Thousands of ships carrying 160,000 Allied troops approached the beaches of Normandy, France. From ship to ship, a steady stream of charges came across the intercoms: “Fight to get your troops ashore. Fight to save your ships. And if you’ve got any strength left, fight to save yourself.” It was the morning of June 6, 1944—what we now know as D-Day. By day’s end, over 2,500 American lives would be lost for the cause of freedom.
How were these soldiers able to face this battle? For starters, they were mentally prepared. They had no delusions about what they were walking into. None of them thought they were heading toward an exotic vacation on the beaches of France. They knew they were walking headfirst into the onslaught of an enemy who wanted nothing more than to destroy them.
At the end of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells us we are in a spiritual battle no less grave, with an enemy no less fierce. “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 6:11-12 ESV).
Tragically, many of us have no idea we’re even in a battle. We may acknowledge that Satan exists. But when it comes to actually fighting against him, our “strategy” is apathy and avoidance. Our lives look we’re headed toward a vacation rather than a war.
But life isn’t a vacation. We might wish it were all day long, but that doesn’t change the fact that we really are in a battle, and we really do have an Enemy. Unless we wake up, unless we’re mentally prepared for Satan’s schemes, we’ll probably end up as one of his casualties. Here are three reasons we need to wake up to Satan’s activity in our life:
1. You can’t see him.
It makes sense that in the Western world, Satan usually doesn’t reveal himself by making someone’s head spin around in circles. If he appeared like this, then we might actually begin to recognize his presence in our lives.
The Apostle Peter says that Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is a hunter. And like any hunter, Satan doesn’t want to show himself to his prey. When Satan brings temptation, he doesn’t loudly announce his arrival. That would be as foolish as a hunter yelling out before firing a shot. Instead, he prowls. He sneaks up to his prey, working stealthily and invisibly behind the scenes until he finds someone to devour.
Satan couldn’t care less whether you believe in him, because he’s not after your recognition; he’s after your destruction. If you’re waiting to pay attention to Satan until he visibly reveals himself to you, you’re setting yourself up to be prey.
Knowing Satan is after our destruction, Peter tells us, “Be alert and of sober mind.” Because Satan is on the prowl, we should be on the watch. When we wake up to Satan’s evil intentions and his stealthy schemes, instead of shrugging our shoulders, we will prepare ourselves for battle.
2. You can’t escape the battle.
There are only two temptations in the Christian life that the Bible tells us to flee—sexual immorality and the love of money. As my friend Joby Martin says, “When it comes to moneys and honeys, you get out of town.” But in every other battle, God calls us to stay, to stand, to endure, to fight. Paul writes, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13).
Our battle with Satan isn’t always fight or flight. It’s often fight or die. As long as you confess Jesus as Lord and have the Spirit of God within you, you can’t escape the battle with Satan. Because he hates wherever Jesus is loved, he insists on attacking hearts of faith until they’re destroyed.
You need to wake up to Satan’s activity in your life because as long as you’re in this world, the battle will go on. Escaping the battle isn’t an option. It’s either fight against the attacks of Satan or fall prey to his temptations.
3. You can’t fight alone.
Before listing out the spiritual armor we need to fight against Satan, Paul writes, “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10). This is a huge theme in Ephesians (and the rest of the Bible): On our own, we are far too weak, far too vulnerable to stand against the attacks of the enemy. We have to pay attention to Satan’s activity in our lives because we’re completely out-matched in this battle.
But the good is that the battle with Satan has nothing to do with your power. It’s about God’s power in you. If you feel weak and unqualified to engage in the spiritual realm, that’s a good thing, because you are more likely to lean on God’s power in those places. Once you wake up to Satan’s activity and your inability, then you’re freed to depend on God’s power within you.
So wake up to the battle you’re in. It’s a battle you can’t avoid with an Enemy you can’t overpower. But because Jesus defeated the power of Satan in his death and resurrection, and because his power is within you, you can stand firm in the battle until the end.
For more, be sure to watch the entire message here.
