# 284 Spiritual Warfare

The Book of Genesis

Day 284

Ge 31:13 'I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.'" 

Jacob continues to relate to Rachel and Leah his recent encounter with God. It strikes me as odd that God would describe Himself as the God of Bethel It sounds so limiting. Yet we know that God is not limited by time or distance. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and all powerful!  He was simply reminding Jacob that He was the God that had appeared to Him at Bethel in that magnificent dream we call Jacob’s Ladder. In that dream He reminded Jacob that He was not restricted to Bethel, that He in fact would be with Jacob wherever he went. (Gen 28:15)

Why did Jacob need this ID from God? Well, think about it. He had been living in a land where the worship of other gods was quite common. The culture of the day had gods for fertility, gods for harvest, gods for this, and gods for that, and they very often were localized, as if they had assigned territories., …..and they do! And I think we need to be more aware of this than we typically are.

These “gods” are like henchmen of the devil who serve him and seek to wreak havoc on the crown of God’s creation…..man. As tools of the devil, they have power to do many things. (just read Job) but they can only go as far as Almighty God allows (Again, read Job)  They set up shop wherever they are welcomed and their calling cards are lies, hate, and murder.  The gullible are taken in and engage in and buy into Satan’s agenda. In so doing they engage in worship of other gods disobeying God’s command to not have other gods before Him.

These gods are an extension of demonic activity, and why the Apostle Paul reminds us in  Eph 6:12 about who we are doing battle with! “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

In other words, the enemy is spread out in principalities. (geographical locations) He is powerful. He is organized with unholy rulers. And these rulers have foot soldiers of wickedness (demons) at their disposal.

Further illustration of these powerful geographical entities is found in the Book of Daniel: Da 10:12 “Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.  13 "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.”

I mention these things, hoping that you and I will have a better idea of what we are up against. You may think the god Molech no longer exists. (He’s the one that required the sacrifice of children for worship) but he has shown up in the world through legalized abortion. These unseen spiritual battles still rage in our world today: Thankfully the same God who appeared to Jacob at Bethel is still with us, promising to never leave us, He reminds us that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, and he daily encourages us to put on the armor that He has supplied!

Eph 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;  18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

Jacob, living in a world that had bowed the knee to many of these gods needed to be reminded that there is just one true God, and only one God powerful enough to defeat these enemies.  In a world full of murder and lying, maybe we need to be reminded as well. We are in a spiritual battle of epic proportions, and it’s going to get a whole lot worse as we draw near to Judgment Day. Re 12:12b says, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time."

Be ready for it! Be in prayer! Be in the Word ever ready to wield it!