“Identifying the Enemy.”
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the dark world, against spiritual weakness in high places Ephesian 6:12
- What is your battle?
- Who is your enemy?
List the thing, person, or circumstance that you are standing for. Now re-read the above scripture. Did you see that person or circumstance in the referenced scripture? No, the thing that we are fighting against and the enemy is not the person or thing before us but powers beyond our control.
- How do you fight a battle against an invisible enemy, with prayer?
Let’s take a visual walk: Imagine being in a wrestling match, you’re in your corner waiting for the fight to begin. Your opponent is in his corner, but you can’t see them they’re not visible to you. Should you enter the ring swinging and fighting the invisible enemy. No…. Now imagine God in your corner fighting for you and the enemy in his corner. God can see the enemy because that’s His job. Your place in the wrestling match is on your knees, if you’re in the ring fighting, you’re out of position. When A wrestling match starts if a fan from the audience steps in the fight stops. It’s a liability they can’t continue a fight with the fan in the ring. That is what happens when we step in the ring God stops fighting because we’re in His way. The only thing God needs for us to do is the same thing we would be doing at a wrestling match sitting on the sideline cheering. The cheers we provide to God are in the form of prayers and praise. The same faith we have in our favorite opponent to win the match is the same faith we should have in God to win our battle. We don’t wait until the battle is over to cheer; we cheer as the match is being performed. So, what makes us have faith that our favorite wrestler will win, not his record from this fight but the record from his past battles. So, our faith in God should not be based on this current fight but from the past records of things he has brought us through. God is faithful, consistent, and committed. So, we should be consistent in our praise, committed to our prayers and faithful in our worship.
When we fight with our “carnal” weapons the enemy knows how to take us down or distract us. If the enemy can distract us with his tricks, we lose focus on what God has promised.
The enemy wants you to ignore the spiritual reality behind the physical one because what we see with our eyes keeps us from seeing, leaning, and trusting on God.
Remember the person you’re standing for is not your enemy; they’re a prisoner of war bound by sin. And they need you to continue standing in prayer for their safe release.
Step 1 for standers: “Identify the enemy and learn how to make him powerless” with your prayers and praise to God who fights for us !