Spiritual Warfare

Intro

One of the earliest Christian writers to take the inner life seriously was a man named Evagrius Ponticus.

Evagrius was a fourth-century monk. He had been highly educated. He had lived near the center of power in Constantinople. He was brilliant, connected, respected — the kind of person who seemed like he had a very promising future.

And then, like many of the early desert Christians, he left the city for the wilderness.

Now, we tend to romanticize the desert.

We imagine silence. Peace. Sunsets. Spiritual clarity. Maybe a little cabin somewhere with no Wi-Fi, no calendar notifications, no group texts, no political ads, no Amazon cart, no endless stream of bad news.

But what the desert fathers and mothers discovered was that when they left the noise of the city, they did not leave the battle.

They just finally got quiet enough to hear it.

Evagrius began to notice something about the human soul. He noticed that temptation was not random. It had patterns. It had strategies. It had what Paul would call “schemes.”

He wrote about what he called the eight evil thoughts — patterns like gluttony, lust, greed, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. These were not just bad behaviors. They were disordered desires. False scripts. Spiritual forces that tried to bend the soul away from God.

And of all these temptations, Evagrius said one of the most dangerous was something called acedia.

Acedia is hard to translate. It is sometimes called sloth, but that is too weak. It is not just laziness. It is more like spiritual apathy. Listlessness. Restlessness. A loss of heart. The inability to stay present to God, to your life, to your calling, to the people right in front of you.

Evagrius called it the noonday demon.

He said it attacked the monk in the heat of the day — around late morning into early afternoon — when the sun seemed to barely move, when the day felt unbearably long, when prayer felt pointless, when the monk would look out the window and imagine that life must be better somewhere else. 

And honestly, you hear that and think: apparently fourth-century monks had email too.

Because that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

That strange moment in the middle of the day when you are not doing anything obviously sinful, but you are also not fully alive.

You are just restless.

You open your phone, close it, then open it again.

You check the fridge even though you are not hungry.

You scroll, not because you are enjoying it, but because silence feels uncomfortable.

You feel bored with your own life.

You feel irritated by the people God has given you to love.

You feel this low-grade sadness, this vague anxiety, this desire to be anywhere other than where you are.

You think, “I need a different job.” “I need a different house.” “I need a different body.” “I need a different spouse.” “I need a different life.”

And maybe sometimes that is wisdom. But sometimes, Evagrius would say, that is war.

Not dramatic war. Not horror-movie war. Not the kind of spiritual warfare that makes modern people roll their eyes.

But the quiet war over attention. The quiet war over desire. The quiet war over whether you will stay rooted in love or drift into escape.

If we are honest though, the idea of what we call “spiritual warfare” brings us all kinds of different thoughts and opinions in us. Questions like “how does this really affect me? Should I be afraid? How do I defend myself?” And if we are honest… “Is it really real?”

Thankfully Scripture has some to say about it. Not alot, but it is not nothing. And one of the most important passages is today’s. At the end of the letter of the Ephesians.

And does not say what you think.

And to understand it, lets go back over what the book is actually about.

Summary and Role

So we know that Ephesians is a letter Paul write to the area churches of Ephesus. Within it he is offering knowledge and encouragement. Beginning the letter with a literal worship song about how Christ has defeated the powers of death and darkness, and been enthroned with all authority in heaven and earth.

And he has now united us with his Holy Spirit into a new humanity, his church. And we are united in power, in unity and in mission.

The second half of the letter contains the “How does this mean I should live?” Part of the letter.

How are we to live as his church? As a new humanity united under his rule. We talked about living in unity, living set apart in our sexuality, with our money and resources, in our relationships. In how it looks in our marriages, families and work.

And so now we come ot the end of the letter. Where Paul is going to come to the climax of his letter. The famous Armor of God Passage.

The scholar Stephen E. Fowl writes

“There is one further iportant point to make about this passage. IT is very easy to read this discussion of the armor of God and then to assume that this is a set of instructions to individual believers to take up the armor of God. That is not hte way the text reads. Rather, the command to take up the armor of God is a summons to the community as a whole. Taking up the armor of God is a communal practice integrally tied to the unity of the church and the church’s witness to the powers. In this respect (this passage) continues the emphasis on the common life of the church that began in 4:1” - Stephen E. Fowl

So… we end our Sermon Series on Ephesians with Paul’s words summing up the book. Not for us individually, but like the rest of the ltter, as a community. Telling us beginning in verse 10

Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”

Paul does not tell the church community to sit back now and just rest. To have good vibes and that everything is just going to work out.

