The matter of "enemies and warfare" in Christianity is both an interesting and a slightly controversial one, and the controversy is probably not about the existence of the enemies or the warfare, but rather about who is the actual enemy and how to deal with enemies...
The sheer fact that out of the over 4,000 religions practiced in the world, Christians are amongst the most persecuted tells clearly that there surely exists enemies to contend with as a Believer; and so Jesus Christ the Head of the Christain Faith did not miss out speaking about the enemies and even had to deal with some during His brief time on Earth...
Though many Christians know and believe that the best way to fight their battles is from the spiritual standpoint, in the place of prayer along with the use of God's Word (the Bible), it then becomes challenging when all reasons point to a physical human being as the enemy, and then the Believer is left with a choice to either deal with the matter using a physical approach or to handle it spiritually...
However, the natural tendency of every human being is to react physically in a bad situation of life where they somehow know who is responsible for the predicament, and at such points, it would likely feel as if praying over the matter may not be the best option, and even when prayer is employed, the prayer point is targeted towards the human enemy...
And I am in no wise insinuating that human enemies or wicked people do not exist; even Jesus Christ the Son of God had a lot of them during His days on Earth... But! Did you observe how less often Jesus spoke or addressed His enemies or even prayed about them? Not even the Judas in His own team gave Him a cause for worry... My belief is that Jesus understood the greater agenda and He knew His priorities, and His physical enemies were not one of them... And that brings me to the point I am trying to make...
Firstly is for us to take cognizance of that reality that the physical events we see or experience in life (though not in all cases) can actually be controlled and manipulated from the unseen spiritual realm, and contrary to the expectation of most people, once you sign up with God's family on Earth, it is less about the funfair, because you equally become enlisted as one of God's soldiers especially in this End Times, and as such you automatically become one of the Enemy's targets, especially if God has a special assignment for you in life...
The warfare is an age-long battle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness which began way before we arrived at the scene and will continue for as long as God permits... And unfortunately one of the biggest tricks of the Enemy is to keep people unaware of this so they would keep believing that all their minds can comprehend is all there is... This battle can manifest itself in the Believers physical lives in some form, can be an attack on their faith, health, business, career, finances, marriage, family, or even their lives or that of their loved ones, even though the actual aim is on the Believers faith, to both distract and stop them from accomplishing God's purposes...
Secondly is for us to acknowledge the fact that it is not only God that uses people for His agenda; the Devil (God's arch-enemy) also uses people for his own agenda, and anyone who makes themselves available can be used as the Enemy's mouth-piece or workman; surprisingly this can include even people who seem to be fellow Believers, even though the human vessel being used may be unaware of it, in fact, most people being used by the Devil do no know they are being used and the situation may even present itself in a way that seems like there is nothing spiritual to it...
Thirdly is to remind us of something we probably already know; that God knows the enemy better than we think we do and He knows how best to deal with them in His own way and in His own time... So take for instance, while the Pharisees and the other haters were attacking Jesus, or while Judas His own Disciple was stealing from the purse, Jesus would practice by Himself what He taught about dealing with enemies, He continued to show love to those who accepted His love and ignored those who didn't, while He kept His focus on the priority: accomplishing the will of His Father...
And I believe the same should be the disposition of the true Believer; Rather than focusing on contending with a physical human being who may have been identified as an enemy, if the same physical/emotional energy is channeled towards showing love to others and carrying out God's work, or if the same spiritual energy used in praying against the person is channeled towards interceding for the needs of others and praying for God's people, the result would surely serve a greater advantage and a greater purpose...
Again, I am in no way implying that Believers should not pray against their enemies or the wicked ones, nor am I implying that the enemies should be free to thrive in their evil agenda; rather I am encouraging the Believer to handle every battle God's way, by fighting the right enemy, using the right methods and the right weapons, while staying focused on the more important things...
In closing, the below admonitions from the Scriptures throws some more light (emphasis mine):
"Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms..." Ephesians 6:11-12 (NLT)
"You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Love your neighbour' and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too..." Matthew 5:43-45 (NLT)
"Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, "I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it," says the LORD. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: "If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you." Don't let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good."" Romans 12:19-21 (NLT)
...And when you handle the battle God's way, the enemy will either be forced to make peace with you or your God will make sure they do not succeed in their plans...
"He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot carry out their plans." Job 5:12 (NKJV)
"When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16:7 (NKJV)
Fight the battle God's way, He has never lost a battle and He never will... Your victory is sure!
Thank you for sharing with me!
#JesusChristIsLORD
#GODisStillinCharge
