A couple thoughts that I have drowned myself in and thought many hours upon is the idea of spiritual warfare amongst an engaged/married couple (Part One) and the truth and relevance of Ephesians 5... I believe around 22 to the near end (Part Two).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part One - God's Creation or Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual warfare is so interesting to me. It's as if when I first gave my life to Christ, God's Spirit was covering my eyes like a parent covering their child's eyes during the scary part of a movie. But eventually the parent doesn't cover their child's eyes because that child is "mature" enough for whatever reason. And that is an illustration of the Holy Spirit unveiling the existence of spiritual warfare to me.
As I have defined in previous blogs, spiritual warfare is simply anything that is not of God. Spiritual warfare is something that was around since the beginning of our parents, Adam & Eve. We all know where I'm going with this and that's to the fall of mankind. If I take this story and look at it broadly, everything that is good (of God), I'll call God's Creation. And everything that is not of God, I'll call Spiritual Warfare. So from the beginning of Genesis, the heavens and the earth is God's Creation. The creation of Adam and Eve is God's Creation. The tree of knowledge is God's Creation. The serpent is Spiritual Warfare. And to the obvious, Eve being tempted and eating from the tree is Spiritual Warfare. God is the Creator of marriage, but God did not create sin.
According to my definition, everything that is not of God is spiritual warfare. We all know that God has never sinned, nor did He create it. So does that mean that spiritual warfare is sin, or sin is spiritual warfare? I don't think spiritual warfare is sin or that sin is spiritual warfare. I think that sin can be a result of spiritual warfare, or spiritual warfare can lead to sin. God gave Adam and his wife free will. After the first case of spiritual warfare, Adam's wife chose to sin. The idea of spiritual warfare leading to sin is something that Hanna and I have battled with just like Adam and his wife Eve did. I don't know how Adam and Eve dealt with spiritual warfare and sinning as the first married couple, but Hanna and I have found a solution for us.
I believe that this solution is something that is applicable for anyone, engaged/married or not. Hanna and I recently decided that whenever we hang out, we will pray together uniting us as one spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ. There is power, no matter if you're married or not, coming against Spiritual Warfare in the name of Jesus Christ. There is power in claiming the blood of Jesus Christ, which has covered us and our sin. And their is power in proclaiming that on behalf of our testimony, we are children of the Living God. As the body of Christ, we are left with a choice and that choice is God's Creation or Spiritual Warfare.
