2 Chronicles 32:7. "Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us than him."

This is Hezekiah speaking to the people of Judah after he has fortified Jerusalem against the coming horde. Unfortunately, we do not, right now, have an earthly leader like Hezekiah - one who sees the true threat and is preparing the people for it. Nonetheless, Hezekiah's words are absolutely true for us - we have no need to be afraid, there is one greater with us than with our enemies. And who are our enemies, really? They are the fallen principalities and powers - that is who we are fighting.

When we look around with open eyes at everything going on in our country and our world, it is abundantly clear that this is a spiritual battle. The complexity and success of the evil and lies are so great, no human actor or actors can be pulling the strings. That is not to say there are not human actors who think they are, and who are doing an awful lot of the devil's handiwork. (The devil, like God, relies in large part on us to carry out his plans.) So yes, there are people who are actively carrying out great evil in the world, but the sheer vastness of it all right now; the (frankly impressive) intricacies; and the astounding level of spiritual blindness that has been achieved, even in faithful people, are all clear signs that we are dealing with the source of evil itself - Satan and his hordes of minions.

The good news, of course, is that the devil has already been defeated. So if we trust in the one who accomplished that defeat, we truly have nothing to fear. Our earthly comforts may be lost, our earthly bodies may be sickened, or even killed, but we will be suffering with Christ in battle, a battle that we know we will win with Him. Whether we see that victory here or in Heaven matters not, it only matters that we stay faithful to our leader and perfecter in faith.