So many in the church today believe that it's Satan who tempts God's children and lures them into sin. They believe that Satan is behind their spiritual problems and that they are directly struggling with the devil himself. The truth is, they are not wrestling against Satan, but rather his network of demons. Even when a child is tempted to sin, that temptation doesn't come from Satan directly, but through Satan's army of fallen angels (demons). It's as if we believe there's an imaginary evil being out there that comes to our door each day to tempt us, when in reality, we are being approached by evil spirits! It seems that everybody wants to think it's Satan tempting or oppressing them, but nobody wants to think it's an evil spirit or demon.
Angels are NOT omnipresent, and cannot be everywhere at once. There is ample proof of this fact in scripture, but one clear example is found in Daniel chapter 10, where an angel was dispatched to answer the prayer of Daniel, but was withheld by a demonic spirit (the prince of Persia):
Daniel 10:13, "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."
This angel was held back and could not immediately attend to those prayers because an evil spirit held him up from reaching Daniel! Angels, including demons, cannot be more than one place at once. Satan, being a demon himself and the leader in his kingdom, is unable to be more than one place at the same time.
The odds of a person actually getting attacked or oppressed by Satan is extremely remote. There are very strong and evil demons which can make it seem like Satan himself is involved, but it is rarely the case. Satan is merely the leader of his kingdom, and uses the evil spirits under him to carry out his plans in this fallen world.
Putting things into perspective
Let's stop for a moment and picture yourself in a war against another country. You realize that your country is fighting Country X, but should your attention be focused on the king of Country X? Or the troop that's standing 50 yards from you with a gun in his hand ready to kill you? Far too often, we as Christians point our fingers at Satan, but completely ignore the troops the enemy has sent out against us. It's about time we guard ourselves against the messengers that Satan has set against us, lest we become vulnerable of the plans Satan has against us.
It's time that we recognize the messengers that were sent to directly oppose us. Satan indirectly oppresses God's children, but it's the various ranks of troops under Satan that carry out the actual battle plan and directly oppose the children of God. Ephesians 6 isn't saying that we struggle against Satan himself, but against the various ranks of demons that are under the lordship of Satan:
Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Let's not wash Satan clean here by putting everything on the demons, but let's also not forget who's standing 50 yards from us who would love to put a bullet through our skulls!
Your enemy would love for you to approach the war with your eyes on the evil leader and ignore the troops / messengers coming towards you. If you did such a thing in a physical war, wouldn't that put you at a very vulnerable position? You wouldn't last 10 minutes on the battle field before getting struck down! The same is true in the spiritual realm. It's only wise to keep your eyes on the direct enemies in any war.
Don't get me wrong, we aren't to see demons so much that it's all that we're looking at. I am a strong advocator of keeping our minds and hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ, and on positive things that uplift us and keep our eyes on the Lord. But on the same token, it's never wise to ignore a messenger that Satan has sent to destroy us. Paul himself made it clear that it's never wise to be ignorant of Satan's devices:
2 Corinthians 2:11, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."
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