Scripture casts the Christian life as one of warfare for which the saint must be courageous, fit, and active in. Consider Ephesians 6:12-13,
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God… (Ephesians 6:12–13).
You must conquer to eat of the tree of life (Revelation 2:7). That means you must not be cowardly, timid, or passive (Revelation 21:8). You actually have to get in the fight and fight with conviction. Consider Paul’s words to Timothy,
This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience (1 Timothy 1:18–19).
And of course there is Ephesians 6:10–18, as alluded to above, makes clear that putting on the whole armor of God is not just to cosplay in front of the mirror.
So you, saint, must enter into the warfare. But what is the way?
As usual, it proves helpful to first answer what is not the way.
Three Wrong Ways of Warfare
Entering in your own power. The first wrong way of warfare is entering in your own power. There is a version of teaching regarding spiritual warfare that casts it as a mustering up of your own power through quasi faith and new-agey spiritualism. This type of teaching is often unmoored from the anchor of the gospel or robust doctrine regarding the Holy Spirit. This type of teaching amounts to nothing more than self-help or self-improvement endeavors at best and unbiblical spiritualism that syncretizes pagan and demonic practices with watered down Christian practice at worst.
Not entering due to morbid introspection. The second wrong way of warfare is actually not entering due to a bad case of self-pity. This case typically involves the morbidly introspective individual navel gazing to the point that all they consider is their sinful depravity and not the magnanimous beauty of Jesus. This individual sits on the sideline and never enter the fight because of their own unworthiness and liability and ironically see this as a virtuous position.
Not entering due to misapplication of God’s sovereignty and misguided eschatology. One may says, “God is sovereign; therefore, I don’t need to do anything. He’ll take care of it! But this is to misapply God’s sovereignty by neglecting the revealed truth that God sovereignly uses means, namely his people, to accomplish his purposes. Another may say, “Well, things only get worse. We lose down here on earth, but God’s kingdom is not of this world. Therefore, I’m not going to waste my energy for that which will not last.” But this is a misguided eschatology because no matter how one’s specific brand of eschatology understands the trajectory of life on earth, the call to the saint remains to enter into the war, period.
In sum, at the center of each one of these wrong ways is the self. “I will fight with my own power through my own spiritualism.” Or, “I won’t fight because I’m useless.” Or, “I won’t fight because I don’t want to waste energy just to lose down here.”
Those are the wrong ways. What is the right way?
One Way of Warfare
The one way to enter the warfare is to recognize who you are in your King.
Notice, in order to recognize who you are, logically, you first have to recognize who your King is.
Consider the result of that famous showdown between David and Goliath. The Israelites pursue the enemy to victory only after being saved by and beholding who they were made to be in their King.
Or, consider Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians. He instructs the Ephesians to put on the spiritual armor only after he reminds them of who they are in Christ in perhaps the most gospel grace-packed two chapters in the Bible (Ephesians 1–2). The thrust is this: forget about entering the warfare. You will not even put on the armor if you do not know who you are in your king.
There is one way to entering the spiritual warfare all around you: Recognize who you are in your King by first recognizing who your King is.
There are three primary fronts and three primary theaters of this warfare.
Three Fronts of Warfare
Front 1: Sin. The first front of this warfare is the battle against sin. You must fight against and kill sin. Hear Paul,
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13).
Sin is a work of Satan, and your King came to destroy those works. It is not for you to go awol and continue in sin as a soldier in Christ’s army,
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8)
Your King’s mission directive on earth was to destroy the works of the devil, sin. And it continues to be part of your mission directive too. Fight and kill sin.
Front 2: Satan. The second front of this warfare is the battle against Satan. You must resist the devil and his lies. Hear Peter,
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
The ancient dragon has come to make war on the offspring of the woman, you (Revelation 22:17). He has come to earth in his evil wrath desperately trying to take down any he can with him for he knows his time is short (Revelation 22:12). But the mortal blow has been struck. Therefore, heed James encouragement,
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
You are on the offensive. Resist him and his temptations and he will flee, like the Philistines. Hate him and hate evil and pursue it to death. Fight him. How? Here in James 4:7, by submitting to God and opposing Satan. Resisting is active, so actively oppose Satan. This manifests itself privately but also publicly. Consider front three.
Front 3: The Lies of Satan through His Agents. The third front of this warfare is the battle against Satan’s lies that come through his agents. Hear Paul,
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:3–6; cf. 11:4, 13–16).
Without getting into the weeds of how this works out, just notice the three activities we should participate in against Satan’s lies and his human agents, false teachers, who espouse those lies. (1) Destroy their arguments against God; (2) Take their wayward thoughts captive to Christ; and (3) And punish or work justice regarding their disobedience.
The King’s warriors are warriors of the Word. This is the sword in your hand. Use it to combat the lies of Satan through his false teachers and false systems, and pursue all justice against evil doers and false teachers in biblically authorized ways. The big takeaway is this, we must be courageously active with regard to defending the truth and destroying the lies of Satan with the Word. It’s not an option.
There are three theaters in which this warfare takes place.
Three Theaters of Warfare
Here, I just note three primary theaters for this spiritual warfare.
Theater 1: The home.
Theater 2: The church.
Theater 3: The public square
Fight sin, fight Satan, and fight the lies of Satan through his agents in your home, in the church, and in the public square. The specific means of deploying the “weapons of righteousness for the right hand and left” as Paul calls them in 2 Corinthians 6:7, namely the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will look different in each context, but it will not be idle.
Conclusion
Saint, you must engage in the spiritual warfare that rages around you. But to even begin to do this, the main point deserves resounding and it is my concluding exhortation: Recognize your King. Recognize who you are in him. Courageously enter the fight.
