THE DEVIL IS REAL

The Bible is clear that the devil is real and his schemes can be traced back
to Eden. Beyond our limited vision lies a spiritual realm where the war for
souls is waged. Jesus Christ has already won the ultimate victory, but battles
still rage as Satan tries to make Christians and Christianity ineffective and
impotent. Those battles play out in various arenas. Paul described them as
“rulers,” “authorities,” “powers of this dark world” and “spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly realms.” Spiritual warfare in unseen realms is as real as
the battles waged here on earth.

There are also battles that occur within our thoughts, our relationships, our
attitudes and our everyday choices. If the devil can wear us down so that we
snap at our children or belittle our husband or pass on a tidbit of gossip, he
has weakened our witness.

For every battle we face, God provides us with a full set of spiritual armor.
God’s armor is based on truth and righteousness, faith and peace. He asks us
to be armed with his attributes, not our own. Above all, we have prayer, which
reaches into the spiritual realm and places the battle into the hands of the
One who has already won the war.

The presence of evil need not make us suspicious or fearful. We don’t need to
look for a demon behind every door. But we should be alert and prayerful so
that we are aware of the devil’s schemes when they come and so we can fight
the battle in the spiritual realm.