Spiritual Warfare

Ephesians chapter 6:

“[From now on], be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

What I’d like to do this evening is simply introduce our subject, which is this whole matter of spiritual warfare—which you may have picked up from our bulletin this morning and perhaps have recognized something of that theme in our singing this evening. We’ll do little more than introduce the theme tonight, probably, but we’ll return to these verses until we have managed to faithfully expound them.

And what I’d like to do is to read the verses again, this time in Phillips’s paraphrase, because as is so often the case, J. B. Phillips manages to clarify and make very striking the issue that is before us. So this is Ephesians 6:10 following with the paraphrase done by Phillips:

In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organisations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil. Therefore you must wear the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women.

And pray for me, too, that I may be able to speak freely here to make known the secret of that Gospel for which I am, so to speak, an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may speak out about it as [is] my plain and obvious duty.

Now, before we look, then, at this, let’s pause for a moment again in prayer:

Our gracious God and loving Father, we thank you that in this evening hour, we have the privilege of drawing aside to this hallowed place where you have met with us before and we have heard from you. And we thank you for the opportunity to open your Word and to hear your voice and to receive the direction that we need so that we might live life on the path that you have marked for us and in the power that you’ve provided for us and in the awareness of the realities which confront us. We pray for some of us this evening who are particularly struggling in relationship to the things we’re about consider, and we ask that you will help us so to understand the victory which is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ—that he has sounded the death knell of the devil and all of his hordes at the cross—that we may not be buried and distracted and confused, but rather that we might be lifted up and corrected and encouraged. Help us, then, we pray, as we look together at these verses of Scripture. We so much need your enabling, both to speak and to hear. And so we seek you in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Understanding the Spiritual Battle

I have never fought in a battle. I guess I’ve never been in an army. But I have observed warfare, and I have read history, and I have had particular interest in certain conflicts which have taken place in the course of history. And it is apparent to me, as I guess it is to everyone who thinks, that if there is ever going to be victory in a battle, then one needs to have a thorough knowledge of the enemy, a healthy respect for his prowess in warfare, and that all as a necessary preliminary to ever engaging in the challenges which are before us.

And if that is true—as it is, I’m sure—to any degree in terms of physical warfare, it is certainly true when it comes to this whole matter of spiritual warfare. And one of the things that is most prevalent in our day is a preoccupation in one of two extremes: either to become dreadfully preoccupied with the issues of the devil and spiritual warfare to the point that we tie ourselves up in knots and are somewhat defeated or, on the other hand, to become preoccupied with the notion that there is no such thing as a devil and that spiritual warfare is just a throwback to another era and to another time. Both of those extreme positions are wrong, they’re unbiblical, and they’re ultimately unhelpful. And to the degree that we find ourselves falling into either camp or caught by either trap, our Christian lives will suffer for it. If we underestimate our spiritual opponent, we’ll see no need for the armor, and the result will be disastrous. If we overestimate our spiritual opponent, then the chances are that we will think about little else.[1]

And so Paul, as he brings to conclusion this great and wonderful epistle to the Ephesians, says to them, “I want you to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. And I want you to understand,” he says, “that to live the Christian life is to live in the realm of warfare.” And he immediately introduces these folks to their enemy, whom he identifies as the devil, and also to the sphere in which this conflict takes place. The “struggle,” he says, “is[n’t] against flesh and blood.” If we make the mistake of thinking that our opponents are human beings, then we will spend a tremendous amount of time engaged in fighting the wrong foe. Rather, he says, we need to understand that the struggle is “against the rulers” and “authorities” and “powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Now, some people have been at pains to suggest that these are four tiers of spiritual opponents. I’m not inclined to that view. It may be accurate; I just am not inclined to it. I think that Paul is doing as he so often does, and that is simply heaping up phrases as he identifies one essential factor—namely, we have an enemy, and the sphere of the struggle is a spiritual realm, it is cosmic, it is unseen, it is all-embracing, and it is, indeed, unavoidable.

