06 Feb Understanding the Two Kinds of Spiritual Warfare
TWO KINDS OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE CALL FOR TWO DIFFERENT RESPONSES
One of most important mental shifts a Christian must make is the shift from living for the American Dream to fighting a spiritual battle.
Life is not a waltz; it’s a war. It is not a playground; it’s a battlefield!
In the American Dream, we live for financial comfort, physical well-being, good relationships and meaningful jobs. And there is not a thing wrong with any of those things, if the will of God gives them to us.
However, we are certain to experience spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12 says, “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.
This spiritual warfare may well keep us from the American Dream. Therefore, if we pursue the American Dream as the main focus of life, God may seem distant, unsympathetic, even uncaring about our lack of success. He may even seem to have joined the other side.
We may wonder, “Doesn’t he love us? Doesn’t he care that we’re suffering?”
However, God has higher purposes for us than realizing the American Dream.
The payoff of life is not in America but in heaven.
So, to be able to meet the challenges of life, we must transition from pursuing the American Dream to fighting the spiritual battle.
That way, when life feels like a battle, we are not surprised. It is!
Having made that case, there are two kinds of spiritual warfare: Resistible and Non-resistible.
Resistible Warfare
Three different passages tell us that when faced with spiritual warfare, we are to resist:
- Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13
- Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7
- Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith… 1 Peter 5:8-9
So, in this type of spiritual warfare, there is something we can do: we can resist!
What are we to resist? Here are some obvious examples:
- Moral temptation and giving into pleasures that are morally wrong.
- Being spiritually lazy, not making the effort to grow spiritually.
- Being selfish, making life all about you.
- Compromising biblical values in favor of the American Dream.
Perhaps the most powerful example of responding to spiritual warfare by resisting was demonstrated to us by Jesus. When the devil tempted Him three times to accept the devil’s plan for His life rather than God’s, Jesus responded by quoting Scripture to him (Luke 4:1 – 13). If that response was effective for Jesus, how much more should we use it?
“Resistible Warfare” involves battles that can be won, as James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” And further, we see in Luke 4:1-13, after Jesus resists all three of the devil’s temptations, it says, the devil “left Him until an opportune time.” So, faithful resistance can bring an end to a spiritual battle.
Non-resistible Warfare
On the other hand, there is a kind of spiritual warfare that is non-resistible. That is, our resisting doesn’t win the battle or bring it to an end.
This kind of warfare is exemplified in the book of Job. There was nothing Job did that brought on this spiritual warfare. In fact, this spiritual warfare was a consequence of his exemplary life.
Nor was there anything Job could do to bring this spiritual warfare to an end. The length of his spiritual battle was determined by the will and sovereignty of God.
The devil was challenging God by challenging Job, by bringing Job’s “American Dream” crashing down. On the surface, everything that happened to Job appeared to have a natural explanation: rustlers, weather-related disasters, terrorist attacks. But Scripture gives us a peek behind the veil of reality, and shows us that each of these things was a spiritual attack by Satan.
One of the marks of Non-resistible Warfare is that it goes on, and on, and on, longer than seems reasonable. It goes on so long and becomes so difficult that you may be tempted to question God’s love, or power, or plan for your life.
However, God allowed this ongoing spiritual assault against Job. In doing so, He ultimately verified His supremacy over Satan and the sufficiency of His grace in Job’s life. God wants to do the same with you.
The experience made a different person out of Job. He was transformed from someone who was merely exemplary to someone who was profound. He learned more about the majesty of God, he gained greater trust in the sovereignty and goodness of God, and he exhibited more complete obedience to God. God wants to do the same with you.
In addition, Job was rewarded disproportionately for all he lost. God wants to do the same with you.
Of course, this should not be misinterpreted as suggesting that God will bless us physically for our faithful suffering. In the Old Testament, God’s blessing tended to be physical. In the New Testament, God’s blessing tends to be spiritual (Romans 8:18).
Conclusion
So, what kind of warfare are you in? Are you being tempted to compromise something in the spiritual battle? If so, resist, following the example of Jesus.
On the other hand, if you are resisting, if you are doing everything you know is right, and the warfare wages on, you may be in Non-resistible Warfare, in which case there may be nothing you can do to bring that season of warfare to an end. You must simply hang in there until God determines that it is over.
In either kind of warfare, trust in God, let him make a different person out of you in the process, and trust that in the end, God will demonstrate His grace to be sufficient in your life, and that in heaven, you will be rewarded many times over for your faithfulness.
Update: Related follow-up post – Three spiritual warfare tactics and how to defend against them.
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