darkness.

The prince of darkness.
Accuser of the brethren.
Adversary.
Beelzebub.
Belial.
the deceiver of the whole world.
the great dragon.
the enemy.
the evil one.
the father of lies.
the god of this world.
a liar.
a murderer.
the prince of the power of the air.
the ruler of this world.
the ancient serpent.
the tempter.

Ephesians 6:12

"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."

1 Timothy 1:18-20

"This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme."

"And that's the way the warfare goes. Satan against God, focusing on the destruction of Christ and His work. And now he continues to fight against the work of Christ in His church. He will fight against Christ when He comes in His return. He will go on and on until finally he is bound forever in the pit of hell, the lake of fire." *

Job 1:12

Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.

Although Satan has power... God is sovereign.

Revelation 12:17

"So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

"But Satan will attack the people of God in that time as he's always attacked the people of God. Just notice verse 17, "The people who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ." So now the war has filtered...it started with God and Satan, it went down through the holy angels and the fallen angels and now it's down and it's a warfare against those who are the ones who know Jesus Christ...who keep the commandments of God." *

"And, folks, we don't see that but that's what's happening...that's what's happening. And as I said earlier, there are some people who go blissfully through their church experience as if there wasn't even a war. And I could wish that our eyes could be opened to see what's probably going on right in this room that we cannot now perceive. But it's here."

* - John MacArthur

The hymn "Am I a Soldier Of The Cross?" by Isaac Watts
(Author of "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" and "Joy To The World")

Am I a soldier of the cross?
A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies,
On flowery beds of ease?
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord;
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy word.

SATAN and the OLD MAN

I want to start by saying that I totally agree with the statements made by Joey concerning Satan as our enemy in spiritual warfare. I know for a fact that Satan attacks me on a daily basis. However, I believe that there is a distinction to be made between Satan and the sin nature. Although Satan may be a huge force in bringing down believers through temptation, the true act of sin comes from within ourselves, our sin nature.

Romans 6:5-14
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self(man) was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free(justified) from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

It seems to me that the Old Man plays just as big of a role in sin as does Satan himself. It really comes down to the fact that Satan tempts us and that if we are not spiritually sound and in tune with the Spirit, then we will fall into the temptation.

My point is this. It is just as important for us to focus on our actual sin nature and remember that the actual sins are from our body and not from Satan. We mustn't try and pin all of sin after salvation on Satan, instead, we must remember that we still retain our sinful nature and we must guard against our own wants and desires for sin just as ferociously as we battle against Satan.

spiritural attack.

1 Peter 5:8-9
"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

note the action verbs:
1. be sober-minded = aware
2. watchful = an act of looking

note the type of attack:
verse 8: seeking
verse 9: suffering experienced by Christians

"I was going to point out that if Christians really saw the world for what it is, we would know and feel that we are always in war. Satan is a powerful enemy, deceiver, and murderer, and he tries to highjack every good plan and purpose of your life and use it to destroy. Our own flesh and indwelling sin are like covert, welcoming bases of operation for this evil. The casualties are not only bodies lost for time, but souls lost for eternity.

A wartime mindset and a radical vigilance and a disciplined use of our spiritual armor are essential, if we are not to be lulled into the stupor of a peacetime mentality. And the armor I speak of is not sword, or bullets, or bombs, or tanks, or grenades, but the word of the cross and prayer and love and suffering for the sake of Christ. How much more do we feel this spiritual wartime sense of urgency today!"

-John Piper

I know that some of you guys would disagree with me. I know that some of you might think i give satan too much credit. i still love you guys. it's just that i'd rather be overly-guarded than not guarded enough.

Enemies

"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" James 4:4

We need to make the things of the world our enemy. This may prove to be a difficult task.

God promises to help though.

"Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7

Once again
"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15

Again and again and again it's found in scripture. I guess that's as clear as it gets.