States of Heart

Christians I think commonly assume that spiritual warfare is something of an exceptional matter. They also assume that only a few select people, probably people with special gifts and great strength and maturity, are the ones who are expected to engage in so harrowing a thing as fighting with the enemy of our souls and his demonic legions. However, when we read this section of Paul's letter to the Ephesians we learn that in fact simply to be a Christian – as I said last week, to sign up with Christ is to sign in to the war. The war is Satan's war against God. Satan is the enemy of our souls, most particularly because believers are works of God's grace, and Satan hates God's grace, for it is the complete opposite and refutation of himself. So we would realize that the warfare is not strange and exceptional at all. Indeed, it is the context of all that we experience in Christ.