For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12
This verse bears looking at a bit further.
We can certainly get into struggles with other “flesh and blood” people, from wars, to fistfights, from border disputes between nations to yard disputes between neighbors. We can get awfully angry with our parents, our kids, our bosses, and our pastors.
So what exactly is Paul saying here?
God is a God of unity and peace, He offers freedom from fear and anxiety. Satan is the opposite (importantly, not an equal opposite!) and he is the author of division, fear, anger, and anxiety. Christians, particularly those who actively seek to share the Gospel, will come under attack, and often from those neighbors, friends, parents, kids, bosses, pastors, etc… Our first response to an attack in the flesh may be a response in the flesh but we must soon fall to our knees, in recognition of the forces behind the attack and call upon our God.
This is not to say that the people on the ‘other side’ are evil.
In fact, they may think you are!
The truth is, however, that evil forces in the spiritual realm are at work. Christians must lock arms, cry out to our God, and fight – but not each other, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This I know, for the Bible tells me so!
"When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less." C.S. Lewis
"Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. He does not care what we do if he can do that. We may sing songs about the sweet by and by, preach sermons and say prayers until doomsday, and he will never concern himself about us, if we don't wake anybody up. But if we awake the sleeping sinner he will gnash on us with his teeth. This is our work - to wake people up." Catherine Booth
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