Now, when we’ve said that—and we must say that—I want you to notice this evening that there are a number of things which are absent from Paul’s treatment. And this is actually one of the foremost treatments of the subject of spiritual warfare in the whole of the Bible. Therefore, we might expect that the essential elements would be dealt with by the apostle in introducing the subject. Now, what I’m leading to say is this: that the preoccupations of this particular point in the Christian church introduce us to a whole host of things in a variety of novels and books on the subject of spiritual warfare. And some of the terms that I’m about to refer to will be known to those of you who read these books. For others of you, you won’t know what I’m talking about. It may cause you to go and research it, but I hope not to any particular degree.

I want you to notice that in introducing very clearly this matter of spiritual warfare, Paul says nothing here about territorial spirits. For those of you who are into reading books on spiritual warfare, you will have already bought in, perhaps, to the idea of territorial spirits—that is, that the devil has assigned demons to certain streets, certain areas, certain towns, and certain houses and that what we are supposed to do before ever we do anything else is to go around and identify these demons, name them, and then obliterate them in the power of Christ. Now, it’s not my purpose this evening to interact with that; it is simply to recognize this with you: Paul doesn’t say that here. He does not suggest that the key to the issue in Ephesus is suddenly for the Christians to go out and try and discover who the demon is or what the demon is or what the demonic, satanic power is which has a stranglehold on Ephesus, and then to name it and to pray against it. He doesn’t do that.

Nor does he introduce the notion of warfare prayer, which has been made particularly popular in the last decade by a number of people who shall remain nameless. He does talk about warfare prayer, but the warfare prayer of Paul is not directed against evil, but the prayer is directed to God, and it is directed for the saints. Warfare prayer at the present time is introduced to us as the approach in prayer whereby we, again, identify the demons, and we pray against them in the name of Christ. There is nowhere in this section that Paul calls us to identify demons and to pray against demonic activity. Doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. I’m just pointing out that he doesn’t do that.

Thirdly, neither does he introduce the idea of prayer walking, which some of you, again, will have been introduced to through your reading—the idea that a mass of Christians go out for a walk, for example, through Solon, and they take an area for Christ by marching through it, holding up, as it were, the banner of Christ’s victory over the demonic activity and essentially naming and claiming the streets and the houses, etc., for Christ. Again, please note that I’m not interacting with that activity; I’m simply pointing out that Paul doesn’t introduce it.

Indeed, I’ve been looking for it, and I can’t find most of it or hardly any of it in my Bible in the issue of spiritual warfare. And since we want to be biblical, and since we want to assess things through the grid of Scripture, and since I want to encourage you to do the same, I mention that this evening because many of you, in reading, have become intrigued by these things and in certain cases have actually found yourself distracted by them.

The Evil One and his hordes are delighted when believers become engaged in spiritual warfare wrongly, thereby dissipating their effectiveness, diminishing their power, and reducing their impact.

The matter of spiritual warfare is a vital matter, and therefore, it is an indication of the degree of spiritual warfare that the Evil One and his hordes would be delighted—are delighted—when the believers who are supposed to engage in spiritual warfare properly become engaged in spiritual warfare wrongly, thereby dissipating their effectiveness, diminishing their power, and reducing their impact. You know, if I had to fight somebody, if I could get them fighting the wrong battle, then it opens the door to the greater potential for victory. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, [and] authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of [wickedness] in the heavenly [places],” or “heavenly realms.”

The Reality of the Evil One

Let us say quite straightforwardly that the Bible teaches, and we do believe, in the existence of a real devil. He is described as the devil, he is described as the Evil One, he is described as Satan, he is variously depicted in the whole of the Bible, and we understand the fact of his existence. Paul, incidentally, does not argue for spiritual warfare or for the awareness of satanic activity or for the fact of this cosmic encounter; he simply assumes the knowledge of it on the part of these people. The people in Ephesus were in little doubt that there was a devil. They were in no way lacking in an understanding of that.

