Living Spiritually Awake
I used to love Frank Peretti books. If you don’t know that name, he was the Stephen King of the Christian world in the late 80s and 90s. This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, The Oath—Peretti basically wrote spiritual horror novels (or at least that’s how they felt to middle school me).
He had an incredible ability to pull back the veil and reveal the invisible spiritual battle of angels and demons driving the everyday actions and activities we see in our world. His books made great study hall reading when I was in Jr. High (you know, back before we had TikTok and Instagram to scare us to death) and even spawned an awesome instrumental track from my favorite CCM artist (you know you want to listen).
Is that a Demon Under that Rock?
I’m not a demon under every rock kind of guy. I don’t think every bad thing that happens in our lives and in our world is due to a “spiritual attack.” We’re fallen people in a fallen world, and some days we are just feeling the full ramifications of that Fall.
And let’s face it, sometimes we go through hard times because we do stupid stuff (but that’s a newsletter for another week).
It’s probably not spiritual warfare when your boss schedules a required meeting at 4:30 on a Friday, when your expense report gets rejected because you lost a $7 receipt, or when suck-up Sally gets that promotion ahead of you.
The breakroom running out of coffee? Scholars are still split on this one.
Over/Under Spiritualizing
I make a concerted effort not to over-spiritualize things. But sometimes I fear I may be under-spiritualizing things as well. I’ve had to remind myself of something lately: we are most definitely in a spiritual battle. The Apostle Paul reminds us:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
When we embrace God’s Kingdom work in the world, in big and small ways, we are proclaiming a new King whose death and resurrection is in direct conflict with the kingdoms of this world. That’s not great fiction, that’s reality.
There is more happening around me than what I can see with my eyes. There is an enemy who would love to use my anger, fear, pride, discouragement, division, and distraction to pull me away from Jesus and His glory in the world.
So, I’m not exactly sure those old Frank Peretti novels are perfect theology, but I don’t want to forget that there really is an enemy of our souls. We don’t battle against flesh and blood.
Let’s live spiritually awake. Get close to Jesus. Stay close to Jesus.
Erik Cooper
Erik began his career in the business world before spending twelve years in full-time ministry, serving on staff at a large suburban church and later as a church planter in downtown Indianapolis. Today, he serves as the President of a family of business-oriented nonprofit organizations that work together to mobilize the marketplace to make Jesus known in the world. He leads The Stone Table, which equips marketplace believers and invests in global mission initiatives, and Community Reinvestment Foundation, a nonprofit real estate company providing high-quality affordable housing in Indiana and directing its profits to missions through The Stone Table.
