You Are Not Fighting Them

Let me be honest with you about something.

For a long time I had a wrong picture of Jesus in my head. Soft. Quiet. Kind of weak. Basically the Jesus from old paintings, the one holding a lamb and looking very gentle. And He is gentle. But that is not the whole picture.

Jesus was a carpenter’s son. He made a whip and flipped tables in the temple. He spoke to the wind and the waves and they obeyed Him. Right now He sits at the right hand of the Father. And when He comes back, He comes back to win.

The Bible says it plainly. “The Lord is a warrior, and the Lord is his name.” Exodus 15:3.

So if we are made in His image, what does that make us? We were made for a fight. Not a fight against people. But a fight.

We were born behind enemy lines

Let’s take a look at how this started.

Lucifer was the highest angel. Made of gemstones, reflecting God’s light. Then he got tired of being looked through. He wanted to be looked to. He wanted the throne. So God cast him out like lightning to the earth.

Then God made Adam and Eve in His own image, in perfect relationship with Him. And the serpent tricked them. Sin entered the world, and with it came every piece of pain, strife, and guilt you have ever felt.

But God did not destroy them. He shed the blood of an animal and covered them. And He promised a serpent crusher. That is Jesus.

From that moment until today, we live behind enemy lines. This is not heaven yet. We are at war. And being comfortable is not a Christian value.

Now, here is the good news. When Jesus said “It is finished,” He landed the final blow. Revelation calls the devil a dragon with a mortal wound to the head. He is bleeding out. He lost already.

So he cannot come at you head on. It is not an equal fight. He uses lies instead. Misinformation. Division. He whispers a story to you about yourself, about your wife, about God, and he hopes you believe it. That is his whole game now.

He steals your joy. He steals your kid’s childhood. He destroys marriages and families. That is his mission statement. John 10:10. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Your wife is not the enemy

Here is where I want to slow down, because this changed everything for me.

Paul talks about the armor of God in Ephesians 6. But right before that, in Ephesians 5, he talks about marriage, home, and work. That is not a coincidence. Those three places are the main battleground.

So the shift is this. Stop fighting with the people you love. Start fighting for them.

If you are married, the goal is not to beat your wife in the argument. The goal is to fight for your wife. If you have kids, the goal is not to win against them. It is to fight for them.

Song of Solomon talks about catching the little foxes in the garden. When you and your wife get sideways with each other, you open the door for a fox that does not belong there. It is never me versus you. It is me and you versus the fox.

Basically there are four things you fight for. Their heart, so the relationship stays alive. Their soul, so you build a home where they can follow Jesus. Their mind, so you stand at the door and don’t let lies walk in. And their body, provision and protection. That is the job.

And listen, your enemy is not your boss. Not your wife. Not your kids. Not your ex. Not some politician on the news. Ephesians 6:12 says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. The fight is spiritual. When you see that, everything changes. You stop wasting energy on people and start standing against the real thing.

Stand in His strength, not yours

So how do we fight?

Ephesians 6:10 says “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Whose might? His. Not yours. This is not about beating your chest and cowboyin up. I tried that. It does not work.

The word “stand” in verse 11 is a military word. It means hold your ground. Do not lose ground. Do not run.

And “schemes” means methods. The enemy is a tactician. He has been doing this a long time. He has basically three lures. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. 1 John 2:16. He dresses them up nice, but every lure has a hook. And if one does not work on you, he just clips it off and tries the next one. Temptation is tempting. That is how you know it is temptation.

Wrestle in verse 12 is not a sports word. It is a fight to the death word. There is no handshake at the end.

I remember a scene from a war movie where a soldier freezes on the steps while his friend fights and dies a few feet away. His fear paralyzed him. That is what I see in a lot of us. Men frozen by fear or by abdication. Meanwhile, the enemy has his way with a generation.

Not us. Not anymore.

The real Jesus is not weak. And He is not asking you to do this alone. He gives you His armor, His strength, His victory. You fight from victory, not for it. And the people God put in your life, they are worth standing for.

This week, pick one person close to you. Your wife, your child, your friend. Pray for them every day. Ask Jesus to guard their heart and their mind. Do not argue with them. Fight for them.

We stand together, and we stand firm.