And there is times he says to rest.

But what he says is to BE Strong in the Lord

and in the strength of his might.

Pastor Eugene Peterson Translates it as “ God is strong and he wants you strong.”

What is important though is to understand the “How” of how God wants you to be strong.

And while it is difficult to see in the English, in the original language we see that the phrase is actually passive.

What does this mean?

It means that his passage is not about what you are doing, but more about what God is doing to you.

So another way of saying it would be “Let God make you strong” Or “abide in Christ and his strenght.”

What Paul is saying is that we are to have faith.

Faith in God’s strength to care for us.

The word Might is the word Kratos, which means power or strength, and Paul used it early in the book to talk to us about God’s power…

Ephesians 1:19 “and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might”

Lexham Theological Wordbook κράτος

κράτος (kratos) : Power or Strength.

See… in the beginning of Ephesians the invitation was to know God’s strength. And now it is ending with the call to live into it.

This is Knowledge vs wisom

It is Orthdoxy vs orthproxy.

It is knowinng how to play the game vs playing the game.

Paul is saying that it is not just wanting to know God. But the invitation is to live into what you believe.

This is the essence of faith. Not just what you say you believe, but to live it out.

God is not looking for you to only be strong on your own. He is looking for you to have an abiding Strength.

Paul beats this drumb throughout his letters.

For example

2 Timothy 2:1 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

Child Crossing Street.

So how are we to do this?

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

Now, before we go any further, I want to acknowledge something.

For a lot of us, the moment a preacher starts talking about the devil or demons or spiritual warfare, we get a little uncomfortable.

And honestly, I get that.

Because many of us have what I would call a kind of schizophrenic relationship with the demonic.

On the one hand, we are modern people. We have iPhones and podcasts and therapy and neuroscience. We live in a world of electric cars and AI and Ring doorbells. So the idea of a real, personal, spiritual evil can feel primitive or embarrassing or like something from a less educated age.

But on the other hand, when we do think about the demonic, we often think in Hollywood categories.

Our imagination has been formed less by Jesus and more by horror movies.

So when we hear “spiritual warfare,” we picture someone’s head spinning around, or a haunted house, or a demon hiding behind every bad Wi-Fi signal and traffic jam.

And both of those options are deeply unhelpful.

One side says, “There is no enemy.”

The other side says, “Everything is the enemy.”

And most of us are somewhere in the middle, asking very honest questions:

What is actually real? What effect does this have on my everyday life? Am I safe? How seriously should I take this? And how do I take it seriously without becoming weird?

Those are good questions.

And this is a big subject. Honestly, this is not one sermon. This is a sermon series. There is a lot we will not be able to cover today: demons, deliverance, powers and principalities, the unseen realm, the relationship between evil and systems, mental health and spiritual oppression, all of that.

So here is what I want to do.

I want to keep this as simple and as grounded as possible.

I want to ask: What are a few of the main things Scripture says?

And then at the end, I will give you a few resources if you want to go deeper.

But first, as apprentices of Jesus — as disciples of Jesus — our starting point is not Hollywood. It is not superstition. It is not skepticism. It is not even our personal experience.

Our starting point is Jesus.

So before we ask, “What do I think about the devil?” we have to ask a much better question:

What does Jesus think?

And in John 8, Jesus says this:

…He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”

That is a very intense thing for Jesus to say.

But notice how Jesus describes the devil.

He does not primarily describe him as a monster from a horror film.

He describes him as a murderer and a liar.

He says the enemy is bent on destruction. His goal is to tear down what God has made good.

In John Mark Comer’s language, the devil is the archetypal villain who is hellbent on destruction. He just wants to watch the world burn. His motto is: tear it all down.

Tear down image-bearers. Tear down marriages. Tear down churches. Tear down trust. Tear down joy. Tear down peace. Tear down your capacity to love. Tear down your confidence in God.

But the way he murders is usually through lies.

That is what Jesus says.

He is “the father of lies.”

Which means the primary strategy of the enemy is not usually dramatic possession. It is deception.

This is exactly what we see in Genesis 3.

The serpent comes to Eve, and he does not begin with a weapon. He begins with a question.

“Did God really say?”

He begins by bending reality.

He distorts God’s words. He distorts God’s character. He distorts the meaning of freedom. He distorts the consequences of sin.

And then in Matthew 4, when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, the same pattern shows up again.

