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“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

My church is in a series on spiritual warfare. If you have ever studied the armor of God and examined the schemes of the enemy—either individually or as a church body—you’ll understand what I’m about to say. This pursuit is akin to poking a bear. Or kicking a ferocious lion, which is actually a better analogy per 1 Peter 5:8. In speaking with my church fam, this ramped-up battle with Satan (the accuser) is clearly evident. People are being pummeled—psychologically, emotionally, physically—all as a result of this spiritual war we are in as followers of Jesus Christ (who is the devil’s real enemy). See, Satan hates God. God loves us. Ergo, Satan hates us.

But let’s back up for a minute (or millennia) to address the first war we, as humans, are part of: our war with God. It’s right here where we could open our Bibles to Genesis 3 when Satan slithered into the Garden and lied to Adam and Eve. We can then read straight through to the gospel accounts of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection to get the full story of this war—what God required for peace, and how we humans constantly went from wanting God and His way to “No thanks, God, we got this” and back and forth and back and forth. It was only when (unlike every other world religion and false idolatry) God sent His Son, Jesus (also God), on a peace-making mission to us. He lived a perfectly righteous life (which, as sinners, we could not), paid our penalty with His brutal death (for the wages of sin is death), and rose from the dead in victory over sin, death (2 Timothy 1:10; …and Satan (Hebrews 2:14).

So, by putting our faith in Jesus and surrendering to Him as Lord and Savior, we who are enemies of God are reconciled with God (Romans 5:10-11). We are justified—a once-and-for-all legal declaration of our pardon from the guilt and penalty of sin and the imputation (crediting) of Christ’s righteousness to our account. And through this, we enter into the Greatest Peace Deal Ever. Peace with God. This is a gift of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone—not by anything we do or don’t do (Romans 3:21-26).

Alas, one war ends and another begins.

Some preachers shout from the pulpit that once you’re a Christian, life is full of rainbows and butterflies. And fat bank accounts and healthy bodies. I’m not so sure they’ve actually read the Bible. See, once we’re on Team Jesus, we immediately become the enemy of His enemy. And as much as Satan and his slimeball minions work to keep people from making peace with God in the first place, I believe they work much harder to keep Christians from (a) experiencing the abundant life Jesus promises (John 10:10) and (b) being effective God-glorifiers—that is, as ambassadors of our new citizenship, ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20), and light in the dark world (Matthew 5:14-16).

We are in a new war. But beloved, this war is fought FROM victory, not FOR it. Satan has already been defeated. Yes, we will experience the flaming arrows of his lies and condemnation, but we have been clothed with the armor to stand firm (Ephesians 6:10-20). Our enemy tosses hand grenades of doubt. He sets IEDs of accusation—both to accuse us to God and God to us. And he absolutely loathes our victorious walking-in-freedom life and God-glorifying endeavors. He hates us.

We are at war. But take heart! Satan may be the god of this world, but Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33)—and Satan (Colossians 2:15). Walking through this battlefield of life is hard. We just have to hold fast to two truths: (1) We have everything we need for combat (see again Ephesians 6:10-20), and (2) We’re fighting a battle that’s already been won (1 John 4:4; 1 Corinthians 15:57).

“Lord, may I wake up each day ready for battle, putting on the armor of God, and fight the Good Fight from the victory You’ve given me in Jesus.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life