Last time we talked about our adversary, the devil. It is easy to forget that the devil is the adversary. That this adversary uses everything that he can to accomplish his purpose (directive or will). The verse is Eph.6:11and 12"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this (present) darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
It maybe easier to look at this verse in a reverse direction. That is starting 'spiritual forces'. let's just recognize that these forces are there, they are real and are in the heavenly places. Fallen angels? wickedness- morally wrong, evil
'World forces' of darkness. So now we move from heavenly places to earthly places. We also have a new term 'darkness' . Darkness just a few thoughts; dark verses light(Jesus Christ is the light of the world), keeping someone in the dark, fear, lack of knowledge(Godly) bad thinking... control. More forces! Worldly and heavenly forces.
"Powers" interesting, against powers. Let us remember there are powers. Today it would be media, internet platforms... Powers as in a group maybe. Any thing that is against God and His son Jesus Christ. That will include doing His will and following His ways, commandments, principles and precepts.
"Rulers" People in power, leaders... Godly leader verses un-Godly. In the old testament (1 and 2 Kings; 1 and 2 Chronicles) it address this. A good king verses an evil/wicked king. It seems in our modern time this is a big stumbling block. A good king is described as following after their father, King David. You see we leave God out of the picture and darkness and wickedness comes in to replace.
Now to 'flesh and blood' . So we just talked about rulers. Oh flesh and blood; we all know people who are 'evil' if you will. The real battle is not the person but the powers of darkness and wickedness. The principle here is the 'influence' behind the person. It has a grip on them and most do not even know it. Seriously, even us as Christians can be influenced by those powers... That is why we need the whole armor of God.