet He stepped in, He understood we were totally given over to sin and we needed rescuing. In the same way we are called to lay down our preferences and desires to speak truth into the lives of those who are misguided. We are given an opportunity to use God’s Word to break down the enemies attacks and free victims. Realizing they are victims is the first step to reconciling issues and helping them break free.

The fact that we are at war with ONLY spiritual forces is further evidenced when we look at the next few verses. God is going to give us a run down of our battle fatigue and they all have to do with spiritual warfare.

Spiritual Warefare… it’s real. If we are acting as though it doesn’t exist we are walking through a battle field pretending the enemy who is surrounding us isn’t there. The only way we will fight our battles (effectively) is with God’s Word. Read it, see the things that contradict our thoughts, and then change our thoughts. If we have a point of view and it doesn’t have Biblical text supporting it… we should be willing to change it. Let’s not allow our life of presuppositions and false teachings to cloud our ability to read the Word and change. Let’s not build a doctrine on things we haven’t seen in God’s Word ourselves.

Respond:

God, thank You for giving me Your Word to break me from these chains Satan has cleverly shackled me with. Thank You for being patient with me when I attack my brothers and sisters and allow Satan access to my life and ultimately ruin Your ministry. Thank You for patiently helping me grow. I pray today that I plant the truth of Ephesians 6:12 firmly in my heart. I pray the Holy Spirit reminds me of this when I am feeling attacked by my brothers and sisters. God help us be unified as Christ prayed in John 17:20-23. Help us to love one another so that we can preach the Gospel above all things! Amen

Relate:

Here’s a pic you can share on Facebook or other social media platforms to remind others about this truth. Many people struggle daily feeling attacked and alone because of it. You have the opportunity to free someone from these crippling attacks of the enemy! Get the Word out, remind everyone you can that we are NOT at war with each other, but in the middle of a firefight with Satan. God’s Word will free us!