Spiritual Warfare

God’s word clearly teaches us that we are to put on his full armor to take a stand against the evil one. I know it’s not always comfortable talking about spiritual warfare, but I think it is of importance to understanding why we fall into some of the traps we do. God would not have taught us about the importance of being fully armed if we were not engaged in a real battle. Aside from our own evil desires within that lead us into sin, we have an enemy who attempts to do everything he can to get us to stumble.
If you have never read C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, I highly recommend it. It will give you an awareness of the works of the enemy. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe and feel an unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors in them and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

I don’t believe we are to give too much attention to Satan and his cohorts, but I think what C.S. Lewis says here has a lot of merit. Understanding that Satan and his forces do exist and have powers here obviously is important to know or God would not have told us about them. Scripture tells us that we can be easily seduced away from our devotions to Christ. In the Amplified Version, 2 Corinthians 11:3 says, “But (now) I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” As you can see from this scripture, Paul is deeply concerned that the believer's mind might be seduced away from his devotion to God. Let's begin to recognize that our minds are where the battle begins so we can avoid any unnecessary warfare.