Important Takeaways:

• The victory that Christ has won is now ours.
• There is a backstory to the Bible. Behind the scenes of Scripture, a cosmic battle is being waged between God and Satan…
• …Isaiah gives us a glimpse of what happened before time as we know it began. Lucifer, the beautiful angel of light, became the angel and prince of darkness and was removed from the heavenly hosts, along with one-third of the angelic beings, who joined him in this rebellion. This is when the war of the ages was launched (Isaiah 14:12-14).
• …The devil “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He comes to kill, steal, and destroy, and his name means slanderer or accuser. Stu Weber says, “Know it or not, like it or not, you and I are in a war, and we need to begin living as if we were in a battle for our lives, because in fact we are.”
• The New Testament is filled with scriptures that warn us of this war, not to scare us but to prepare us to fight spiritual battles. The most well known of these passages is Ephesians 6:10-12: “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 spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
• We Christians are commanded to be soldiers in God’s army, strong and courageous and victorious in spiritual battle. Our strength for the battle is not our own, but God’s mighty power at work in us.
• We’ve been given spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare and are equipped to win. We’re to put on the whole armor of God and take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).
• Hebrews 4:12, which says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
• Satan’s tactics
• The word Satan means “adversary” or “oppressor.” Satan hates and attacks everything and everyone God loves. He is deceptive and dangerous, and he means to destroy you, your family, your faith, and your friends. He inflicts pain and suffering and unleashes hate and hell upon the world. He uses doubt, disappointment, and deceit, and he “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
• As Christians, we must take this ruthless enemy and our spiritual warfare seriously.
• Never forget that the Bible is both trustworthy and authoritative. As you wield the sword of the Spirit (the Bible) in spiritual warfare, you can be sure that “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed” (Isaiah 54:17). You have the mighty power of God’s word at your disposal. For the weapons of our warfare are not human (2 Corinthians 10:4); the word of God in connection with the Spirit of God is your superpower.
• When you share your faith in Jesus, when you share the gospel of Christ, you’re in a spiritual battle and are defeating the enemy. Revelation 12:11 says, “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Our testimony is the word of God and the power of his blood to save us, which is the message of the Bible.
• The battlefield for warfare is prayer, so take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17-18). There’s an inseparable connection between prayer and God’s word, which we can see in Acts 6:4 as the leaders of the early church gave themselves to the word of God and to prayer. Jesus promised, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
• When you know the Bible, you’ll be certain of the outcome of this war that has been raging for so long. God has promised us victory and has already given it to us.
• When you know the victory is complete, you can begin living with a new perspective…
• No wonder the apostle Paul, though facing execution, was able to say he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which was far better: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

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