You Have a Real Enemy
In Ephesians 6:10–20, we discover a call to strength—”Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10 ESV)—and a call to stand—”Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11 ESV, emphasis added). But the author of Ephesians, the apostle Paul, knows that to be strong in the Lord and to take our stand against the schemes of the devil is not always as easy as it sounds. That’s why next in the verse, we hear a call to the struggle:
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 NIV)
We are going to consider this call to struggle that we find here in Ephesians 6, but before we do that, let’s make sure we understand what this verse is saying to us.
“Heavenly places” here means the unseen realm—the spiritual world. This verse tells us that there is a realm that we don’t see that is as real as everything that we do see. If we don’t get that, we will be naive Christians.
And in these “heavenly places” we have a real enemy. Paul wants us to get this point: We have a real enemy. So in this verse, he describes the enemy in a few ways, using these synonyms—”rulers, powers, world, forces of darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness”—to talk about Satan and his demons. God’s Word says that they are the real enemy.
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the unseen realm.
Your Enemy Is Unseen
Yet, the unseen realm, as we know, so often manifests itself in the seen realm. We know this to be true in a positive sense.
God is working by the Holy Spirit in your life as a Christian in the unseen realm. But as the Holy Spirit is working in you the work of faith, the work of sanctification, the work of humility, the work of trusting God and enjoying Jesus and growing in him, it comes out in the seen realm—through flesh and blood. We can tell God is at work in others. Wow, she’s growing in their faith in Jesus. He’s acting more and more like Jesus. He’s on mission. He’s a transformed person. There’s a work happening by God in the heavenly places, the unseen realm, but it manifests itself, hopefully, in the seen realm.
It is the same with the work of the enemy. His work is also going on in the unseen realm, but so often, it manifests itself in the seen realm among people: in bad governments, in laws contrary to God’s Word, in inappropriate internet and movie content, in harmful relationships, and in friendships both with those who follow Jesus and those who do not. The work of the enemy—though it happens in an unseen realm—manifests itself so often in the seen realm in our lives.
You Are The Enemy’s Target
We have a real enemy. And he has a real enemy too. Satan’s real enemy is God. God is the one that he hates. Now, God has absolute authority over Satan and his demons. There’s nothing that Satan can do to God directly, and if he can’t mess with God directly, guess who he’s going to mess with? Those who God loves most—the beloved of God. That’s you—the believer, the Christian.
If the enemy can’t get to God, then he’s going to endeavor to get to you. And if Satan cannot—and Scripture is explicit on this—if Satan cannot ultimately thwart the work of God and the plans of God (Isaiah 54:17; Job 42:2), then he will simply do everything that he can to keep us from experiencing the fullness of what God has for us. He will do everything that he can to rob us of joy, peace, holiness, purity, wholeness, godly relationships, walking in forgiveness, and walking closely with Jesus.
Satan’s enemy is God, but his target is us. Therefore, God’s Word tells us “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10 ESV, emphasis added). God has not left us alone. He has given us his full armor, the power of his Holy Spirit, the assurance in the face of Satan’s accusation that we stand before him guiltless in Christ (Romans 8:1), and the hope of the promises of Jesus second coming. Still, this life is a struggle.
You Are Part of a Struggle
Paul says, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV). If you spend your time fighting with people or fighting against governmental powers and wickedness merely on a horizontal level, you’ll never get to the heart of the issue. There are demonic forces behind governments, behind regimes, behind broken relationships, behind bad content, and so on and so forth. We must understand that the visible struggles we have in this life are part of a greater, and very real invisible struggle with the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
Most of us have never experienced the kind of battle Paul is talking about when he uses the word “struggle.” It’s the word that was used in his culture for hand-to-hand combat. It was wrestling. It was grappling. It was biting and holding and twisting. That’s the kind of up-close and personal fight you’re engaged in as a Christian.
Our wrestling—our struggle—is not merely against flesh and blood, but it is against the evil one. And this is not a far-off battle for someone else to fight. This is a battle in which we are all engaged. This passage we find in Ephesians 6 is written to every Christian.
Three Areas Satan Will Try to Tempt Us
So if the enemy is truly coming against us, in what way is he doing so? There are three areas where Satan will generally try to tempt us: our passions, our possessions, and our positions.
Satan is incredibly cunning. He’s been around for a long time. He’s smart. He knows how to work against a Christian, but he doesn’t have a whole lot of new tricks. He tempts us with passion, possessions, and position.
When Satan Tempted Eve
Consider Genesis 3:6, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food [passion] and that it was a delight to the eyes [possession—I want it], and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [position—I want to be exalted], she took of its fruit and ate” (ESV).
When Satan Tempted Jesus
Fast forward thousands of years to Christ being tempted in the wilderness. The tempter came and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3 ESV)
Jesus had been fasting for 40 days. Surely he was hungry. So Satan appealed to his passions.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:5–6 ESV)
Do you see here how Satan appealed to Jesus’ position? Do something amazing so that everyone will look and see. Show us something awesome.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8–9 ESV)
Lastly, Satan appealed to Jesus’ possessions.