And if you’ll turn with me to Acts and to the story there of the early days of the church in Ephesus, you will see that Paul’s readers were quite aware of this whole area of cosmic struggle. Acts 19:11: “God [was doing] extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” This, incidentally, is why you sometimes come across people on television telling you to hold your handkerchief up to the television or put your hand on the television or have your dog touch the television, as I saw recently—’cause someone’s dog had been unwell, and the person encouraged them to have their dog put their nose up against the TV, and they would pray for it to be healed. It really is such a dreadful state of affairs.

But anyway, Paul, as an apostle, was enabled by the Spirit of God powerfully to be used in this way. And some of the Jews who were intrigued by all of these goings on, we’re told in verse 13, “went around driving out evil spirits.” At least they went around trying to. And they tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon possessed. And “they would say, ‘In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you [guys]?’” So the evil spirit called their bluff, “then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them … overpowered them all,” and “gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”

So they didn’t need anybody to convince them about the reality of demonic activity, the reality of spiritual warfare, the existence of cosmic and satanic involvement in spiritual wickedness. The very fact that the seven guys go out with all their clothes torn off and bashed up and beaten up and bleeding—everybody said, “Did you hear what happened to the seven sons of Sceva?” Now, nobody would have difficulty talking about spiritual warfare to these people, because they understood it clearly—so much so that verse 17 says, “When this became known to the Jews and [the] Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.” And “many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.”

Incidentally, this is what happens when the Spirit of God moves in power. People asking all the time, “Is there revival here? Is there revival there?” Well, one of the ways in which revival is identifiable throughout all of history—biblical history, too—is that there are dramatic and inexplicable events in relationship to the repentance of believers and the radical change which God brings about in their lives. If revival were to come to an area such as this, we would soon anticipate that the impact of the Spirit of God in and through people would close down all the little evidences of satanic interest. The tarot card readers and the palm readers and the horoscope merchants and all of these jokers would either run away or be chased away by the dramatic impact and input of the power of Jesus Christ. You’ll know that revival has come when porn shops are closed down, when video stores start to throw out their trash—but probably not until.

And the seven sons of Sceva got their beating, and then people began—“who had practiced sorcery”—began to bring their scrolls together, and they started to burn them in a big, public bonfire. And “when they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.” And a drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages. How do I know that? Says it down at the bottom of the Bible, if you’re using a pew Bible. There’s nothing clever about this stuff; I just get to read longer than most of you. I’m supposed to. Fifty thousand days’ wages. That was a lot of satanic activity that had been going on in Ephesus! If there was that much stuff going on and that amount of people using these scrolls…

And, verse 20, “in this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” So when he writes to the Ephesians and he says, “Now, I want you to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” they look at one another and say, “That’s right.” And when he said, “Now, I want to make sure that you put on all of your armor,” they said, “We’re going to be listening to this, because we need that armor, and we need to be wearing it.” And when he reminded them that the struggle that they were facing was in this dramatic realm, they were not put off by that in any way. We may need to be convinced of it. We may find ourselves sitting here saying, “No, I don’t think that’s right.” And indeed, I think by and large, the church at this point in history doesn’t think it’s right, apart from a few preoccupied zones. If we really thought that this was the battle, and if we really believe that this is the armor, and if we really believe that prayer is the key to effective transformation in a culture, then we could relax about November and the whole political struggle. We could take some of the multimillion dollars and use them for world missions. We could take some of the stuff and use it for the poor and for the downtrodden instead of simply trying to create an America that we will like to live in for the next four years. Why is it that the church is preoccupied with all those other things? Because the church believes that that’s the battle. And Paul says, “Uh-uh. Here’s the battle. We’re not up against human beings here. We’re up against this powerful, evil, cunning force.”

