SPIRITUAL WARFARE

 

"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." Ephesians 6:12
Just finished reading The Believer's Warfare, Part 2, in the book, "The Believer's Armor", and it reminded me of why our world is in the shape it's in now.

When we all meet in our respective churches each week, I can guarantee you, the vast majority of the prayer requests are for one thing and one thing only:

Prayers for physical healings.

Aunt Gertrude's gout has flared up and she's in a lot of pain.  Please pray for relief of the pain.

Grandma Betty has gone into the hospital because her heart's been acting up.  Please pray the doctors will help fix this issue so she can leave the hospital.

Husband's cousin's wife's brother-in-law was in an awful car accident and is in a coma.  Please pray he'll come out of the coma and get to go home.

Is there anything wrong with praying for that? No. Not at all. We should pray for physical healing for others. But we seem to forget that if these people are believers, if they leave this earth, they'll be healed anyway. We seem to be wanting them to stay out of heaven a little bit longer instead of in the presence of their Savior. How selfish is that? But we are ignoring the most important prayers of all. Where are the prayers for the spiritual battle we have to fight each day? Where are the prayers for fellow believers to stand strong in their faith in their daily lives whether it's on the job or in the raising of their kids and grandkids?
Our country and our world are in the grip of Satan, and we've forgotten that we're in a battle with him.  Instead of being concerned with the spiritual war that's going on around us, we're too busy being concerned with someone's physical condition instead of their spiritual condition.

Think of your fellow believers.  What battles are they facing each day?  Do they have family members who need Christ?  Are they facing persecution at work for their faith?  What spiritual battle is your spouse fighting right now?  Are they facing an addiction they can't seem to let go of?

Look at our country and the wickedness we're being exposed to.  The LGBTQ+ agenda that's being shoved down children's throats through the school system.  The trans agenda.  CRT.  The feminist agenda working to kill the family unit by spreading their lies about "toxic masculinity" and the "patriarchy".  Those who are "deconstructing" their faith.  Churches that have embraced ALL of these ideologies.  Churches accepting women pastors.

What would happen if we decided to forego prayers for physical healings and decided to pray for the spiritual war we're SUPPOSED to be fighting every day?  What would happen if we got on our knees and repented of our lack of concern for the spiritual battles going on and got serious about praying for how we can get back into the fight?

I seriously believe the devil laughs at us when we spend the vast majority of our prayer times in church praying for physical healings while ignoring the prayers for the spiritual battles we should be praying for.  We can't fight against Satan if we're not concerned with the war that's going on all around us.