Whether you believe or know much about the spiritual realm it is real! Jude 8 says that some people, including false teachers and those who dream that God won’t punish them, scoff at the supernatural and spiritual realm. We cannot be like them! We are to face the fact that the Word of God does exist and we are in a world and universe, where these spirits are very active. The entire Bible itself is Spirit-led; the authors of each book were guided by and gained their knowledge, wisdom and insight from the one and only Holy Spirit, and obviously, include personal accounts of eyewitnesses to the spiritual realm, on both sides.
As Christians believing in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is spiritual. You have your spirit living inside of you, and if you are baptised by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit of God is also in you. (1 Cor 3:16 & 6:19).
Gods Kingdom
We know in Genesis 1:1-2 that God is the creator of the heavens and the Earth. It was His Spirit that at the beginning of life itself, was ‘hovering over the surface of the waters.’ God is light and has no darkness in Him at all! (Joh 1:5). God is love (1 Joh 3:16-19). God saves us all through His son, Jesus, who is fully human and yet fully God ( 1 Joh 3:9). God is so much more but I won’t go into that here, check the Bible and discover Him for yourself. In God’s kingdom and the world, God is the head, the King, no one has more authority than Him, and no ruler, leader or power is above Him (Eph 1:21). In this kingdom there is a hierarchy of other spiritual beings, otherwise known as Angels (Col 1:16). We don’t know how many there are exactly, as there are too many to count! (Heb 12:22). But they do have names and different roles.
There are the seraphim (Isa 6:1-7), who continuously praise God. The cherubim (Gen 3:24/ Exe 10), who guard the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden. Archangels (Jude 1:9 & 1 The 4:16) are Michael (Rev 12:7) and traditionally Gabriel (Luke 1:28) and apparently Raphael, though this isn’t specified in the Bible. Then other angels also referred to as ‘Heavenly beings’ are mentioned the most in the Bible. These angels have the roles of messengers and they protect and guide humans.
Good and Evil
God is the only supernatural being that is omnipresent (everywhere), omnipotent (has unlimited power) and omniscient (knows everything). Angels, including Satan, are not! All angels in God’s kingdom are good and Satan and his fallen angels are evil, but they all have supernatural power and strength (Psa 103:23/ 2 Pet 2:1)/ Mat 12:29).
Angels are invisible but can become visible, as they appeared to Mary, Joseph, Abraham and Jacob. They can sometimes look like human beings (Gen 19:1 & 5/ Luk 1:26/ Joh 20:12/ Act 12:9). Satan also has this power (Zec 3:1), therefore we can assume that his minions, other fallen angels, can do this too. This may be why some people believe they see what we may call ‘ghosts.’ Spirits from people who have passed away do not hang around on earth, these ‘ghosts’, are a figment of the work of darkness. People who have passed away go to one of two places. Believers will be with the Lord in heaven (Phil 1:21-24) and non-believers will go to Hades, they won’t stay there forever, as it is a temporary place. When Jesus returns, all spirits; those who have passed away and those who are still alive will be resurrected and will face judgement day. After this, eternal life will be with the Lord in heaven or hell. Let’s get back to the visibility of the supernatural realm. Elisha was one of the few who saw this realm in action. He spoke about ‘chariots and horses of fire’ in 2 Kings 6:17. John saw it too, he witnessed locust demons and spirits that looked like frogs (Rev 9:1-12/ 16:13-16)! However, seeing the spiritual realm is a rare occurrence. Today we may not see angels or demons themselves but we certainly see the effects of the spiritual realm and the destruction demons cause!
Who is Satan?
In the Bible, Satan is referred to by that name and as the devil. ‘Satan,’ means ‘adversary’ and ‘devil,’ which means ‘slanderer.’ He has also been called the ‘prince of demons’ (Mat 12:24). Satan also has a kingdom (Mat 12:26) which consists of many fallen angels. Satan’s whole kingdom is in opposition with God, His kingdom and His Word (2 Thes 2:3-4). They intend and do their best to destroy God’s plan. But they will not succeed (Job 1:6/ Matt 13:39). These fallen angels are known as demons. “As spiritual beings, demons are intelligent, vicious, unclean, with power to afflict man with physical hurt, and moral and spiritual contamination,” stated Merrill F. Unger in His book ‘Biblical Demonology: A Study of Spiritual Forces.’ 1 In Ephesians 6 these spiritual beings are referred to as ‘principalities’ which have authority over specific areas for instance individual countries. They are also known as ‘powers’ because of the different powers in which they possess. They don’t have names but are referred to by their power. There are many you may have heard of that aren’t mentioned in scripture, for instance, the spirit of Jezebel is not found in the Holy Bible. The ones that are in the Word of God include; the evil spirit (Luke 7:21), the lying spirit ( 2 Chr 18:22), the spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:11-17), the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:3), the spirit of heaviness (Isa 61:13), spirit of fear (2 Tim 1:7) spirit of divination (Act 16:16), familiar spirits (Lev 20:6) those that contact the dead, such as mediums and unclean spirits (Mark 9:25).
They have the power over humans to cause them to become mute (Matt 9:32-33), blind (Matt 12:22), initiate mental health issues, including insanity, suicidal ideation and suicide (Luke 8:26-36/ Mark 9:22), physical injury and ill health, including deformity (Mark 9:18).
Demons can also possess non-believers (Luke 4:33-37) these ‘unclean spirits’ are walking around looking for a place to rest, usually a human. That’s why it’s important to keep ourselves clean from sin and full of the Holy Spirit (Matt 12:43-45). They can oppress believers too. Job and Nehemiah are examples of this oppression. As you can see in these examples, no believer is exempt from the power and effects of Satan and his kingdom and the spiritual realm. Especially when ‘Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.’ (2 Cor 11:14).
“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
Be assured, that Jesus has, does and can save and help you. When we are born again, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, the war has already been won between us and Satan. Jesus did that for us all, for you. He did it for King David too, who says “He teaches me how to fight in war. He makes my arms strong to shoot arrows from a metal bow.” (Psa 18:34, EASY) He will do just that for you too. You will face this war and the attacks from the enemy in your lifetime but the Lord will help you. (This is spiritual warfare, which we’ll dive into in the next chapter.) But rest assured, you have been given equipment and armour to fight against the effects of darkness and defend yourself. We are told about this in Ephesians 6:10-20. It is this armour that is covered throughout ‘Battle Strategies for Spiritual Warfare’. But! The battle is essentially between God and Satan and has already been won!
(Text Extracted from 'Battle Strategies fro Spiritual Warfare')
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