“Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel [violent] hatred” (Psalm 25:19).
Dear Praying Friends:
In addition to the world and the flesh, we also struggle against “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts [vast armies] of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
One dark lord rules them all: “The prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Satan works primarily by deception, as he did in the Garden of Eden and tried again against Christ in the wilderness. Distracting us from “the truth as it is in Jesus” (4:21), the devil sows doubt about the goodness and power of God as revealed in his Word, enticing us with lies that lead to destruction and death (Genesis 3:1-6; Matthew 3:13-4:11).
If we look at Ephesians as a whole, we see that God wills for us to enjoy spiritual unity with himself and with each other (1:9-10; 2:14-18; 4:3). Satan, therefore, works constantly to foster division between brothers and sisters (both physical and spiritual), husbands and wives, parents and children, and workers and their “masters” (Ephesians 4:1-6:9).
So, we must “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” and “put on the whole armor of God, that [we] may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10). Yes, he is strong, but “He who is in [us] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Therefore, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7; see 1 Peter 5:9).
Yours in “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who [continually] believe” (Ephesians 1:19),
Wright