The Challenge of Growing by Overcoming the Spiritual Enemy

A Christian, at any stage of growth, should never doubt that we live under the constant bombardment and lasting effects of spiritual warfare. From Adam to Christ and from Christ to today, this war has claimed more millions of victims than the world wars and the conflicts ravaging the world these days. It is a dirty, merciless, no-holds-barred war: it is not won with weapons made by human hands or with any military skill. Spiritual warfare is won with invisible weapons that we did not invent—God did.

Who has not found themselves caught up in one of these battles? Or have we not seen ourselves among the battered wounded on the battlefield? Spiritual warfare becomes a war to the death if we willingly decide to run the race of faith wearing nothing but Sunday espadrilles, well anointed with sermons and tender hallelujahs, yet knowing nothing of the weapons we have inherited to fight it. The other option is to fight, to wage war on our ignorance, to fill ourselves each day with His knowledge and love, and to resolve to grow until we climb aboard the palanquin of victory, clothed in the armor of God. The enemy declares war on us from the moment we open our souls and hearts wide for the Lord of Lords to dwell and reign there.

We know who the devil is, but it would take us an eternity to learn how he contrives his schemes and brings down the Christian. It is a matter of experience and time spent at his wicked work. A popular saying holds that a war foretold does not kill soldiers, but for the Christian who underestimates spiritual warfare, the consequences can be even worse. Paul told the brothers and sisters in Ephesus: “For our struggle is not against human beings, but against powers, against authorities, against the forces that rule this world of darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).

Christian maturity rests on constant spiritual growth, achieved by walking in the Spirit and continually seeking wisdom from above. It rests not on displaying our human abilities to prove our worth in a world where worth is measured by material things, but on the attitude of the heart. And yet, the more we also know the enemy—his tactics and strategies, the way he works in the redeemed mind, his tempting, deceitful, dirty traps—the more genuine our growth will be and the more blessed we will be! One of the most effective ways the enemy of souls achieves his purposes is by planting in our minds the idea that we do not need to grow spiritually.

Our ignorance of God is the opening we leave for the powers of darkness to slip uncertainty, insecurity, anxiety, depression, and the feeling that we must still do something extra to be accepted by the Lord into our souls. Even knowing the Scriptures, with our flesh still bleeding from the cruel and merciless bite of sin, we are capable of embarking on sordid adventures. How can we be so careless in spirit as to neglect our spiritual development, as though knowledge fell from heaven or could be acquired by osmosis—or, worse, believing ourselves mature Christians because of our knowledge, carry it like an intellectual banner that is of no use if we do not put it into practice? And what of studying the Word, of intimacy with God in prayer?

We can and must learn to grow, even through the attacks of the spiritual enemy. Do you remember when Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? The evil one did not quite believe that the Lord had fasted for 40 days and got his hopes up over the supposed weaknesses of the human condition of that carpenter from Nazareth who said he was the Son of Man. The apostle Peter reminds us: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

Against this backdrop, we must resolve not to fall; but if we do fall because of temptations or our weaknesses, we must find ways to rise again in the Lord and keep growing until we reach the goal. Growing through the stumbles caused by the enemy of souls will leave us better prepared each day for the evil day (Eph 6:13). Remember that the enemy—without underestimating him—has his limits.

God bless you!