WarriorSample

We are in a war. You are a warrior.

In fact, the war we are in is like no other war that any of us have ever known, heard about, or could even conceive. Its implications are further reaching and its casualties are more devastating than any conflict in the history of mankind. Strangely, though, most people walk around completely unaware that it’s taking place. 

Most people don't realize they are a warrior. What about you? 

A major difference between this war and other wars, above and beyond its sheer magnitude and scope, is that this war is fought in a place we have never seen. 

Spiritual warfare can be defined as the cosmic conflict waged in the invisible, spiritual realm which is simultaneously fleshed out in the context of the visible, physical realm. To put it another way, you can’t see the root of the war. But you can certainly see—and feel—the effects.

In fact, there is a spiritual root behind every physical disturbance, setback, ailment, or issue we face.

Too often we restrict our battles to the physical realm. We battle the physical temptation to sin, the physical occurrence of relational drama, and the physical challenges at work or home, to name a few. But if we restrict our focus to the physical realm, victory will only be temporary and shallow. It’s a little like putting a Band-Aid on a wound when there is internal hemorrhaging. 

If we really want to get in the fight, we need to engage a kind of spiritual sense that allows us to fight not just the effects of the war but the root of the conflict. In order to do that, we’ve got to understand more about the location of the battle.

As we see from today's passage, our battle is not against our neighbor, spouse, coworker, child, or even our own propensities or weaknesses in our flesh. People are simply a conduit for the spiritual battle taking place in another realm—the heavens. The “heavens” simply means in the spiritual realm.

You are a warrior in a spiritual battle taking place in the spiritual realm. To wage this warfare well, you must fight with spiritual weapons.