When speaking about the power of the Holy Spirit we must be mindful of the fact that it has different applications in our daily lives. Firstly, it is spiritual enduement to enable us to be witnesses for Christ: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). Secondly, the Holy Spirit empowers us for the struggle against the enemy of souls, and to prevail. Paul says:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day” (Eph. 6:10-13).
The biblical description of spiritual warfare has a personal application to individual believers. Every Christian must put on the armour of God to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. It is important to keep this basic fact in mind as there are different unbiblical forms of so-called strategic spiritual warfare by which certain groups of believers try to pull down demonic strongholds over cities, and even countries, in order to transform them spiritually and set the scene for big revivals. However, the Bible says the devil will only lose his influence and power base in the world when Christ comes. Then, and then only, the Antichrist and the false prophet will be destroyed and Satan bound in a bottomless pit.
During the church dispensation we should, in fact, take notice of the presence and working of Satan and his demons and defend ourselves against them. It is for this purpose that spiritual weapons are offered to us. In this regard, there is also a warning to be heeded. There are people who are so preoccupied with the devil that every problem or sin experienced by a person is related to possession by a demon or evil spirit. They even claim that Christians can be demon-possessed! Deliverance ministries that deal with problems of this nature are proliferating in these times of increased deception. They offer the services of exorcists to solve people’s spiritual problems that allegedly arise from demon-possession. The methods often used by them are exorcising, inner healing, the binding of the devil, and the cancelling of blood guilt and generation curses inherited from our forefathers. They are deceived, because spiritual problems are not solved by exorcism but by confessing your sins and surrendering yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
When Christians sin, it does not mean that the devil has directly intervened in their lives. He knows very well that temptations which arise from the world and the flesh are also causing Christians to sin. James says, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (Jas. 1:14-15). Each person has infirmities which may lead to sinning. It may be the love of money, pride, a bad temper, emotional depression, corruption, laziness, or also an inclination towards lies and extra-marital relations. The devil may fan such desires but he doesn’t need to create them – they already exist. Resist every temptation to sin, wherever it comes from.
However, there are also specific occasions in every person’s life when Satan specifically targets him or her by his deception and destructive works. It is with a view to this possibility that Paul says, “Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day” (Eph. 6:13). The evil day refers to the time when the devil makes a deliberate attack on your spirit, soul or body, or on your marriage, your work, your finances, or on one of your family members. Accidents, disasters, robbing and assaults do occur because we are living in an unsafe world which is under the sway of the Wicked One (1 John 5:19). We do not know when an evil day will dawn for us. For this reason, we should always stand strong spiritually – also when we experience peaceful times without any particular difficulties or attacks from evil sources. When a dark time or crisis suddenly comes upon us we will remain standing and handle the crisis by God’s grace without being spiritually defeated.
I do not wish to instil an excessive consciousness of the devil in you, which might lead you to looking for a devil behind every bush – neither do I intend causing fear or panic for possible disasters, dangers or accidents that may happen to you. I only want you to realise that we are living in a dark world in which Christians also have to contend with many possible dangers. There is definitely a battle to be fought, but also victory to be achieved. The devil has not yet been bound but walks around to do his destructive works. Make sure that you are not an easy target to him because of your spiritual slackness, impulsivity, ignorance of the Word, or because of your carnal lifestyle. We should not be knocked down or driven to despair or unbelief by sudden problems. We have to enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations; therefore, it is in our own interest to increase our crisis resistance and skills in spiritual warfare as soon as possible.
We need a thorough biblical knowledge on the nature of the church dispensation, as that will ensure that we do not underestimate the extent of the struggle in which we are engaged. According to 1 John 1:19, the world lies in the sway of the Wicked One. In John 14:30 the Lord Jesus refers to the devil as the ruler of this world. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul says that he is the god of this age who blinds the minds of people. From these statements it is obvious that we are not now ruling as kings in Christ’s reign of peace, but we are soldiers for the cross who are engaged in a struggle against the enemy of God’s kingdom. The Lord wants us to use His spiritual armour so that He can “deliver us from this present evil age” (Gal. 1:4).
Every true Christian who has, by regeneration, been delivered from the power of Satan is engaged in a spiritual battle against Satan and his accomplices. Not a single Christian can avoid this struggle. To be victorious, we should confidently offer resistance in the power and might of the Lord. Although this battle is waged in the spiritual sphere it is nevertheless a very real battle against a formidable force of demons under the leadership of Satan. A spiritual battle is waged from different fronts against believers. We will consider three of the fronts from which Satan and his co-workers attack Christians, and offer appropriate defence strategies.
The devil is in a general sense described as the adversary of the Christian who seeks his downfall or tries to damage his interests in different ways: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith” (1 Pet. 5:8-9).
This position of confrontation is unavoidable as the devil is our adversary who will always oppose us and heap up stumbling-blocks in our way. Our command is to resist him, thereby becoming his adversaries. Never close your eyes to such attacks by trying to argue away the existence and actions of evil powers. Many people ascribe their problems to other factors and consequently fail to see the devil’s share in causing them. Such people rarely seek spiritual solutions to their problems. They hope for the best, accept defeat in a fatalistic way and only rely on psychological counselling. They are losers in the spiritual battle.