Notice how he identifies this struggle as being a struggle that is against a great power. Actually, the word that he uses is kosmokratoras, from which we get, of course, our word cosmos—at least part of it. He says, “These are world rulers of the present darkness.” The word that he actually uses there was used in astrology of the planets, which in the minds of these people were used to control the fate of mankind—which, frankly, remains true. In our generation, many people believe that somehow or another, the movement of the planets is in control of mankind. And Paul wants his readers to understand that the foe is defeated, that these powers are no longer what they once were; the fact is they just won’t quit. They are usurpers. The victory in Christ is certain, V-Day is absolute, but we’re in between V-Day and D-Day. The victory has been established, but the skirmishes are going on before finality is brought to the whole matter.

So, we’re involved in a struggle that is against dramatic and powerful forces. We’re involved in a struggle that is against evil. Evil. These are “the spiritual forces of evil.” You notice Phillips’s paraphrase is really good: “Spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.” That’s what we’re up against. They hate the light, they shrink from the light, they have no code of honor, they have no moral principles, they have no higher feelings, they are utterly unscrupulous, they are ruthless, and they are devoted in their pursuit of their malicious designs.

And people say tonight, “You know, why is it that things are the way they are? Why is it that we have all this dreadful holocaust of abortion? Why is it that the embracing of pornography and filth and degradation is so endemic in our culture?” The answer is: because of the prince of the power of darkness.

Hollywood knows that it can make movies and make profit without filth, without destruction, without brutalizing violence. Surely, it has just made Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen—not a curse in it, not a piece of nakedness in it, just actually very good dialogue. You have to listen for once in your life. It’s a real stretch for many of us. Two Golden Globe Awards. When they made Chariots of Fire: seven major awards. So why in the world don’t they just make these highly profitable, very enjoyable family-type movies? And the answer is: because they are either wittingly or unwittingly the subjects of the prince of the power of darkness. They are both infiltrated and mobilized and enabled by spiritual forces, “agents from the very headquarters of evil.” And that’s why it’s impossible to reason with them: because they have no code of honor. That’s why it’s impossible to talk to them about right and wrong or about the idea of censorship: because they have no moral principles. That’s why it is impossible to suggest to them that there are things beyond ourselves that are more significant in terms of the matters of life: because they have no higher feelings.

And the church lives in the midst of this world. Jesus said, “I don’t pray, Father, that you take them out of the world. I pray that you leave them in the world, and I pray that you keep from the Evil One.”[2] We’re supposed to be living in here. We’re supposed to be in Hollywood making movies. We’re supposed to be writing editorial articles for major newspapers. And we’re not. And the reason we’re not is because twenty years ago, somebody told everybody, “You’re not supposed to do that.” The only critic that I have heard upholding Christian principles in the Hollywood environment is Michael Medved. And he’s Jewish! To the best of my knowledge, there is no significant Christian in that arena speaking out for the cause of Jesus Christ. And Jesus said, “I pray you don’t take them out of the world, Father. I pray you leave them in the world, in the middle of this cosmic warfare, with forces that are powerful, with forces that are evil. And I pray, Father, that you keep them from the Evil One.” Why do we run away from that stuff? ’Cause we’re more afraid of the devil. “Oh, we couldn’t go there! He might get us!” Well, why would he get us? “Greater is he that it is in [us], than he that is in the world.”[3]

Powerful, evil, and cunning forces. That’s the significance of the phrase “the devil’s schemes.” “The devil’s schemes,” at the end of verse 11: “[Then you will be able to] take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” You find him saying similarly to the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians 2:11: “… in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” The Evil One seldom attacks us openly. He identifies himself as an angel of light. He comes as a dangerous wolf, but he comes disguised as a sheep. He is the master of intimidation; he comes as a bully. He is the master of insinuation; he comes as a beguiler. And that is why it is so imperative that we’re no longer “infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming”—Ephesians 4:14. We’re not to be those kind of people, he said. We’re to be people on the alert. We’re to be people with a knowledge of the Bible. We’re to be people understanding the schemes and the dreams and the dialogues of our day. We are to be able to interact with the world in which we’re living. We’re supposed to understand what’s going on here. We don’t have to drink the poison to know it will kill us, but we are alert to the fact that it is poison. We are able to equivocate between light and darkness, truth and error. And we are able to stand back from it and see that ultimately, this great and tragic cosmic affair is in light of the fact that we’re engaged in spiritual warfare.

