A Spiritual Warfighter’s Tools
If you are a born-again believer in these times, it may seem as if the world is attacking you. In certain areas of the world this means a physical attack as well as an attack on churches with lock-downs preventing services. While this may seem hard enough as it is, there is another attack taking place on the born-again believer, and it is a spiritual attack. Sadly, this is the type of attack that many Christians are the least prepared for and yet is the most dangerous. So how do we, as believers in the one true God handle all of this? The answer can be found in Ephesians 6:10-18.
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Paul is reminding the Church in Ephesus that they need to be strong in the Lord, that their power comes from Him and not from themselves. This is as true today as it was then! Our greatest strength in this world has nothing to do with our physical capabilities or the political party that we belong to or any other materialistic thing. Our strength comes from the one true God! To believe that we are powerful enough on our own would be like the disciples in Matthew 17:18-20 who could not cast out a demon from a young boy but with one word Jesus Christ commanded the demon to leave. Jesus then reminds the disciples that if they had greater faith they would have been able to cast out the demon. This issue here was that the disciples did not believe that God was big enough to cast out the demon, there is nothing more powerful on this earth than our God! God is the source of all of our strength!
But why do we need to be strong in the Lord? It is because there is a war going on today, an unseen war, and that is a spiritual war. We must be strong in the Lord and put on all of His armor so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes. Our war is one that is “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12. It is important to note here that there is no verbiage that states that putting on the armor is a one and done type deal. Just like knights who had to put their armor on daily, we to as believers must put on our spiritual armor each and every day. When we slack in putting on one aspect of the Armor, we leave ourselves open to attack. This could come in confusion of a doctrine, believing that one version of the Bible is superior to others, division in the church, and so many other ways that are to numerous to count. All of these ways can cause a believer to stumble.
It is important for us to wear the full Armor of God because of who we are fighting against. While we can never be torn away from God once we belong to Him, “28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” John 10:28-30 this does not mean that this warfare does not affect the born-again Christian. The old saying, “if you fail to plan you plan to fail” has more truth in this coming study than most realize. While we who are saved cannot lose our salvation, we can be caught in the devils schemes and hurt. This is especially true if we are not prepared. 2 Corinthians, Paul warns the believers in chapter 2 verse 11, “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” We need to be vigilant as our Father wants us ready for anything at a moment’s notice. We must remember what Paul states in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”.
As we will see in the next several weeks, God does not leave us undefended or unprotected from the spiritual attacks that we face. By studying the Armor of God, we will see how it can be applied to us today. When we have the Armor of God, we are strong in Him and can stand against what this world will throw at us.
Seek the Truth and encourage one another,
Alex