Ephesians 6:12
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 world seems to be in chaos at the moment. There is so much hatred, darkness and sin, and it seems to be creeping into the church as well. I question if we as the Body of Christ are responding to what's going on around us in a godly way? There's a righteous anger against sin and injustice that we need to adopt, but at times, it seems that ungodly anger and frustration has caused us to turn against one another, instead of battling the real enemy in prayer. Many are taking justice into their own hands, trying to play God, judging matters with mans wisdom and not by the Spirit of God. In doing this we treat people we believe are living contrary to Gods word in an ungodly manner, forgetting that we all sin and fall short of the Glory of God (Romans 2:23). We need to remember that Jesus walked with sinners and loved them, completely forgiving them when they turned to Him. We at times forget how gracious Christ has been by forgiving our own sins, ignorance and at times stupidity; and His willingness to heal, deliver and redeem us because of His unmerited mercy and love.
One of the main ploys of the enemy is to ensure that we as human beings fight against one another instead of fighting our true enemy, which is Satan and all the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness; and against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places. Satan wants us to fight against each other because a house divided against itself cannot stand. So If the enemy can succeed in pitting married couples against one another and parents against their children, siblings against one another and brothers and sisters in Christ against each other, then he has succeeded in limiting our effectiveness as the body of Christ. How can we stand in unison against the enemy and win back territory in the spiritual realm, take back our cities and nations for God and reveal Christ to the nations if we are divided.
I know how difficult it is at times to disassociate the sin from the sinner, especially when someone has wronged me personally. But our enemy is not fellow believers, relatives, colleagues, friends or even unbelievers; It is the unseen enemy in the spiritual realm. And yes people still have free will and they may choose to do wrong but it's not our place to condemn them. If we continue to fight a person instead of the enemy that influences people to sin and takes advantage of their weaknesses, then there will be continued hatred, chaos, disunity, broken marriages and relationships. The enemy is already defeated and we are more than Conquers, but when we fight each other using the enemies weapons i.e. hatred, vengeance, accusations, gossip, slander, malicious talk, manipulation, pride, rebellion etc., then we give the devil a foothold in our lives.
We need to be UNITED and love those who are struggling in sin, restoring them in love and with grace and compassion. When Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, He focused a lot on unity among the believers. He prayed that we would be ONE and that the love that was in Him would be in us, so that the world would come to know that Jesus is LORD and that He was truly sent by God the Father (John 17:20-26). We do need to take a hard stand against sin but we are still called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ who genuinely want to be free from sin, but are struggling in bondage. If people are unwilling to change or repent, that's a different matter entirely, but we still have no right to hate on them. We may have to hand them over to God, because He alone can change the hard, stubborn and rebellious heart.
The way we fight for people and not against them is through prayer and at times fasting. We pray for God to open their eyes to sin and wrong living, that God would bring upon them a holy conviction and a spirit of true repentance. We need to stand in the gap for them, to travail in prayer for them, asking that the LORD would forgive and cleanse them of all sin by His precious blood. We have to bring down the principalities and powers in the spiritual realm that are influencing them to sin and pray for God to build up their walls on all sides, that they would be impenetrable to the enemy. We need to ask God to set them free and completely heal and restore them. We need to show them unconditional love, to ensure that they know, no one is beyond the reach of Jesus and no sin is too great for God to deliver them from or cleanse and forgive them of.
In all this we have to guard ourselves and pray from a place of love and compassion, not judgment, because by the same measure we judge we will be judged and we remember Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. The fruit of love is the key to know if what we are seeing and sensing is from God or from the enemy. If what we see is circumstantial and causes us to hate, accuse, gossip about or slander a person then that is not the Spirit of God and we need to bring the matter before the LORD to help us deal with it in a Godly way through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Always look for the fruit of the Spirit in your life in the way you handle situations and deal with sin or supposed sin to guard from operating in the flesh, which the enemy is able to manipulate.
Many of us do not know the torment that people who are bound or deceived by the enemy go through. Unless we have been through it ourselves, we don't understand the shame and the guilt associated with sin. We don't always grasp the magnitude of the spiritual battle some people have to go through to gain complete freedom from habitual sin or destructive lifestyles. That is why God wants us to pray for them and not to hate on them, but to fight with them and for them in prayer against the true enemy, who wants to keep Gods people in bondage, destroy family units and hinder the work of the church by causing disunity and strife.
Judgment, vengeance and justice belongs to God and He will avenge the elect that cry out to him day and night. He will bring breakthrough but we have to come into alignment with God and His word, by interceding for those who are in captivity and by revealing Christ to a hurting and dying world, not being the cause of more harm by fighting one another with the same weapons the enemy uses against us. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). There is so much to spiritual warfare that cannot be unpacked in one blog, but as you pray submitting to the Holy Spirit, He will lead and guide you on what to say and do (Romans 8:26-28). When we are in alignment, operating in the Holy Spirit and not in the flesh, then we will experience the reality of being more than conquerors, able to fight and be victorious over the real enemy.
God bless you!
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