Spiritual Conflict (Part 1)

Today’s reading is Section 12 of the Lausanne Covenant - Spiritual Conflict. Read the full Section 12 here.

We believe that we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare with the principalities and powers of evil, who are seeking to overthrow the Church and frustrate its task of world evangelization. We know our need to equip ourselves with God’s armour and to fight this battle with the spiritual weapons of truth and prayer. For we detect the activity of our enemy, not only in false ideologies outside the Church, but also inside it in false gospels which twist Scripture and put people in the place of God. We need both watchfulness and discernment to safeguard the biblical gospel.

The Covenant reminds us that the Church must expect fierce opposition. Jesus warned that the world would hate his followers (John 15:18) because of the evil one, ‘the ruler of this world’ (John 16:11). Yet he promised that not even the gates of hell could overcome his Church (Matthew 16:18). It is secure in God’s sovereign hand (Acts 4:24-28).

But we face a battle which is both human and spiritual (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Our true enemies are the ‘spiritual hosts of wickedness’ who seek to stop the advance of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). We cannot fight them in our own strength—we need God’s armour (Ephesians 6:10-18), especially the spiritual weapons of truth and prayer.

But we can recognise the enemy’s activity because, though he is invisible, his tactics are not (2 Corinthians 2:11). Scripture, history, and experience show that his main weapons are error, worldliness, and persecution.

Error

The devil is ‘a liar and the father of lies’ (John 8:44). He opposes truth and works to deceive us into error—both outside the Church through false ideologies and religions (1 John 2:18-26; 4:1-3) and inside it through distorted teaching.

False gospels twist Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16), placing their ideas above God’s Word. True religion is marked by reverence for God (1 Timothy 4:7; Titus 1:1). A key test for any teaching is whether it exalts God or elevates humanity in his place.

We need to ‘be watchful and stand firm’ (1 Corinthians 16:13) and to ‘test the spirits to see whether they are of God’ (1 John 4:1). Jesus and the apostles warned often of false teachers (Matthew 7:15-20; Acts 20:29-31). We need to be constantly on our guard.

Reflection:

How vigilant are you in prayer for the Church’s protection and the advance of the true gospel?

Prayer:

Father, make me steadfast in prayer, guard your Church and empower its mission.