According to Jesus, there is a devil.
For Jesus, the devil was not a fictional character that humanity created to explain away evil in the world. And according to Jesus, the devil was not a ‘being’ dressed in a red jumpsuit with a pitchfork sitting on a throne in hell.
Jesus made clear throughout the gospels that there is a very real enemy of God, consequently, an enemy of the people of God. And the title given to the enemy of God is the devil, or in Greek ‘diabolos.’
As you read through the Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament, there are many titles attributed to God’s enemy…
Satan.
Lucifer.
The evil one.
The tempter.
The destroyer.
The deceiver.
The adversary.
The accuser.
The great dragon.
The ancient serpent.
God’s Word is crystal clear in presenting the reality of the devil but nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to live our lives in fear of the devil. But conversely, to live our lives acting as if there is no ‘real’ devil would be at best unwise and at worst, deadly.
This Sunday, February 2nd, GENESIS begins a new sermon series entitled ‘THE BATTLE.’ We will be camping out for the next two months in Ephesians 6:10-20.
I don’t want to overstate this, but my sense is that this will be one of the most important series we’ve ever done as a church. And here’s why I say that…
THE STRUGGLE IS REAL
Our struggle is not against one another.
Our struggle is not against politicians and their policies.
Our struggle is not against mental health.
Our struggle is not against physical ailments.
Our struggle is not against addictions.
Our struggle is not against broken systems and structures
Do we struggle with ALL of those things? Yes… 100% yes!
But to be as Biblically clear as I can… our physical struggles, and yes there are many of them are NOT first and foremost ‘physical struggles.’
According to God’s Word, the struggles that we ALL face can be traced back to a very different battle taking place in the spiritual realm.
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)
Did you catch that?
Our struggle is NOT against ‘flesh-and-blood.’
Is there a physical struggle? Yes. But according to God’s Word our struggle is NOT first and foremost a physical one but a struggle that is taking place in ‘heavenly places’ (a.k.a., the spiritual realm).
Unfortunately, MANY people are currently getting crushed under the weight of the struggle without any hope or help of how to navigate and stand strong in the midst of the struggle.
Thankfully, God’s Word not only makes us aware of the spiritual realm and the very real battle that is taking place in the spiritual realm, but God’s Word also equips Christ followers to fight the spiritual battle with spiritual weapons.
I am well aware that the enemy (Satan, the devil, the evil one) and his dark forces will not be pleased that GENESIS is being equipped for THE BATTLE, so I along with the elders of GENESIS are praying very specifically for protection in this upcoming season.
As we begin this journey together, let us NEVER forget that despite having someone fighting against us we have already had someone
FIGHT FOR US… HIS NAME IS JESUS… AND HE WON!