The intensity of Satan’s opposition to believers knows no bounds as he is a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Wars, disasters, accidents, incitement to suicide, and various other means are employed by him to give vent to his aggression and murderousness. He does not have unlimited powers over people, but as far as he is allowed to go he relentlessly pursues his evil objectives. Apart from sudden, violent attacks, he also uses slower methods to achieve his purpose. Many people’s lives are ruined over a long period by being enslaved to liquor, tobacco, drugs, sexual perversions and various other addictions.
Resist the attacks of Satan in the name of the Lord. Follow the example of the Lord Jesus, by also opposing the powers of darkness that work through other people: “Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:3-4).
The devil tempts people to commit moral sins by enticing them through their unregenerate nature and fleshly lusts. By evil suggestions and the quickening of people’s old, perverted nature they are tempted to sin. The solutions to sins arising from fleshly temptations are vigilance, self-control and prayer: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). Do not become an easy victim by yielding to temptations without resisting them.
Approach the throne of grace in prayer with confidence. The Lord Jesus is the Conqueror who is ready to help us prevail in the struggle against temptations. He knows what temptations are, and by His power and authority they can be overcome: “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16).
We are often admonished to deny ourselves and to crucify our old nature, lest we would be open targets for moral sins (Luke 9:23; Gal. 6:14). If we fail to put off the old nature and also to surrender it to be crucified, victory over temptations will elude us: “…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
A further capacity in which Satan fights against believers is that of deceiver. This mainly refers to religious deception. He exploits people’s ignorance and offers all sorts of religious lies to them to deceive them. A spiritual falling away is the inevitable consequence of this campaign: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). In their ignorance the deceived people think that they are still on the right track.
Spiritual deception of this nature is the order of the day in most Christian churches (2 Tim. 4:1-4), while different kinds of satanic lies form the basis of all the non-Christian religions. In the end-time, the spirit of error will be very active to deceive people into accepting and worshiping the Antichrist and his false prophets. Jesus said, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” (Matt. 24:4).
Peter said: “There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Pet. 2:1-2).
Destructive heresies are introduced to the theological faculties of many of the leading universities, by which future pastors are completely deceived during their years of training. The virgin birth of Jesus, His deity, resurrection from the dead, the promise of His second coming, as well as the divine inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, are openly and blatantly denied by a large number of theologians at major universities. Another very common lie is that all religions worship the same God and consequently wait for the same world messiah. In this way the father of all lies prepares the way for the coming of the Antichrist as the universal messiah of all faiths. There is presently an active campaign to promote a universal messiah of all faiths. He has many titles – among others, the Christ, Buddha, the Imam Mahdi and Krishna. In this way, the true Jesus is denied.
A lack of biblical knowledge is the breeding-ground for religious deception. But it is not necessary to live in ignorance as the full truth about spiritual matters has been revealed to us in the Bible: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). If we would only allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and also to inform us through the prophetic word on the things to come (John 16:13), we will have a clear frame of reference on spiritual matters.
Believers who are blinded by Satan and only have a form of godliness have, by their own doing, lost the battle against spiritual deceit and lies. They heaped up for themselves false teachers, rejected the truth and were turned aside to fables (2 Tim. 4:3-4). They do not wage a spiritual war against the spirit of error but have been successfully taken captive by it (1 John 4:1-6). They now oppose the truth!
When discussing spiritual warfare we must always remember that it is only one of two reasons why we need the enduement of the power of God’s Spirit. The first reason is to obtain power to be a witness for Christ, while the second reason is for empowerment to contend against sin, the world and evil powers. Balance must always be maintained between these two applications of the power of the Holy Spirit: the positive identification with Christ and His kingdom, and the negative resistance against Satan’s efforts to deceive and undermine us.
Some believers, to the detriment of themselves, fail to give these two matters the attention that they deserve. There are those who only want to occupy themselves with evangelistic work, but neglect the aspect of spiritual warfare against the enemy of our souls. That leads to dangerous ignorance on the strategies of Satan, and may cause the spiritual derailing and downfall of such an evangelist as he did not put on the full armour of God. There are also those pastors and Christian leaders who naively support the ecumenical movement, thereby assisting to construct the framework for the Antichrist’s world church and interfaith alliance of religions.
On the other hand, there are those who are so occupied with fighting the devil, warning people against the Antichrist, false prophets and spiritual deception, that they are not involved with evangelisation. They are missing the basic purpose for which we are in the world. The light of the gospel must be made to shine everywhere in this dark world to invite sinners to come to the Lord Jesus for salvation. At the same time we must always remember that, spiritually speaking, we are working in enemy territory and should therefore remain vigilant, informed on the methods used by the enemy and always ready to resist him. The Lord wants to make all of us more than conquerors. Trust Him for this.