Satan used these three tactics on Eve in the garden, and the same ones on Jesus in the wilderness. He will use these same tactics to tempt you.
When Satan Tempts You
Satan is always endeavoring to appeal to our passions or our want for possessions or our desire for greater position. But here is how God’s Word responds to those temptations:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17 ESV)
Think about the way that you’re currently being tempted. Realize that it is going to fall into one of these areas: passions, possessions, or positions. Identify the temptation, and name it, and begin to stand firm in the finished work of Christ, resisting it. Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says,
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (ESV)
Satan is always tempting us in the area of our passions, positions, or possessions. But God has put limits on temptation, and we are called to be strong in the strength of his might that we might stand.
Three Areas Satan Will Attack in Your Life
Once we understand that Satan will tempt us in areas of passions, possessions, or positions, then we can more fully understand that he will attack us in these three areas: doctrine, identity, and community. In other words, Satan will attack what we believe to be true about God, true about ourselves, and true about others.
1. The Truth About God
Satan is always endeavoring to malign the truth about Jesus Christ. Satan wants the world to believe wrong things about Jesus. Why is there such a battle surrounding the name of Jesus Christ? Why has his name become a byword and a cuss word? Why can you say the name of any other religious figure in any public sphere, and have it applauded, except for the name of Jesus? The moment we talk about Jesus, people get uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s because his name is the name above all names (Philippians 2:9). Perhaps it’s because there is power in the name of Jesus and in his person and his work.
So, the enemy is always working in the world to create false ideas and false doctrine about who Jesus is.
That’s why, brothers and sisters, you must have a plan to saturate yourself in the Word of God—so that you are reminded of who God is and what he has done!
The enemy is doing everything he can to make you misunderstand God. When trials come, Satan wants us to think that God is far off and that God is removed, that God is cold, that God is mean, and that God is not in control. Satan will tell you those things when your children are dying, when your body is ravaged with cancer, and when your marriage is falling apart.
The truth about God is that he’s never far off (Ephesians 2:13); he’s near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18); he’s always with us (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5). Christ is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). He is sovereign and in control (Romans 8:28), and he’s good (Nahum 1:7).
2. The Truth About Ourselves
Satan will also attack us in our identity. He will tempt us to sin, and when we do sin, he will be right there to accuse us. He says, “look at you. You call yourself a Christian. God can never accept you anymore. You’re not the beloved son of God. You’re not the beloved daughter of God. You’re not going to inherit all things in Christ Jesus. Look at what you’ve done.”
He attacks our identity as the beloved of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He wants us to feel as though we’re condemned by God (Romans 8:1). He doesn’t want us to experience grace (2 Corinthians 12:9). He wants us to experience condemnation. He doesn’t want us to experience mercy (Titus 3:4-7). He wants us to live in fear of God (1 John 4:17-19). He doesn’t want us to be sure of our salvation (1 John 5:13). He wants us thinking that God is angry with us and disappointed in us—that we’ve blown it this time beyond repair (Romans 8:38-39).
That is why you must have a plan for saturating yourself in the Word of God, because only it will tell you otherwise. It is your sword with which to combat the enemy (Ephesians 6:17).
3. The Truth About Others
And then Satan will attack us in the area of community.
In the middle of the night, here’s what Satan does. Satan plants bad thoughts into our minds about people we are called to love. Doesn’t he do that? And where does he do it most? He does it most in the Christian community. Why? Because Jesus prayed that we would be one, even as he and the father are one (John 17:21). And the moment that Jesus uttered that prayer, Satan declared war against unity among believers.
And so he’s got you up in the middle of the night thinking about her. Oh, I can’t believe she said that. When I see her, I’m going to say this, and I totally deserve this. And she doesn’t deserve that. Oh, I know they’re thinking this. Oh, I know they’re doing that because of this.
Satan does everything he can to tear us apart. We must stand firm and resist him and be strong in the strength of God’s might, saying no to the lies he tells us about our brothers and sisters in Christ and doing everything we can to maintain love and unity in the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Remember Jesus’ Victory
Friend, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Our struggle as Christians is primarily with an unseen enemy—Satan and his demons. Satan will try to tempt us to sin with the promise that it will satisfy our passions, gain us possessions, and earn us high positions. And he will lob his attacks against what we believe about God, what we believe about ourselves, and what we believe about others. God’s Word calls us to take our stand against these schemes of the devil.
These are difficult days, so we must remember Jesus has won. Jesus is winning and Jesus always wins. And the nearer we are to him, the greater our experience of his present victory over darkness.
Prayer: Lord, that you would draw us near to you. Thank you. Christ, you are risen and victorious. Thank you that we are yours. Thank you that your very power, the person of the Holy Spirit, resides in us. Thank you that you are bringing all things to your desired course. We need not live in fear, though we struggle against a real enemy. Teach us to be wise. Enable us to be strong. Show us the areas of our passions and possessions and positions that are being appealed to demonically. Begin to lead us into what is true about you, true about us, and true about others. Thank you that you love us so much. Thank you that you win. Thank you that we are yours and that all things are subject to your authority.