“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:10-12
Have you ever had something happen that tells you that there is something else out there? What I mean is, do you think that there are aspects of our existence that we are not fully aware of? This sort of question is one I think about quite a bit in relation to our Christian walk. I am convinced that there is a lot of mystery in life, and that faith in Christ involves a great deal of trust – walking ahead when we cannot see, but trusting the hand that holds onto ours. This trust is what Paul is writing about in Ephesians 6, “Be strong in the Lord.” Our strength does not come from tangible things that we can control and see and use, but rather from relying upon the Lord alone and not ourselves.
Paul reminds his readers that our battle really takes place in the spiritual realm. It is against, “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This is not to say that there are no physical problems, because there are. However, the real battle is in the spiritual realm, which means that the physical realm is where we can touch and see the spiritual realities. The connection between the spiritual realm and the physical may not always be apparent, but there is a connection. Which leads me to another question, “What if the things we do physically really matter in the spiritual realm?” Not only that, but what if the things we do matter, but we are not always able to see how they matter, what difference they make? We are commanded to pray and to fast and to give alms. We are commanded to love sacrificially and to set our mind to the things above. We are commanded to resist evil and set our minds on things that are beautiful and good. What if all of these things matter? That may seem to be a silly question, but I do not think it is. I think many times we live as if prayer is a shot in the dark and as if fasting, giving, guarding our minds, and things like that are optional. I think we do this because we do not always see the results we would expect. Our prayers are not answered the way we would expect. We fast and end up simply hungry. We give and seem to get nothing in return. So I go back to my question, “What if there are things happening that we are quite simply not fully aware of because they occur in the spiritual realm?” What if God is shaping you through this? What if there are things going on in someone else’s life that you will never know, but that God is doing through the Holy Spirit and your love at that moment is a powerful weapon by God for salvation? What if? What if we do not know everything that God is doing?
If that is the case, then we are called to simply trust and obey. As a Church we are entering into the season of Lent, which is traditionally a time of repentance, prayer, and fasting. How are you called to participate in Lent this year? Would you pray about that? We are called to be warriors for our Lord in the spiritual realm. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil, and the good news is that in Christ the victory is already ours. Enter into battle with us and with Christ this Lenten Season.