Spiritual warfare is real.  The Apostle Paul was used to being opposed (because of the Gospel): that was why he was writing from prison while awaiting trial on false charges (2 Timothy 1:8).  But he knew that his real enemies were not the human faces that put him there, but unseen powerful beings orchestrated by Satan (Ephesians 6:11).  Those dark forces seek to defy the authority of God at every level, trying to disrupt the worship and ministry of the church, so that fear replaces faith.  Although Satan cannot pull Christians out of God's hand (John 10:28-29), he tries hard to make us give up living for Christ, and to abandon our confidence in Him (Hebrews 10:35).  These demonic tactics may involve people who are used to disturb our peace, but those people are not the cause of the problems.  So the solution cannot be to win through by human means against people: neither logical argument nor physical force can deal with this spiritual opposition.

In the urban guerrilla warfare of our day, it is impossible to know where to locate the terrorists or resistance fighters.  The only thing you can predict, is that you cannot predict where the next attack will come from. The same is true of the spiritual struggle that every God-hungry Christian will experience.  Although we may not know the place and time of the next assault, Paul is clear that it is likely wherever human power is found.  There is ample cover there for dark activity as people's egos may be manipulated so that the devil achieves his purpose.  Such people should not be hated, but rather pitied and prayed for, witnessed to and loved - because you may be sure that although Satan uses people, he does not love them any more than he loved Judas (Luke 22:3).  

Each day, we will be wise to take note of what Paul has written.  If we do, then we will be ready for our faith to be challenged, and our character to be ridiculed, even when this comes through the most unexpected people (1 Peter 2:19-23).  Instincts of self-preservation are not helpful at all; lashing out against people will achieve nothing.  We are best prepared by putting on the armour that God supplies (Ephesians 6:14-18), and standing still as the enemy does his worst (Ephesians 6:13) - confident that the Lord will win the day.

If these verses were not available to us, we might think that every challenge was a personal insult or that we have failed because we do not meet other people's expectations.  But we now know that neither they nor we are the cause of the aggression or seduction.  It is just another attempt of God's enemy to ruin our fellowship with our Lord, to pull us off track and disable us from effective service.  Of course, God knows every power game against His Kingdom, and He has provided effective protection for us - if only we will put it on (Ephesians 6:11).