Spiritual warfare is not a fantasy. It’s real. It happens every day in the lives of each believer. The problem comes when we don’t recognize it.
Two events hit me the same week to cause me to meditate about what I know to be true about life—that it really is a battle between good and evil.
#1. I watched War Room.
#2. I read James Rubart’s book, Soul’s Gate.
War Room is a movie I’d strongly encourage every believer to see. Before I saw it I was told, “It will energize your prayer life.” It did. Prayer takes on such a strong role in this movie that it should have its own credits at the end. This movie reminds us that the warfare is real, and that we are Christian warriors—and through prayer and application of the truths in scripture, we can fight against Satan as such. We can be strong warriors against this foe, not because we’re so strong ourselves, but because Christ has already won the victory and it is through HIS power that we can overcome.
Soul’s Gate will not be for everyone. I’m not entirely sure what genre it falls into, but I suppose Christian fantasy would be the closest. Rubart’s first book, Rooms, is my favorite of his work, so far, and was a tough act to follow. Soul’s Gate, though it didn’t surpass Rooms, was still a good read. In Soul’s Gate, he takes the concept of spiritual warfare and puts it in physical form using some of the supernatural accounts in the Bible as his launching pad. We could call it spiritual supposing. Perhaps he asked himself, “What would it look like today if we could do these things? What would it look like today to leap into a battle for souls?” This book was the result of that supposition.
Like War Room, it takes the battle between good and evil and reminds us that we can overcome—that we already have the armor and weapons for battle, and through the strength of the Holy Spirit we can fight the good fight.
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“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm,” (Ephesians 6:10-13.)
Thanks, Deborah, for these thoughts. The biblical paradigm is really very clear. The Lord Himself told us to pray for deliverance from evil (or, from the evil one). And His apostles made the same point–Paul referring to our warfare not being against flesh and blood (as you have pointed out in the Ephesians text), and Peter reminding us that our enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Let us not be ignorant of his schemes, and rather be reminding ourselves of the victory that is ours in Christ as we make use of the means of grace, especially prayer, the Word, and fellowship with God’s people!