The most important thing that churches should do is to make Christians aware that there is indeed a spiritual war going on. I believe that one of the major causes of spiritual ineffectiveness is that we do not see that we are in the middle of a war zone and that every atom in the universe is being fought over. The vast majority of us are peacetime Christians and we are constantly surprised when we face opposition or when our plans for God are impeded.

The second thing that churches should do is to remember that we should never be demon-centered or Satan-focused. Our primary spiritual awareness ought to be of God our Father, of our ultimate victory over the Evil One, and of our identity and authority in Christ. Thus, the apostle Paul prays, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe" (Ephesians 1:17-19).

In other words, the Christian is always to keep his or her eyes firmly on Jesus. We are always to be Christ-centered. But (in line with my first point), we are to be aware of Satan in our peripheral vision.

Finally, we must rightly understand how to take sin seriously. We have an enemy who wishes to destroy us by gaining a foothold through sin. Sin is not, as we often assume, just a personal little foible. Sin can open a door to spiritual darkness and the demonic. We can find ourselves trapped in a place we never wanted to be. Our spiritual effectiveness, our feeling of intimacy with God, and our liberty to operate without shackles can be taken from us.

If we find ourselves in such a place, God has graciously given us a remedy. We can immediately go to a trusted Christian brother or sister and put James 5:16 into effect: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."