It’s always a good thing to remember that when the Bible reminds us of something it’s likely because we are prone to forget. Given God’s absolute authority, anything He says once is sufficiently compelling that we have a duty to believe it. He doesn’t stutter. But He does tell us some things more than once. He reminds us, for instance, that the battle we are engaged in, which traces all the way back to Eden, is not just against the world and our own flesh, but against the devil. We battle with principalities and powers.
We are losing, however, the battle to remember. The great bulk of evangelical believers are willing to affirm that demons are real, and evil. Most, however, would likewise affirm that they are far. Demons, we seem to think, have high tailed it out of developed countries and now wage war only in the dark corners of this world. Which is sure proof enough that they are quite active right here.
C.S. Lewis, in his classic work The Screwtape Letters argues that the devil typically follows one of two strategies. Either he seeks to present himself as the evil god, ever present, all-powerful, a force to be feared. Or, he seeks to hide himself, to be forgotten. I suspect he is much more effective when he is able to take the latter tack. In our day I suspect the average evangelical is less likely to believe in the active work of the demonic than is the average unbeliever.
I am currently reading a fascinating book by Ryan Pitterson, The Judgment of the Nephilim. Therein he makes his case that the account in Genesis 6 of the sons of God intermarrying with the daughters of men isn’t about the godly line of Seth and the line of Cain coming together, but of fallen angels and human women. I was once firmly in the Seth/Cain camp but have almost completed the journey to the other side. What I am utterly convinced of along the way is that the battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent isn’t merely between believers and unbelievers but is between Holy Spirit indwelt believers and unholy spirits at work in unbelievers.
Spiritual warfare is here, now, real, destructive, important. That said, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Indeed they are as powerful as they are ordinary. The weapons of our warfare are fruit, both the fruit of the Spirit and that fruit of the vine. The weapons of our warfare are faith, hope and love. The weapons of our warfare are trust and gratitude. Our victories are rarely fit for some blockbuster movie screen. More often they come through simple prayers, words of encouragement and biblical counsel.
Let us daily put on the full armor of God, acknowledging the nature of our warfare and through the ordinary, yet extraordinarily potent means of grace, make known the glorious reign of our King.