Many have read The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.  Likewise you have studied and even taught many times from Ephesians 6 in relationship to Spiritual Warfare.  I thought it a good reminder to post this new article by Lee Eclov, in Preaching Today which truly helps us I think to focus on who are real enemies are. 

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II, John Bunyan gives us a character named Mr. Valiant-for-Truth. He is first introduced to us as “a man with his sword drawn, and his face all bloody” from fighting off thieves seeking to block his quest to reach the Celestial City. Later he agrees to help Christiana and her children follow safely in the footsteps of her husband, Christian. She asked, “I would entreat you to have an eye to my children, and if at any time you see them faint, speak comfortably to them.” He becomes their rear guard lest “some fiend, or dragon, or giant, or thief, should fall upon [them], and so do mischief.” Such is the work of the pastor.

In his charge to Timothy, Paul wrote,

Fight the good fight of the faith. (1 Tim. 6:12)

For some of my pastor friends, that “good fight” has pitted them against colleagues in their own camps who deny the deity and resurrection of Christ, who shred the scriptures, and who negate the Atonement.

Regardless, whether or not we face hand-to-hand combat over unorthodoxy, it is our soldierly duty to recognize the constantly recycled heresies that undermine the gospel, blind the lost, and entrap the faithless. Pastors must be particularly diligent about theology, able to distinguish that which is secondary from anything that threatens the essentials of our faith. It is the wearisome duty of a night sentry, but such is the work of shepherds.

Most days our good fight doesn’t look very combative. But when we consistently teach the scriptures we are setting a strategic defensive perimeter. Sometimes our teaching addresses the felt needs of our people, to “speak comfortably to them.” Other times, whether they feel the need or not, we train them in the sound doctrine necessary for the combat-ready army of the Lord.

Heresy isn’t the only battlefront of our good fight. Some threats come from within. Infighting can bring defeat as surely as an attack of Arianism. The Lord expects us to defend our congregation from all that compromises their holiness and faithfulness. Discipline matters. So much of the seemingly thankless work of the ministry is fortifying the love and life of our congregation so they do not self-destruct.

Then there are relentless clandestine attacks of the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” How often we have been tricked into fighting the wrong battle! Perhaps we were oblivious to the diabolical resistance to a God-given task, or to the jammed communications feeding a church fight. Maybe we’ve found ourselves deeply demoralized, depressed, or weary without looking in that dark direction. But then we see our sheathed Sword propped in the corner. We realize how under-prayed we are. As William Cowper wrote, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”

One more thing: beware of fighting the bad fights of the faith. Early in my ministry, when I was careless about my battles, a wise pastor warned me, “Choose carefully the hill you die on.” In 1 Timothy 6:4-5, Paul alerted Timothy to beware of teachers who have “an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind ….” Under the flag of “defending the faith,” some of us have bloodied our allies.

With all that said, it is still “the good fight of the faith.” Seeing the name and cross of Christ lifted high, seeing his people still standing loyally at his side, and seeing the lost rescued and brought home makes it a good fight indeed.