The devil comes to Jesus not mainly with brute force, but with ideas.

“If you are the Son of God…”

“Turn these stones to bread.”

“Throw yourself down.”

“Bow down and worship me.”

Every temptation is a false story about reality.

A false story about identity. A false story about appetite. A false story about power. A false story about trust. A false story about what it means to be loved by God.

This is why Dallas Willard said, “We live in a world of ideas, and every day we navigate this world by faith.”

That is so important.

His work “Renovation of the Heart” hits this idea hard, and is such an important work for understanding the world of thoughts and how they affect your formation as a person.

But here is the simple version…

We tend to think ideas are harmless. Abstract. Academic. Just thoughts floating around in our heads.

But Willard said ideas are actually assumptions about reality.

They are the mental maps we use to navigate life.

And everybody has a map.

Way to work is a mental map.

My own map

You have a map for what will make you happy. You have a map for what makes you valuable. You have a map for what love requires. You have a map for what your body is for. You have a map for what money means. You have a map for what success is. You have a map for who God is. You have a map for who you are.

Does anyone like me?

Willard put it this way:

“We truly live at the mercy of our ideas.”

And if that is true, then lies are not small things.

A lie is not just an incorrect statement.

A lie is a false version of reality that we begin to live inside.

And when we live at odds with reality, we do not thrive.

That is why the problem is not just the lies we tell.

It is the lies we live.

“I am what I accomplish.” “I am what people think of me.” “My desires define me.” “If I forgive, they win.” “If I slow down, everything will fall apart.” “If I am not in control, I am not safe.” “God is disappointed in me.” “I am too far gone.” “I am alone.”

Those are not just thoughts.

Those are flaming arrows.

And this is why Ephesians 6 is so important.

Because when Paul says, “Put on the full armor of God,” most of us picture something like The Lord of the Rings — epic music, swords drawn, armies on the horizon, this huge visible battle between light and darkness.

And there is truth in that.

But for most of us, most of the time, spiritual warfare is not going to feel like an epic battlefield.

It is going to feel like an invasive, animated thought.

A narrative about God, yourself, another person, or reality that feels true but leads you away from love.

Which is why John Mark Comer says:

“Jesus sees our primary war against the devil as a fight to believe truth over lies.”

It is because of this war, that we are being told to put on the armor.

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Here is the deal: You we need to know who are true enemy is. Why?

Your idea of who your enemy is will determine who you consider human is, and who you consider inhuman.

When you and I make an enemy out of “flesh and blood” people, we dehumanize them. Which means we can treat them inhumanily. As objects or worse.

Dehumanization

Nazi Germany

Immagrants

Political

Pornography

How do you talk about your neighbors, co workers? Family?

Paul says that our enemy is never a human. It is κοσμοκράτωρ

κοσμοκράτωρ | Kosmokratos The World Powers. Touch on spiritual Beings.

LOTR: The Ring and Gollum. I HATE him” Frodo

Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

We tend to get stuck when studying the armor of God, because we get lost in the funtion of the individaul pieces. But here is the thing, Paul doesnt want us doing that.

He wants us to focus on the Abiding with Christ Faith that the armor is a picture of. See… the illustration does not just pop up here, it pops up all over scripture.

Same Language : Ephesians 4:24 “and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Same Image: Romans 13:12 “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Same Pieces: Isaiah 11:5 “Also righteousness will be the belt around His hips, And faithfulness the belt around His waist.”

Isaiah 52:7 “How delightful on the mountains Are the feet of one who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!””

Isaiah 59:17 “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak.”

Kyle snodgrass in his commentary says that this could be

01 The armor God povides, 

02 the armor that God himself wears, 

03 the armor as God himself. 

So as we read these, as you go and think about these this week, focus on the faith and abiding, not the fact that it is armor.

So ready to go:

Ephesians 6:14–17 “Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Not about the mechanism.

One of the mistakes we make when we read about the armor of God is that we turn each piece into a private spiritual technique.

We think, “If I can just believe hard enough, then I’ll be protected. If I can just quote enough Bible verses, then I’ll be safe. If I can just muster enough spiritual discipline, then I can stand.”

But that is not what Paul is saying.

The armor of God is not primarily a list of things you do for God. It is a picture of what God has done for you in Christ.

The shield of faith, for example, does not mean that your subjective ability to believe is what protects you. That would be crushing. Because some days your faith feels strong, and other days your faith feels like a thread.

