“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”  (Eph. 6:12)

I have a good friend who spent most of his Army career in defense intelligence serving in Vietnam, Cambodia and in the preparation for Desert Storm.  I have always been fascinated by his stories of how he and his teams were able to develop and provide important intelligence to his superiors that guided our strategies in these various theaters of war. 

How ironic that we wouldn’t think of going to war without knowing our enemy and his plans, but yet we don’t even acknowledge that we have an enemy of life and one who is dedicated to defeating the purpose and desire that God has for each of us!  

We are all tempted by the evil one — even Jesus in the desert at the beginning of his public ministry; even Peter and the apostles at Jesus’ passion; even Paul who said, “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Ro. 7:19)

I know that I have been tempted by and given into all of the capital sins of pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth.  Sometimes, through God’s grace and mercy, and the power of the Holy Spirit, I have resisted them.  Let me share one example.  

In my work as an attorney for an oil company, one of our responsibilities was to represent the company before state legislatures on legislation impacting company operations.  As a result, we would develop and implement the lobbying strategies on the company position developed by our planning department.  One of the employees in the planning department started to critique our lobbying strategies.  At first his criticism dealt only with one issue, and then it expanded to all issues.  He was becoming a real thorn in our side, and I found myself engaged in constant battle with him. 

Then one day, I came across the above passage from Ephesians and I realized that my battle was not with him as a person, but with the pride that was at work in both of us.  I started to pray for him and that both of us could lay aside our pride and work in greater harmony.  After a few months, I noticed that his responses to our work were less critical.  I began to bring him more into the rationale of what we were doing.  We eventually became friends instead of rivals. 

As the Epistle James says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:7-8)

Do you recognize the influence of the enemy in your life? How do you resist him?