Stand and Fight: The Christian's Response to Evil

Are you one of the many people that feels as if their eyes have been opened after staring at an act of unspeakable evil, as if a veil has been removed, revealing reality as it truly is? When confronted by evil, there is no greater logical conclusion you can arrive at, than to acknowledge that God is real too. The forces of good and evil are very real, and increasingly active in our present world. As modern societies and cultures forget and intentionally distance themselves from God, the source of the morality that most of them desperately try to cling to, we will continue to see the effects of this more and more everyday.

Let this wake-up call not be in vain. We are called to fight against evil, by standing on biblical Truth, and by calling upon the Lord to advance His kingdom through the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ, through prayer for our brothers and sisters to be saved, and for His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. This requires a warrior mindset, and our enemy wants nothing more than for us to be comfortable, lazy, and to think that he isn't real. Except, he is real, and evil is very tangible proof of it. It's the proof that invades into our otherwise often peaceful lives and demands an explanation that we just can't come up with. You can't explain evil in a way that makes any sense. It seems to violate natural laws inside of us, whether you want to believe they are there or not. I assure you, they are, for "...the requirements of the law are written on [our] hearts, [our] consciences also bearing witness," (Romans 2:15 NIV). You can use sociology or psychology to try and understand why someone commits an evil act, but at the end of the day, you really can't grasp it properly without a biblical worldview, in my opinion. The reality is that there are spiritual forces at work in our world, they are in fact, at war with each other. The book of Ephesians describes this as follows:

"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," -Ephesians 6:12 NLT.

Until we understand that our actual battle is not with people, but the spiritual forces that govern this world, our theories and solutions to try and solve the problem of evil will always fall short. We are either actively fighting against the evil powers in this world, or we are helping to advance them. You may think to yourself, "I'm not a bad person, although I don't believe in God, I'm not doing anything that hurts anyone." Well, Jesus was clear about the fact that there are only two sides in this battle, and you're either on His side, or you're not: 

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters," -Matthew 12:30 NIV.

If you presently don't believe in God, but you are starting to see that you believe in evil, I encourage you to let that push you to do some investigative work to try and follow that to it's logical conclusion: if evil is real, then so is God. If God is real, then Truth matters, and lives are at stake. Go to church. Read the Bible. Pray. God is real, and He really does hear you when you talk to Him. Be honest with Him about where you are at in your faith journey, and don't pretend to be something you're not, this world needs real, genuine faith that transforms lives, not a bunch of fake Christians that pretend to have it all together already. Nobody has it all figured out, the church is full of broken people that are pursuing Jesus together, and we're all at different points in our journey. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and start by just putting one foot in front of the other, and keep following Him.

If you're already a Christ-follower, but perhaps you are like I was for many years, passive, and ineffective. One of the ways the enemy gets us to be ineffective is by using our past wounds and the lies we believe about ourselves, to keep us from truly stepping into the lives that the Lord has called us to lead. Instead of looking at our past hurts and learning how we can use them for the Lord's purposes, we instead choose to numb our pain with booze, weed, porn, job addiction, or a million other things that can distract us and keep us from growing in relationship with the Lord. Instead of learning about who God says we are and basing our identity on that, we embrace a victim mindset and seek a diagnosis from a doctor so we can numb our pain with medication instead of doing the hard work of facing the pain of our past and allowing God to reveal His truth to us in those areas. Instead of changing the world by sharing the love and truth of Jesus Christ, we let the world change us, and we sit on the sidelines, paralyzed by fear. This is not the life that God has called us to. No, the Apostle Paul put it beautifully in Romans 8:37-39 NIV:

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

When we choose to follow Christ, there is nothing in this world that can separate us from Him. That means we can look death and evil right in the face and proclaim the name of Jesus boldly, because it has no power over us anymore: 

"Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death — that is, the Devil — and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death," -Hebrews 2:14-15 HCSB.

So, if scripture tells us that as Christ-followers we can stare death and evil in the face and have no fear, how do we actually achieve this? Paul tells us in Ephesians:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes..." -Ephesians 6:10-11 NIV.

Again, keep in mind that we are actively living in a spiritual battle, whether we are engaged or not, the choice is ours whether we choose to fight, or to be defeated without effort. Did you see that the devil has schemes? He is an expert at what he does, and he hates when people grow closer to God, and he especially hates when we become more effective and lead others to Jesus. He knows our weaknesses, and he schemes up ways to try and take us down. It is for this reason that Paul tells us to put on "armor," this is meant for battle, and putting it on is a daily process. Paul goes on to describe what it looks like to put on the armor of God:

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people," -Ephesians 6:13-18 NIV.

So whether you're new to faith, or you've been passive in your walk with Christ, each day you have a choice to put on this armor and to fight against the enemy. Each day is an opportunity to choose to stand and fight. Notice that almost all of the armor he describes is for defensive purposes, except for "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." This sword is made up of truth, as found in His word, or the Bible. If you aren't in the Word regularly, you aren't actively engaged with the primary offensive weapon we have to fight back against the lies of the enemy. In order to fight with a sword, you actually have to pick it up and hold it; you have to be engaged.

Before you feel inclined to run and grab your sword though, you have to first be aware that you are in a battle, and in need of a weapon. I find it no coincidence that scripture tells us in many different ways to "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour," (I Peter 5:8 NKJV). This one hits home for me, because of how I passively lived my life for many years. If you're drunk or stoned all the time, you won't realize that you're under attack by a very real enemy, and you won't be alert enough to fight back. Maybe you have been trying to fight, but you've felt like your prayers are ineffective and are never answered. Is it possible that sin is keeping you from fully experiencing God's presence, and you're senses are dulled as a result of the choices you're making? How can we discern what God is trying to show us if our heads are in the clouds all the time? "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV). If we really want to feel God's presence, and to hear from Him when we pray, we need to present ourselves as a clean vessel that He can use for His purposes, and for fighting against the evil forces of this world.

Although we are saved for eternity when we accept Christ, we are not called to live a passive life sitting on the bench in light of that. We are called to have an active faith, living a life that is "worthy of the calling [we] have received," (Ephesians 4:1 NIV) praying for and setting the example for our families, friends, and community around us. The choices we make on a daily basis can either help grow our faith, or can cause us to become weak and prone to attack if we are not actively engaged with the spiritual warfare that is going on all around us. Make no mistake, it is up to us to decide what side we will fight on, so "...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...” (Joshua 24:15 NIV). Make every effort to make yourself a holy vessel for God's spirit to dwell in, and "Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit," (1 Thessalonians 5:19 AMP). The choice of which side we are fighting on, truly, is up to us.