There Is a War Going On

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

A lot of folks don’t seem to know that to be a Christian is to engage in a warfare. And the Bible describes that warfare. When Paul wrote to a young preacher named Timothy, he said, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy… that thou by them mightest war a good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18). He was saying, “Young preacher, you are in a battle, in a warfare, and it is not going to be any picnic.” Paul wrote to this same young preacher, “Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3).

Now what are soldiers for? Soldiers are not just to be on parade. They are to carry a gun and fight. Soldiers are to engage in a warfare.

Many of the Lord’s people don’t know that they are in a warfare.

First, I read a verse that just absolutely amazes me. Revelation 12:7 says, “There was war in heaven.” We think about Heaven as a place of peace, but God talks about a war there.

Now doesn’t it stand to reason that on this earth Christians are going to be engaged in a warfare? Paul was always conscious of this warfare. At the end of his life’s journey, he said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Notice Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 11: “Put on the whole armour of God….”

God says to every Christian, ‘Put on the armor.’ Why an armor? Because you are a soldier. Why armor? Because you are in a battle. A spiritual war is going on, God says. So, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Now what I want you to see is verse 12: “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.” This is not a battle against people. This is not a battle against mere human beings. We are in a warfare against supernatural forces. Do you feel that conflict? Do you realize you are in a spiritual conflict, a great agelong struggle?

What is it all about? It is about who shall have the supremacy, Christ or Satan. It is a struggle for the souls of men. It is a battle to keep people out of Hell. It is a struggle to get people saved. It is a warfare, a conflict until the final finish. And every one of us is engaged in it. Do you realize that you are in a warfare?

Some great Christians have entered into this warfare and have been so close to God that they knew they were in a conflict. Thank God for men like Martin Luther who have been willing to go against the tide and against tradition and against common opinion and go against the way that many other people were going.

One day Martin Luther felt such great conflict going on in his room, and he was the only one in it, visibly. But he began to wrestle and struggle with the Devil. The Devil became so real and his power so strong that Luther picked up an inkwell, threw it at the Devil, and it splattered against the wall on the other side of the room. He realized he was in a spiritual warfare, in a great conflict. No wonder God used Martin Luther as a Christian.

The average Christian is not a soldier. He doesn’t have on any armor. He is not really engaged in a spiritual struggle. He is not fighting anything, not really standing for anything. If we don’t stand for something, we are apt to die for nothing!

If this Bible makes anything clear, it is that God’s people are in a spiritual struggle against the forces of evil. And they are supernatural forces that operate in the realm of darkness, and we are to penetrate them with the light of Christianity.

We are in a warfare. That ought to keep us from folding our hands and taking it easy. That ought to make us sit up and take notice. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1).

And while the Christian church and the people of God are taking it easy, the forces of evil are at work as never before. Communism, Catholicism, liberalism, ritualism, legalism and intellectualism are at work, while the church is taking it easy.

God help us to realize we are in a warfare, in a battle.

“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”

That leads me to this second truth.