Spiritual Warfare: Winning the Fight When You Can’t See the Enemy

By Mark Scott

Four stories. #1: Jim Valvano was a famous basketball coach. He won a national championship in 1983 when he coached for North Carolina State. He later went on to become a TV sports broadcaster. But at a very early age he got cancer. He was interviewed by another sports broadcaster who said, “Jim, you won a national championship and rose to the top of your career in broadcasting. But you couldn’t whip cancer. What kept you going?” Valvano answered, “I found a strength outside myself.”  

#2: Years ago I held a revival in a small town in Kansas. I arrived at the church building early on the Sunday morning to set up the Ozark Christian College display. In walked an elderly woman. I would later find out that she was 96 years old. Her name was Agnes. She lived her entire 96 years in that small town, and she was moving—to Oregon. I asked her why she was moving. She said, “Kids—can’t do anything with them these days.” (Her kids were in their 70s and lived in Oregon.) She had been a member of that church since it began (24 years earlier). I inquired, “Where did you go to church before coming to this church?” She mentioned the name of the church. I asked, “How long were you a member of that church?” She said, “Fifty years.” I said, “Wow, that’s a long time to be a church member and then leave the church.” Agnes responded, “I didn’t leave the church; the church left me.” But Agnes never said a cross word about that church or its members because Agnes knew who the real enemy was.  

#3: I played football in high school. When I was issued the football gear, I did not know that one of my pads was missing from the hip girdle. The missing pad covered a vulnerable spot. Not far into the season my backside was black and blue. I got to thinking, “If you are going to play in the game, you’d better get all of your equipment.”  

#4: For seven years we ministered in rural Illinois. Harvest season was great, but it could be dangerous. One fall, a little boy was helping his dad bring in the harvest and he got his arms caught in the corn augur. It severed his arms. They flew the boy and his arms to the hospital. An outstanding surgeon did some surgery, but more surgery would be required the next day. The surgeon met with the troubled parents the night before the additional surgery the next day. He told them, “Do you see these (looking at his hands)? These are the best in the business. They don’t come any better than these.” Sounds arrogant, doesn’t it? But then the doctor went on to tell them, “But before I lay a hand on your boy tomorrow, I will have prayed to God for one hour.” I was not at the chapel service at Lincoln Christian University when that boy came to the chapel service to thank the students for their prayers, and he clapped his hands. That doctor knew that if you are going to do anything significant for God you had better pray like crazy.  

Strength Outside Ourselves 

Do those stories echo in your ears when you read Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:10-20? The last exhortation in this circular letter that unpacks God’s plan to sum up all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10) started with the word, Finally. If we are to engage in spiritual warfare, we will need to first Find A Strength Outside of Ourselves (10). Paul said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (English Standard Version). The phrase “be strong” means to “be clothed with power” or “empowered.” But like Coach Valvano, this power doesn’t rise up from within us. It is given to us by God. It is “in the Lord” and in “his might.” Gideon found that out (Judges 7:20). Samson found that out (Judges 16:28). King David found that out (1 Samuel 17:45). If we go to battle against our enemy in our own strength, we will fail. But the enemy will fail when we fight in God’s strength. Winston Churchill said, “Nothing is as thrilling as being shot at without success.” 

Knowing Our True Enemy  

Second, to win the fight against this unseen enemy we will need to Know Who the Real Enemy Is (12). Our battle is not against flesh and blood. Our battle is not against people. People are small potatoes. Our battle is not against the church down the street. Our battle is not against the government. Our battle is not with our families. Our battle is not even against ourselves. In fact, Fred Craddock used to say, “Anyone at war with themselves will make causalities out of his loved ones and friends.” 

Our fight is “against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” These phrases in Paul’s day described unseen powers of the spiritual realm. They are very real—just unseen. Maybe we are unaware of them because our enemy is very deceitful and disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Maybe we do not recognize him because he is known by over 20 different names in the Bible and has his own “schemes” (methods). In Ephesus these unseen forces were at work in the Artemis Cult (Acts 19:23-41). 

William Barclay said that this deception works in three ways: 1) He makes us think that we will be satisfied with what he offers. We will not be. 2) He offers us excuses and rationalizations. Nothing becomes our fault. 3) He makes us think that we will escape punishment. Not. 

Dressing for War 

Third, if we are going to win the fight then we need to Get Dressed (11, 13-17). Going around without our spiritual armor on should embarrass and disturb us. If Paul is writing during his first Roman imprisonment (i.e., meaning his house arrest in Acts 28), maybe he looked down the hallway and saw a Roman soldier. This might have caused Paul to begin associating various pieces of armor with the Christian life. The soldier’s armor becomes an allegory. The belt is associated with truth because truth holds us up. The breastplate is associated with righteousness because it protects the real vital organs. The shoes are associated with the gospel of peace because we walk about in it. The shield becomes associated with faith because it protects us from the attacks of the enemy. The helmet is associated with the head because it protects the mind—which is where all sin begins. And finally, the sword (the only offensive weapon in the list), is associated with the Word of God (and by the way, it is the “spoken word,” so it probably refers to the Christian message and preaching more than the B-I-B-L-E per se). This is our offensive weapon. Howard Hendricks said, “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.” Do not be a spiritual streaker. Get your armor on every day. Since our enemy is not in the flesh neither should we battle in the flesh (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). 

The Power of Prayer 

Finally, if we are going to win the fight we must Pray Like Crazy (18-20). The surgeon who reattached that boy’s arms knew he would need help from above to do what was necessary. Is this a lesson that we have to relearn? Paul tells the saints to “pray in the Spirit.” That doesn’t have to be something really mystical. I like how Kenneth Taylor put it in The Living Bible. He said, “Ask God for anything that is in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes.” Paul also said to pray for the saints—not pray to the saints but pray for the saints. This is intercessory prayer.  

Paul also said to pray for him. Here was an apostle, and he was requesting prayer. And Paul specifically wanted prayer for himself with regard to his boldness. Clarence Jordon said it this way, “Pray that I can lay it on the line as I should,” (The Cotton Patch Version). Let us go forward on our knees. You cannot stumble when you are on your knees. Pray like crazy.  

We have a battle to fight, but we can gain the victory if we find our strength in the Lord, if we know who the real enemy is, if we get dressed with God’s armor, and if we pray like crazy. Like other students in my church history class, I laughed when we studied about Martin Luther. One day, while in his study in Germany, he thought he saw the devil on his wall. This so angered him that he yelled at the devil, “You can’t hurt me because I have been baptized.” And then he threw his ink container at the devil. I thought in my more naïve life, That’s silly. I mean really. Did he think that he would hit the unseen enemy with an inkwell? But I do not laugh at Martin Luther anymore. I have seen what the enemy has done in marriages, families, churches, communities, and nations. I do not laugh anymore.  

In 1929 a book came out entitled All Quiet on the Western Front. It was a novel about WW1. The man who wrote it, Erich M. Remarque, fled Germany and became a U.S. citizen by 1947. He died in 1970. But I would suggest that today nothing is quiet on any front. I cannot think of one category of reality where the enemy is not trying to take ground. Education? Politics? Governments? Gender? Religion? My dad used to say, “Does the devil frown or smile when you get up in the morning?” We are in a fight with an unseen enemy, but if Jesus is our captain, there is no way we can lose.  

Mark Scott is lead minister with Park Plaza Christian Church, Joplin, Missouri. 

Author: Christian Standard

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