by Brian Boroff

 

For years I filled my days by being someone I was not meant to be. I spent my time riding an up-and-down roller coaster of good times and misfortune. Nothing too extreme either way. Comfortable, slightly distracted, going somewhere but never getting there.

 

Then came conviction.

 

In 2024 between the months of August and December, I was pulled from a comfortable job in an industry where the right people knew my name for all the right business reasons.

 

Soon after, my mother’s health and life were threatened.

 

My wife’s health was attacked. Our family balance and day-to-day functionality and financial plans were almost wrecked.

 

My father’s health was attacked, and the family horse racing and training business came to a tragic end—ending a passion, one I share with my father and the animals that our family loved.

 

The enemy attacked my family’s finances, health, and well-being, and at varying levels—the relationships between all of us.

 

Why?

 

It’s daunting for me to answer the why, but I am certain that it was all due to the declarations of faith and purpose that I had recently made. Was it my baptism by immersion in August, accepting the market president position with C-Suite for Christ in September, or accepting the resident role here at Christ’s Church that began the first week of December? I’ve concluded that it was all of them.

 

For the first time in a long time, I was beginning a new and stronger journey of stepping out in faith. Not just for myself, but as a disciple aimed at encouraging others and putting God back into the lives of my family, my friends, my connections, and the marketplace. In doing so, I gained attention. This time, it was not the kind that I wanted, or the kind my loved ones deserved. The enemy came hard at me and to those closest to me to distract, discourage, and to take me out of the battle by forceful surrender. I refused to fall again like I had so many times before. Instead, the Lord gave me the thought of adding soldiers to the winning side. You see, it’s not about who wins the war, because we already know who does. It’s about bringing the people you love to the winning side—not to ensure the victory that’s already been won, but to ensure that you and your loved ones are on the side which follows after Jesus.

 

War Has Been Declared

Scripture makes it clear; we are at war. Not with people, governments, or ideologies, but with forces that operate in a realm beyond what the eyes can see. The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, “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” (NIV). This is spiritual warfare, and at the center of it stands a cunning, relentless adversary—the devil.

 

Spiritual warfare isn’t a metaphor. It’s not symbolic language meant only to describe our internal struggles or moral dilemmas. The Bible presents it as a literal conflict between the kingdom of God and the forces of darkness. This war plays out across history and in the human heart, and while Jesus has already secured the final victory through the cross and resurrection, the battle rages on until the day when Jesus will come to take his faithful followers to live with him forever in a place where there will be no more spiritual warfare.

 

To be effective in this fight, we must understand the tactics of our enemy, and more importantly, his origin. In any battle, one of the first rules of engagement is simple: Know your enemy. It’s a principle as old as warfare itself. It’s essential that to win, you must know your enemy more than he knows you.

 

The Origin of the Devil

This past Sunday at Christ’s Church, our lead pastor Brad Wilson taught about the reality of spiritual warfare and the origin of Satan. In case you missed that teaching, you can check it out here.

 

The devil, also known as Satan, was not created as a monster. According to Scripture, he was once a powerful and radiant angel named Lucifer. In Ezekiel 28 (often interpreted as a dual prophecy addressing both the King of Tyre and the spiritual power behind him), we get a glimpse of Lucifer’s former glory: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. . . . You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:12, 15, NIV).

 

Lucifer’s downfall came not from weakness, but from pride. Isaiah 14:12-15 paints a portrait of his rebellion: “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star . . . You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; . . . I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit” (NIV).

 

Lucifer sought to dethrone God and to exalt himself above his Creator. In doing so, he fell from Heaven and became Satan, the adversary. Revelation 12 tells us that he led a third of the angels in rebellion and was cast out of Heaven: “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:9, NIV).

 

The Battle Rages

From the Garden of Eden to the wilderness temptation of Christ, Satan’s tactics have remained consistent: deception, accusation, temptation, and fear. Jesus called him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, NIV). The enemy doesn’t always attack head-on; he whispers doubt, fuels division, distorts truth, and offers shortcuts to power and pleasure that lead to destruction. The enemy will gnaw and gnaw at you in an effort to have you fall to the point where the gnawing becomes gnashing.

 

Satan prowls like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), but his greatest weapon is not brute force—it’s deceit. If he can twist your view of God, yourself, and the world, he can and he will derail your purpose. Though the enemy is real, powerful, and ancient, he is not all-powerful. The enemy is not all knowing. Satan is a created being, and his end is already determined. Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities, [making] a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15, NIV).

 

Believers are not called to fear the devil, but to stand firm in Christ. We are given spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) that we need to put on every morning, the authority of Christ’s name (Luke 10:19), and the power of the Holy Spirit to resist and overcome the enemy’s schemes. To ignore the reality of spiritual warfare is to walk onto a battlefield blindfolded. But to understand our enemy, to know his origin, and to recognize his tactics are crucial in overcoming him. The apostle John declares that we are “from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, NIV).

 

Knowing your enemy doesn’t mean obsessing over the darkness. It means being aware, vigilant, and rooted in truth. The enemy may roar, but his time is short. In Christ, we fight from a place of victory, not for it. We already know who has won this war. One of the only questions remaining is: How many of your brothers and sisters in Christ will be there? How many of your family, friends, and your “one mores” will you bring to Jesus so that they too can put on the armor of God, take up the fight, and be on the winning side?

 

The battle rages. Are you on the frontlines?

 

After fifteen years in regional and national business development roles, Brian Boroff decided to follow a calling to serve Christ’s kingdom full-time. He leads C-Suite for Christ Cincinnati as the market president and is on staff at Christ’s Church as resident. Brian, and his wife Jill, reside in the Kings Local School community along with their two daughters Jacey and Braylee.