The wobbly Christian who neither knows his Bible nor is in intimate relationship with Jesus is an easy prey for the devil.

Now, as I say, all I wanted to do tonight was to introduce this to you. And that’s really all I have endeavored to do. I want to mention to you that the concern that Paul has for them and for us is that we would be able to stand—that we wouldn’t be wobbly Christians who have no foothold either in Christ or in the Scriptures. For the wobbly Christian who neither knows his Bible nor is in intimate relationship with Jesus is an easy prey for the devil. And this whole section is about becoming stable both in character and in the face of conflict. And that’s why he says, “I want you to be able to take your stand against the devil’s schemes—when you have faced the evil day, that you may be able to stand your ground and, after you’ve done everything else, that you would be able to stand,” and then in verse 14, “that you would be standing firm, then.” And then he’s about to go on and introduce the material that is there concerning the armor and to which we will come.

Where the Devil Attacks

Well, let me just summarize this by reminding you that there are a number of traditional lines along which the Evil One comes to the believer. You remember he attacked Jesus without success in Matthew chapter 4? You can read that for your homework. And as we observe his insinuations and his attacks in the Scriptures and as we become alert to them in our lives, we find—at least I find; perhaps you do, too—that the Evil One comes to attack us in the realm of our assurance. Right at the very beginning of the relationship between man and God, the Evil One comes to Eve in the garden, and what does he say to her? “Did God really say …?”[4] “Did God really say that?” And one of the classic and continual lines along which the Evil One comes to rock and to displace the believer tonight is to seek to attack us in the realm of our assurance—to try and unsettle us concerning the truths of who Jesus is and what he has done. And we need to learn how to identify his schemes. He comes to attack us in the realm of our worship. He comes to attack us in the realm of our purity. He comes to endeavor to disable us and discourage us, and he’s masterful in his scheming.

He’s subtle, as it says here in verse 11. He’s a schemer. He likes to come and attack us also on the intellectual realm. Two Corinthians 4:4: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” You listen to that Discovery Channel for more than half an hour, and it drives you crazy. Tremendous intellectual prowess that is manifested there. How can it be that people so bright miss it so badly? Because of the cosmic struggle in which we find ourselves. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. They can’t see the light of the glory of the gospel in Jesus.

And he comes to attack not only in a subtle way, not only in an intellectual way, but he comes to attack us at the realm of morality. Second Timothy and chapter 2:

Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, [and] faith, [and] love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must[n’t] quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.[5]

Can I ask you this evening: Are you standing your ground? In the matter of assurance, in the matter of worship, in the realm of purity, who’s winning the battle there? When we have fought, as Phillips says, “to a standstill,” enabled by the strength of the Lord Jesus, we can still stand our ground. And it is as we live in relationship with God that we’re enabled in that way. How was it that Daniel, in an environment so alien to him, in a world in which they changed his name, and changed his education, and changed his location, and changed so much about him—how was it that Daniel was able to stand in the evil day? And I think the answer, simply and surely, is that he recognized that his strength was in the Lord. He recognized that the battle belonged to the Lord. And he dared to put God to the test.

The matter of spiritual warfare has been dealt with in a number of key places throughout history. Some of you may have on your shelves, or may like to get on your shelf, a book by William Gurnall, an English pastor in Suffolk in the seventeenth century. He wrote a book in 1655 called The Christian in Complete Armour. In one of its versions—a three-volume version—it runs to 1,472 pages. It has 261 chapters. That’s what I call a book! He—he qualifies as a writer. It was called The Christian in Complete Armour. Listen to his subtitle:

The Saints’ War against the Devil: Wherein a discovery is made of that grand Enemy of God and his People, in his Policies, Power, Seat of his Empire, Wickedness, and chief design he hath against the Saints.

