Spiritual Warfare: Are You Wrestling or Resting?2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to
have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and WAR, yet
ye have not, because ye ask not.
The word "war" here is used to describe the results
of unrestrained fleshly activities, and it has nothing to
do with the devil. According to James, spiritual warfare
has to do mostly with fighting the lusts of the flesh that
come to destroy our spiritual development and hinder
our growth in Christ.
We need to crucify our flesh today just as Christians
did back then (Gal. 5:24). When we don't crucify the
flesh and "keep our bodies under" (1 Cor. 9:27), we can
count on having trouble in life, and it's not even
necessarily demonically inspired.
Finally, Peter refers to warfare in First Peter 2:11
when he says, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as
strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts,
which WAR against the soul." Again there is absolutely
no reference whatsoever to the devil. Just as James did,
Peter uses the word "war" to vividly describe the battle
between the lusts of the flesh and the soul—the mind,
will, and emotions.
Paul also referred to the unregenerate flesh warring
against the mind in Romans chapter 7.
ROMANS 7:23
23 But I see another law in my members [body
or flesh], WARRING against the law of my
MIND, and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin which is in my members [body].
We have looked at scriptures in the epistles where
the words "war" and "warfare" are used. The devil isn't
mentioned one single time in any of these scriptures.
Yet to hear some people talk, you would think spiritual