It is important for us to know the nature of our spiritual battles, so that we will know what weapons to use to stand against the wiles of the devil. Then we will have true victory and not lose our holy witness and tarnish the name of Christ.

Before our salvation, our battles were with “flesh and blood” (Eph 6:12a). We handled issues we faced with “flesh and blood” solutions, i.e. worldly methods (eg: tit for tat, using our connections to important people, etc).

Apostle Paul reminded his Ephesian readers that as believers they “wrestle not against flesh and blood” (Eph 6:12a), but that their “wrestling” was with the spiritual (Eph 6:12b). Note that the objective of “wrestling” is to come up on top, i.e. to win.

As believers, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:12) and are spiritual, and can understand spiritual things. Our spiritual battles can come from “principalities” (those who rule over us), “powers” (the authorities), “rulers of the darkness of this world” (demons, devil who try to control our emotions, motives, via the media, etc). We cannot fight these with our own strength. We must pray without ceasing and ask the Lord to help us all the time. Everything in a believer’s life is spiritual, including the food on our table, our job, the pandemic, all the problems we face, etc. When we understand that our battles are spiritual, the bitterness and anger in us will evaporate, for we then see God’s hand and His good purpose in the adversities of our life. And then our faith and trust in Him will grow. And when others see our holy witness (despite the slander, sabotage, etc we face), Christ will be glorified. Our purpose must not be to hold on to the things of the world, for all is vanity without Christ. As witnesses for Christ, we must fight for the witness and testimony of Christ.

Past victories do not guarantee future victories. In our daily battles, we must be on guard. When we lose our spiritual battles, there will be serious penalty: lives around us may be stumbled, ministries destroyed, etc. We must not rest on our laurels, especially those nearing the end of their sojourn on earth. We can have victory (Eph 6:13) by preparing for the battle by putting on the whole armour of God (Eph 6:11). When the test comes (Eph 6:13), our armour will be tested.

In “flesh and blood” battles, the winner is the one who comes up top. In spiritual battles, the winner is he who holds on to the end, even if he loses everything (including his life) in the process. Spiritual victory is true victory.