A Magazine Opened, From whence the Christian is furnished with Spiritual Arms for the Battle, helped on with [the] Armour, and taught the use of his Weapon[s]: together with the happy issue of the whole War.[6]

Can you imagine him trying to convince the editors today that this would fit nicely on the front cover as a little subtitle? What he is saying is “I’ve spent 1,472 pages telling you dear people about this, because you live in a war zone.”

I was born in 1952. There was still rationing in Britain when I was born. And indeed, when I was old enough to be aware of what was going on, there were still the evidences—the lingering evidences—of warfare all around us. You know, why is the cooking so bad in Scotland and in Britain? I mean, “Why’s the food the way it is?” people have asked. It’s not so bad today, but it was traditionally pretty bad. Or I should say pretty basic, not bad. And those of you who understand this and were around at the time will know that there was cliché which went round and around, when people said, “Oh, I’d love to have an egg.” “Oh, I’d love to have some sugar in my tea.” “Oh, I’d love to have a pastry.” And the answer was “Don’t you know there’s a war on?”

Loved ones, whenever believers start to fight one another: Don’t you know there’s a war on? Whenever we begin to assume that the whole object of our Christian experience is so that we might sit around and have pastries with each other and just rub one another’s backs for the kingdom: Hey, don’t we know there’s a war on? Whenever we’re tempted to settle down into superficiality and settle for lethargy in our Christian experience, we need to open up the Scriptures and hear the Spirit of God say to us, “Hey, don’t you know there’s a war on?” And then, in taking it seriously, with a thorough knowledge of what we’re up against and a solid grasp of the victory that is ours in Christ, and with an awareness of the provision that God has made for us in the struggle, we will be able, as in the words of the hymn we sang, to “stand then in his great might, with all his strength endued,” and “take, to arm [us] for the fight the panoply of God” (that means the fullness of his provision in terms of the armor), “that, having all things done and all [our conquests] past”—whatever the word was—that we may be victorious in “Christ alone and stand complete at last.”[7]

If God were to pull back the corner of the curtain and show us what really is going on in the city of Cleveland, I think it would drive us to our knees in a new way. And I do ask that you would be prayerful as we try and work our way through these ten verses, believing that God has lessons for us that are of vital importance as we seek to live to the praise of his glory.

Let us pray together:

Our gracious God and Father, we thank you that your Word is clear, that you have redeemed us in Christ and raised us to the heavenly places in Christ Jesus[8]—raised us to the realm of victory, but to the realm also of warfare. And we thank you for the reminder that the struggle that we face is not ultimately against flesh and blood and agendas that are earthly in their origins, but it is ultimately against powerful, evil, cunning forces. And we thank you for the reminder that your plan and purpose for us is not that we would go and hide in a corner somewhere and wait for you to come back and get us, nor is it that we would go and make a fuss and a bother in areas that we should leave well alone. But it is that we should be in your world, actively living in the realm of business and education and home and music and literature and journalism and ethics, shining in the midst of darkness.

We thank you tonight for the protection that is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ against the Evil One. And we pray that you will continue to protect us, to provide for us, to enable us to say afresh, “Here I am. Send me out, Lord. Use me in the struggle. And grant that I may go in the enabling of your great strength. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

[1] See C. S. Lewis, preface to The Screwtape Letters (1941).

[2] John 17:15 (paraphrased).

[3] 1 John 4:4 (KJV).

[4] Genesis 3:1 (NIV 1984).

[5] 2 Timothy 2:22–26 (NIV 1984).

[6] William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, 3 vols. (1662–65; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1964).

[7] Charles Wesley, “Soldiers of Christ, Arise” (1749).

[8] See Ephesians 2:6.