The Real Battle

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

This past weekend was an awesome weekend of teaching at the church that I attend by guest speaker Mike Erre, the new senior pastor at Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. The teaching was so remarkable on Saturday night that I returned Sunday morning to hear it again. It regarded a subject that I don't believe you hear being taught much about in most American churches today - spiritual warfare.

Over the last year or so, I've had the belief that American churches need to hear similar messages about spiritual warfare. It's not a comfortable subject for many. Too often we find the cause for our problems in other people and for good reason, and yet there is always the possibility that the cause for our problems are from the spiritual realm. It doesn't mean that all our problems are rooted there, but we have to start understanding that many of the trials and infirmities we deal with come from there.

Over the last several weeks, I had been dealing with a sense that I was short of breath and suffocating. I had people pray for me and even anoint me with oil to heal me, but nothing had worked. During Saturday night's service, Pastor Mike had sensed that there were people dealing with demonizing and he commanded the evil spirit to leave. In that moment I felt my sense of shortness of breath lift away and leave. It has not returned since then.

There are far greater things that the Scripture above addresses. These may seem great to many, but in the greater scheme of things, they are not that important. Our battle is not with the flesh and blood of Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, homosexuals or heterosexuals, blacks or whites or any other opposing factions. Our battle is with the spirits and demos causing the discord through their lies of pride, hate, envy, loneliness, anger and all the ills of the human spirit.

The war has been won through the self sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He has given us the foothold against the enemy like the Allied army had on the beaches of Normandy. Once they had their foothold, victory was assured. Our weapons are love, hope, reconciliation, forgiveness, peace and all that is good. Our enemy is not man or woman. It is evil in the spiritual realm.

Thank you, Mike Erre, for the healing, the encouragement to change my battle plan, and the inspiration for this blog.