It’s a strange thing, and we don’t always realize it in our day to day, but we walk in the spiritual realm as well as the physical throughout our entire lives. Some of us are stronger in the spiritual realm than others, and not all of those are the children of God. All of us, however, are walking in these two dimensions.
For many of us in the United States that seems farfetched and delusional, but if we were to talk to missionaries and to those Christians and non-Christians in other countries, we would see that we are the ones who are blind and delusional. If we were to see things as they really are, we would see there is an unseen enemy who hates us and looks for every opportunity to lie, intimidate, and imprison us.
There are several verses in God’s Word that teach us we’re in a war against the unseen. Paul talks about fighting the good fight of faith. He also tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “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.”
Psalm 144:1 says, “Blessed be the Lord my Rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” Who is the enemy the Psalmist names when, in the 23rd he says he prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies? And who is the enemy my hands are trained for war against? The enemy is the great enemy of our souls. The people he uses are only pawns, no matter how powerful we think they are. People aren’t the enemies, not even the ones who seem to ally themselves with evil. Satan and his demons are our enemies, and unless we look to the truth of God’s word we cannot tell the difference between lies and the truth, nor can we defeat them.
So, with the words of the Psalmist on my lips and the image of Aragorn entering in the valley of the shadows, I say with conviction, “I do not fear death.” No matter what form the evil in this world takes against me, I know the battle is the Lord’s. He will fight for me and give me victory.