You know how that verse that talks about how we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against this, that, and these, those? (Ephesians 6:12). I think the temptation is to skim through the first part and rush to the last part.
What am I talking about?
Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) FOR WE WRESTLE not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The very first thing this verse establishes is that “we wrestle”…
The way it sounds to me, this is said matter-of-factly, not as a probability meaning this is something we are actually doing, not might do or could do.
This is probably why sometimes in the Bible military terms are used to refer to the children of God or the activities they should do.
Example 1:
2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV) Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him.
Example 2:
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
I think there are three distinct groups of people: the first one is those who exaggerate their ‘warfare’ with the devil and everything to them is a sign of the devil. Even things that just need them to be diligent, disciplined, or exercise the fruit of the spirit, to them it is ‘the enemy fighting them’. Don’t be them, this is not what we want to be.
The second group is those who discard the reality that there is an enemy prepared to wrestle with them and many times it comes as a shock when something that speaks of some form of ‘wrestle’ shows its head in their life. Again, don’t be them, be sober and vigilant for you have an enemy seeking to devour you. (1 Peter 5:8)
The third and most ideal group is that of those who are aware of the enemy and the wrestle but they are not more devil-conscious than God-conscious and rather dedicate their lives to growing in God so much so that the wrestle finds them a formidable opponent that can crush satan under its feet. I think of Paul in this instance, even snakes’ venom could not access him. (Acts 28:3-6). This is who we should be, victorious in the wrestle and unmoved. I aspire to get here soon and so should you…
STORY TIME…
When I finished my varsity internship and went back to varsity to do my last year of the four-year degree I was studying for, for the first time I was not going to be with my sister because she was deferring for a year. This was the person I had been inseparable with since the very first day of varsity so it was a little awkward being alone for the first time (even when we were mad at each other, we would still walk together and look out for each other in silence, yap that deep).
By the fourth year, everyone had already established their cliques, which meant that I was likely to be a little bit friendless. This was primarily because, in previous years, when my sister was around, we would go everywhere and mostly do 90% of everything together, so I had previously not found any need for another close friend beyond a few acquaintances.
To paint the picture vividly, I lived with my sister in the same room, we came from the same city, and our food budget was usually co-dependent so we went to eat together, we were also studying the same varsity degree so we also went to lectures together, our hobbies were designed around being together as well so, really, there was no motivation to get another friend.
So, of course, the introvert in me had no intention of finding ways to align with some already existent cliques so I resorted to minding my own business with earphones on or occasionally hanging out with the boys in my class whom I thought were more uncomplicated and easy-going than girls with their cliques.
I even adopted boy slang and would make silly jokes about soccer, women, hunger, and every other thing boys felt comfortable chatting about. These were not seriously dedicated friendships either but marriages of convenience like sitting together waiting for the next lecture or the school bus or getting food (food was the major perk for me, I even gained weight for the very first time in my life because boys didn’t starve, they made a plan, it seemed).
It was in these unnatural ‘friendships’ or conversations that my easy-going personality and relatable blending in with guys, slang and all, took them by surprise and they started to confess how different I was from their assumed reality of who I was.
There was even talk of how from afar they had assumed I was an unapproachable snob or one of those girls who were ‘too high and mighty and needed to be taught a lesson’!
Of all the things I heard, what particularly shook me was the variations of ‘We once sat as boys and made a bet that one of us was supposed to come deceptively into your life with the sole purpose of impregnating you and dumping you with that pregnancy so that you would stop being a snob‘ Ah!!!
Even more intriguing is how they seemed to mention that what stopped them from fulfilling or even attempting that wicked devilish plot was:
(a) ‘…but something stopped me…’
(b) ‘…you were always with your friend (my sister-they didn’t know we were related) so you were ‘inaccessible…’
#Sigh
Oh, the mercy and wisdom of God!
I was clearly walking in the most deadly place and I knew it not. With my then-lukewarm Christianity, I never guessed that there were any people making bets and plotting my downfall. There were even people plotting to sell me to a corrupt, possibly perverse, or even ritualistic political minister (I talked about this in a previous blog post). In other words, I was in a wrestle and was not even taking on my gun, sword or anything to fight back.
I had no idea my destiny was at stake. To be honest I wasn’t even conscious that I had one. I had no idea that God used my being with my sister as a shield from much evil, I had no idea that God in His mercy was the ‘something’ stopping people from accessing me to harm me, but just because ‘I did not have an idea’ did not stop such wicked weapons from forming.
THANK GOD FOR HIS LOVE!
My life was without doubt going to take a deep downhill slope if what the enemy was inspiring people to do to me had come to pass. With the level of sacrifice it took to pay for my varsity fees, can you imagine how heartbreaking and demotivating it would have been if some devil-inspired guy had impregnated me and dumped me? Whenever I think of those random confessions, I thank God for allowing those people to let me know what He had shielded me from. Otherwise, I would have never known the battles God fought for me.
You see, I am sharing this story with to let you see the lengths or depths of the continual wrestle you are a part of whether you are aware of it or not and whether you acknowledge it or not. In varsity, there were days I had no food and days we rotated clothes with my sister so, I was not a snob (or so I believe), I had no reason to be. Yet, the devil had people determined to ‘de-snob’ me still.
Hear me please, life is spiritual, even more spiritual than it is natural if we are to stress the point. It goes without saying that you do yourself a huge disfavor by focusing on the natural and ignoring the spiritual. Without God’s mercy coming through for you like it did for me, if you do not set it in your heart to grow in prayer, in fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit and through His word, you are like a drunk blind man walking barefoot in a land mine field (at any given time, you could step on a landmine unawares). Do not be that, I pray.
Ephesians 6:10-12 (MSG) 10-12 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
I pray that the Lord opens the eyes of your understand that you may walk circumspectly as the wise, not as the unwise for the days are evil. Amen.
Cheers for now,
Shalom
Powerful, amen thank you 🙏🙏🙏