“For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh using the weapons of man. The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,” [AMP]
I firmly believe the scripture that tells us we are blessed with every spiritual blessing and part of the reason for being blessed is so we will know and understand and apply the learnings found in the Word. Those blessings act as our guide as well as our strength. We should never forget 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 When you read this in the Message Bible, it kinda smacks you in the face:
“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will.The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”
Satan knows this. Why do you think he would take the time and effort to distract us from waring against him? He wants us to focus on people because it totally wastes our time and gets our focus and thinking off of what we should be about. Also, why do you think this scripture exists?
“Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul.”
[2 Timothy 2:14-17, MSG]
Sadly, we can get into disputes with our brothers and sisters that waste time plus often causing misunderstandings between us, and get us away from the battle that is right at our door. Unfortunately, our enemy has perfected the art of disingenuousness, of distraction, and he also knows how to ‘use’ people. We have to remember… we are NOT fighting against people. Repeating:
“Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,”
Spiritual warfare is inevitable because of the devil and his hatred for God and God’s creation – us. We are equipped with everything necessary to defeat the devil and be overcomers. We aren’t alone in this, the Lord is always with us. Ultimately, we win. But until you go home to be with the Lord or His second coming occurs, remember who you are becoming, what you have, and Whose your are.
