Question:  How should Christians fight back in today’s spiritual battles?

Answer:  Start by recognizing when you’re in one.  For example, you’re in a spiritual battle when your rebellious teen refuses to stop hanging out with the crowd that’s always in trouble despite your warnings.  Or, when your spouse is constantly arguing with you about every little thing and threatening to divorce you, you’re facing a spiritual battle.  When your boss is telling you to lie to your clients to get them to buy your product or be fired, you’re in a spiritual battle.  When you just can’t seem to stop your addiction to porn, you’re facing a spiritual battle. The way to fight back against spiritual attacks remains the same as always.  As Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us, we must make sure that each day, we are putting on the “whole armor of God.” (v.11 NKJV) In other words, we must remember that our God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He can protect us and help us through any situation. Believers must be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (v.10)  Christians must take all these battles to the Lord in prayer! (v.18)

But Believers know that the spiritual battles we face are not just confined to those we interact with every day.  We are facing spiritual battles as Christians in our communities and nation as well.  Our country is moving fast towards taking away our constitutionally granted religious freedoms.  For example, public schools don’t want students to mention Jesus in their class assignments. (See the story here)  High schools preview the speeches of their class valedictorian to make sure they don’t mention Jesus in giving credit for their success.

Spiritual battles are also being waged using our government.  For example, some Christian employers, whose faith teaches that abortion is wrong, are being forced by law to pay for health insurance to cover  their employees’ birth control – including those forms that lead to the baby being aborted. (Story here) Private, Christian owned  businesses which service weddings are being sued if they won’t provide their services for same-sex weddings. (Story here)   These Christians are being forced to support lifestyles God’s Word calls sin. The Bible teaches that God created marriage to be only between one man and one woman, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 19:4-6. Being forced to support any other definition of marriage would be to force Christians to support sin.

Be discerning as you listen to media figures, politicians, celebrities, those in academia, and others who tell you that standing strong for your biblical values makes you a hater of others or shows your lack of intelligence.  They will say that you need to “get with the times.”  They may even threaten your job
like they did recently to a Marine who was convicted for failing to remove a Bible verse she found encouraging from her computer.    (Story here)  Don’t let them intimidate you into going along to get along!  As Paul warns us in Ephesians 5:6: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”  So, don’t let them deceive you into supporting them in their sins and betraying God.

Stand strong in God’s Word and believe in the power of prayer.  And be victorious over the spiritual warfare in your life!

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