A tame church is a weak church. We were created to make hell nervous and to conduct spiritual warfare at the highest levels releasing the transforming power of God into all aspects of our world. 

Paul wrote “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). If what Paul spoke is accurate, and it is, then why is there an obvious absence of recognition or teaching within the western Church about spiritual warfare? Why would Paul address the subject if it was not a reality or something important to consider? Spiritual conflict is real, and it is ongoing. To the peril of our mission, we ignore that these battles are being waged over the fate of individuals, cities, and nations. 

This conflict involves spiritual rulers, powers, and principalities not seen with natural sight or affirmed by human intellect. Demons, demonic influence, and global plans for evil are shunned in parts of the Church as the stuff of myth, the result of an over-active mind, or spiritually conspiratorial and divisive. Some detractors mock such considerations thinking they are doing God a favor by attempting to rein in errant believers who still believe these conflicts exist. A dismissive attitude has gripped the minds of some church leaders who say recognizing and teaching the Church how to function in spiritual warfare is not necessary, and can even be harmful. 

Where we miss it is when we focus on world systems, cultural institutions, or political pawns as the source of the evil we see taking place in the world. Those with the eye of the Spirit will see past those diversions to focus their efforts on the spiritual influencers in the unseen realm that Paul described to the Ephesians. Spirit-empowered prayer, declarations, and worship are some of the weapons we employ in these battles. 

A ministry without occasional teaching on the subject of spiritual warfare will create a self-focused church. The absence of that teaching will tamp down and tame the impact of what God intended to be a spiritual force demonstrating Kingdom authority in the world. As a result, they will gather a group of nice people who meet in clean and orderly facilities and who are not a threat to the kingdom of darkness. This is a sad reality, when, in a time of increasing peril the world needs a strong and victorious Church that can see through the veils of deception and dismissal to engage in a conflict that has eternal consequences.