AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS

THE LAWS OF WAR: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12.

The Christian life must be a life of constant vigilance. Jesus said: “Watch and pray at all times that you do not fall into temptation.” St Peter said: “Be vigilant at all times for your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” While being grateful for all the blessings of life we must equally acknowledge that life is also a state of warfare. There is no place for complacency in life. To come into this world is to come into a world in which there is conflict between the forces of light and the forces of evil. We did not make or start the war. We have no option whether to fight or not to fight. Refusal to fight the battle is to settle for defeat. We cannot settle for defeat for we are bound to conquer if we are on the side of God and truth.

To win in this battle of life we need to clearly identify and know  the enemy. Imagine what will happen to you when you go to the hospital, and  the doctor wrongly identifies what your sickness is. The doctor’s wrong identification of what your sickness is will lead to you taking the wrong drugs and treatment. You even risk death. To wrongly identify who your enemy is in this battle of life will leave you vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. It will make you to be fighting a wrong war and wasting your energy on the wrong place.

You must clearly know the enemy. If you are confused on who the enemy is, how can you even fight? If you do not know where the enemy lives, were are you going to fight the enemy? How can you win over an unknown enemy? You do not even know the direction from which the enemy is coming.

A primary law of war is to know your enemy. I speak of the spiritual war. Many Christians are fighting the wrong kind of spiritual war. Since it is a spiritual war we first have to look to the realm of the spirit and holy writ to decipher who the enemy is. Even when we perceive the battles we face in life as physical battles in our marriage, finances, education, etc; we still have to look to the realm of the spirit for the principles to fight the war in our daily life. Things first exists in the spiritual before they come to manifest in the physical.

Note the words of Paul when he writes: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood or human enemies, but against principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness of this wicked world and all their followers.” Ephesians 6:12. In spiritual warfare, the enemy already struck us and the enemy is continuously warring to strike us. You do not need permission to strike back the enemy. Your birth into this world engages you in this battle. Your Christian life re-commits you in that engagement.

There are people who simply perceive that the problems they are facing in life is caused by fellow human beings or members of their families. They were told that their mother/father is a witch/wizard or even that it is somebody in their family who is poisoning them. Such people go out in a spirit of vengeance to fight against their relatives and friends. Even when we claim that it is a fellow human being who has cursed us or working against our progress, the fact still remains that there is a fundamental principle or primordial force of evil that instigate or causes evil in life. That evil force is still at work from the time of  its fall out of favor in heaven. Cf. Revelation 12.

Every human life is ruled by a spiritual power. You are either in-dwelt and influenced by the spirit of God for good at particular times or you allow yourself to be ruled and influenced by evil spirits. We have a duty to constantly make sure we are under the influence of God. When you are under the influence of God, you can be encouraged that, “if God is for us, who can be against us.” You can take the battle to the gates of hell, the gates of the enemy. You can take the battle to the places inhabited by the spiritual forces of evil. Set yourself against demonic spirits, not your fellow human beings. To be fighting your fellow humans beings, in the spiritual battle, when you should be fighting demonic spirits is to misunderstand the spiritual battle.

Your enemy is not your next door. Even when you consider your next door neighbor to be an enemy to you, you are obliged to “love your enemies and to do good to those who hate you.” Your enemies are principalities and powers. These enemies do influence the lives of humans to instigate them to do evil.

Principalities and powers do not deserve your love. They are to be resisted with force. They are to be fought. They are to be overcome. They want to see you fail. They want to wreck your finances. They want to afflict you with sickness. Strike back at the enemy. You have waited too long. Never get tired in striking back, for principalities and powers are never tired in persisting in striking you.

In this battle, you are winning, for you are more than a conqueror.

Note: Every problem and obstacle that we face in life is not caused by principalities and powers. There are many other factors responsible for human problems. I do make mention of them in my other reflections.

TAKE MY WORD TO THE WORLD.

OMOROVIE M. IKEKE.
Author of more than 25 books.
Buy his latest book: "YOU ARE TALLER THAN YOUR PROBLEMS: MOVING AHEAD WITH POTENTIALITY THINKING." Click and buy at

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