A well-known Christian once wrote: “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that [what God wants me to do] is good…
“I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do…
“I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love [the ways God wants me to live my life] with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind…” (Romans 7:15-16, 18b-20a, 21-23b)
Anybody ever feel that way that you have a war going on inside of you trying get you to do what’s wrong when you’re seeking to love God and do what’s right? … Well, you’re in good company. It was the apostle Paul who wrote that, writing to the Christians in Rome.
Paul talked about these powers waging war against us to the Christians in Ephesus, too. Open your Bibles with me to Ephesians 6:12… Paul writes: “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.”
If you’re looking at this passage with me you can see that Paul’s speaking about every battle we ever might go through being a spiritual one. If you are warring with your boss or if you are warring with an employee (the issues Paul was just addressing in vv. 5-9), Paul says those fights “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.” If your struggle is with your parents or if you are struggling with your kids, or if your adversary seems like it’s your husband or your wife (the issues Paul was addressing in 5:22-v. 4 of our chapter) he declares “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.” If you’re warring against temptations toward having sex before marriage or greediness or other evil things, if you’re warring against speaking obscenities or vulgar things or even just “silly” talk (the issues Paul was discussing at the beginning of chapter 5) he assures us “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.”
Whether it seems as though the wars we are waging are because of pressures and powers coming against us from outside of us or are because of pressures and temptations coming against us inside our minds: My friends, “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.”

2 Corinthians 10:1-6 [NLTse]
10 Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ—though I realize you think I am timid in person and bold only when I write from far away. 2 Well, I am begging you now so that when I come I won’t have to be bold with those who think we act from human motives.
3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 6 And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.

During the time of the Roman Empire a prosperous city would surround itself with a stout wall for protection. Strongholds – fortified towers – would be strategically placed around that wall from which defending soldiers could strike back at their attackers below. When the Romans attacked such a fortified city they’d come against it with siege machines like testudos (that protected their battering rams), onager’s (trebuchet’s that threw burning boulder’s), ballista (that shot large, missile-sized projectiles), catapults (that hurled rocks or large explosives), siege towers (that helped them engage those fighting from the tops of the walls and the fortified towers), and galleries (that offered protection when they sought to weaken the very walls themselves, or to try and dig beneath them).
And that is the picture Paul is describing here: Of an army attacking and tearing down the fortified defenses of an enemy. Except that our battle is not against flesh-and-blood enemies so we don’t wage war as humans do. Our battle is not against flesh-and-blood enemies so we use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons. The strongholds Paul is describing are those clever arguments and “warped philosophies” that perhaps we came to believe before we became Christians or that perhaps we’ve come to believe through the effectiveness of advertising and the media upon us. The “proud obstacles” are barriers that believing and trusting the world’s truths have formed in our minds to keep us from believing – trusting – the truths of God.
For example, there was a young fella named Kevin who grew up listening to his father tell him that “real men” worked hard and provided for their families. So Kevin’s always worked hard, sometimes working two or three jobs. Now Kevin’s married, has a well-paying full-time job and also a part-time job, and all his hard work has produced a nice home and a nice standard of living that and his wife, Janet, have been enjoying with their three children. But Janet’s begun complaining that Kevin’s working all the time, and they’re starting to experience some disciplinary troubles with their oldest girl. Kevin’s small group has been encouraging him to honor Janet and put his marriage and family first and suggesting he perhaps quit his part-time job since they can live off of his full-time work. But Kevin doesn’t understand: He’s working hard (two jobs, even!); he’s being a “real man”; Janet and his kids have everything they could want; and look at all the Bible says about hard work! He’s doing everything right (he feels). So why is his life starting to fall apart?
Sometimes even good things (like hard work) can become warped into “proud obstacles” (Kevin thinking, “I’m working two jobs! I’m being a ‘real man’. Janet and the kids have everything they could want! And the Bible says that working hard is good!”) These “proud obstacles” can keep us from believing – trusting – the truths of God from friends and from His Word.
But Paul says that God has given us weapons that knock down these clever arguments, warped philosophies, and worldly priorities; weapons that can destroy these “proud obstacles” that have been built up against the truth of God. These weapons we’ve been given can also take every thought captive – like capturing prisoners after the siege – to make these thoughts obedient to Christ! Once the lies or deceptions or twisted truths have come down, and the priorities and ways of living we built on top of them, we can begin “reconditioning” our thoughts to believe and put into practice what God has said is true and most important and establish new priorities and ways of living on Christ.
And that takes us back – almost – to where we started: Ephesians 6 and the realization that “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.” Paul goes on to describe, what he calls, “the full armor of God”. Perhaps you know it:
• the belt of Truth
• the body armor of God’s Righteousness
• for shoes, the peace that comes from the Good News
• the shield of faith
• salvation as your helmet
• the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and,
• praying in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion, alert and persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
• (Of course, Paul adds in another place [Colossians 3:12] to put on – like a surcoat overtop of it all – love.)

As you can see, the only offensive weapon we are given is the “sword of the Spirit” which is not the “Word of God” (in the way that we can think of the entire Bible as a whole) but the “sword of the Spirit” is more accurately the “words of God” (particular Bible passages) the Holy Spirit brings to our minds at the right time to attack darkness, death, and ignorance, confusion, deceptions, and outright lies, to come against the gates of Hell.
We’re going to talk over the next couple of weeks about the “sword of the Spirit”:
• Next Sunday a representative from The Gideons is going to be sharing story after story about the ways the Word of God has transformed peoples’ lives for Christ.
• The Sunday after that we’ll talk about how we can equip ourselves to recognize these lies we’ve come to believe, how we can root out and tear down the areas of our lives we’ve built around them, and how we can begin bringing our thoughts into line with Christ.
• Then the first Sunday in November we’ll talk about setting up a training regimen to move us from being just hearers of the Word to both doers and users of the Word each day.

I hope you’ll come and that you’ll bring those you care about, or who seem hungry and thirsty for Christ with you, or even those who just seem interested in spiritual things whom He might be drawing to faith.

By the way, Kevin took the criticisms of his wife and the challenges of his small group seriously. He got some additional counsel from his pastor and others he respected around him and, not only did he quit his second job (which he realized he didn’t need and could free him up for more time at home and to get more involved at his church), but he started a small men’s group on being a godly dad hoping that leading and working with others would help him learn and grow that much better. Money’s been a little tighter but Janet couldn’t be happier and the discipline issues with their daughter have all but disappeared into just the normal challenges of raising a pre-teen.