Kyle Snodgrass puts it beautifully: “The faith protects is not to suggest that humans protect themselves by the power to believe… to speak of faith is not to focus on human belief, but on the faithfulness of God. What protects us from the arrows of the evil one… is our relation with God.”

That is deeply important.

What protects you is not the strength of your grip on God, but the strength of God’s grip on you.

The shield is not ultimately, “I believe enough.” The shield is, “I belong to the Faithful One.”

So when the arrows come — accusation, shame, fear, condemnation, despair — you do not answer them by looking inside and asking, “Do I have enough faith?” You answer them by looking outside yourself to Christ and saying, “He is faithful. He has died for me. He has risen for me. He intercedes for me. I am his.”

That is the shield.

And the same is true of the sword of the Spirit.

When Paul says, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” he is not simply saying, “Memorize isolated Bible verses and throw them at your problems.” Of course, Scripture matters. Jesus himself resists temptation in the wilderness with Scripture.

But the word Paul uses here, rhema, can mean a spoken word, a teaching, a proclaimed message. In Ephesians, the “word” is often the word of truth, the gospel of salvation.

So the sword of the Spirit is not mere religious information. It is the gospel announced, believed, prayed, and spoken into the lies of the enemy.

The enemy says, “You are condemned.”

The gospel says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The enemy says, “You are alone.”

The gospel says, “You have been adopted through Jesus Christ.”

The enemy says, “Your sin defines you.”

The gospel says, “You have been washed, sealed, and made alive with Christ.”

The enemy says, “You must justify your existence.”

The gospel says, “You are justified by grace.”

Do you see? The armor is not mainly about spiritual self-defense. It is about union with Christ.

Christ is your truth. Christ is your righteousness. Christ is your peace. Christ is your salvation. Christ is the faithful one in whom your faith rests. Christ is the living Word who answers every accusation with the finished work of the cross.

So Paul is not saying, “Go out and become strong enough to fight the devil.”

He is saying, “Put on Christ. Stand in Christ. Speak the gospel of Christ. Rest in the faithfulness of Christ.”

Because in the end, the only thing that can withstand the lies of the enemy is not your resolve, your willpower, or even the intensity of your belief.

It is the finished, faithful, unshakable work of Jesus Christ for you.

Now there is one practice though Paul gives us to live out this truth.

With every prayer

Ephesians 6:18–20 “With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints, and pray in my behalf, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Whenever you see repeated phrases in a passage, it is the writer hilighting, underlinding and putting that word in bold.

Prayer is that important.

While we are being held in Christ, we are called to pray.

how? being alert.

Be alert is our prayer posture.

So the question is “what are you praying for?” Who are you praying for?

Now, There is a difference between a prayer and a wish.

A wish is you saying “I hope that the sickness goes away.”

Prayer is going to God and saying “ Heal this please.”

A wish is saying “ I hope that the enemy stops attacking…

Prayer is going to the one who can stop them and saying “please help me.

Why do we take this seriously?

The enemy is going to try to divide the church.

He will do it through trying to get us lazy or overdoing.

Even the idea of unity can be used by the enemyy.

Unity itself can be twisted into a weapon of the enemy.

The one way that we are going to stay protected as a church, is seeking his presence.

Not in being stronger men and women. Not smarter, not surving more. Not more pious or more successful, or noisy, or rich or big.

The strength of Presence Church is in the proportion to our abiding faith in Jesus.

How

This week, I want to invite you into a very simple practice.

Every morning, before you check your phone, before you open your email, before you step into the noise of the day, take five minutes to stand in the truth.

Sit quietly before God.

Take a deep breath.

Pray: “Jesus, where am I vulnerable to lies today?”

Then pay attention.

Maybe the lie is, “I am alone.” Maybe it is, “Everything depends on me.” Maybe it is, “I am what I accomplish.” Maybe it is, “I cannot forgive.” Maybe it is, “God is disappointed in me.” Maybe it is, “This person is my enemy.”

Name the lie.

Then ask: “Jesus, what is true?”

And speak the truth back to God.

“I am not alone. You are with me.” “Everything does not depend on me. I am strong in the Lord.” “I am not what I accomplish. I am beloved in Christ.” “My struggle is not against flesh and blood.” “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” “I belong to the Faithful One.”

If you dont know what truths to believe. Begin a daily scripture reading habit.

Dont have the habit…

Dont have a plan…

Dont have a Bible…

Then pray this simple prayer:

“Jesus, clothe me in your truth today. Help me stand.”

Resources