Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…. Ephesians 6:10-12
These days it is rare to hear a news broadcast that doesn’t tell of war, a court battle, or a domestic fight somewhere. Some wars go on for years but there is one war that has been going on since the beginning of time. That is the war between God and Satan, a war between good and evil. Satan has forever been out to destroy what God has created. It started in the Garden of Eden and continues to this present day. This war is in the spiritual realm.
Years ago I had a discussion with a church-going relative who did not believe there was a devil but Jesus certainly believed in him. He referred to Satan as ‘the prince of this world’ (John 12:31), and so he is. Jesus did battle with him in the wilderness right after he was baptized. You would do well to re-read that story and note how Jesus handled Satan’s attack on him (Matthew 4).
These days it is rare to hear a news broadcast that doesn’t tell of war, a court battle, or a domestic fight somewhere. Some wars go on for years but there is one war that has been going on since the beginning of time. That is the war between God and Satan, a war between good and evil. Satan has forever been out to destroy what God has created. It started in the Garden of Eden and continues to this present day. This war is in the spiritual realm.
Years ago I had a discussion with a church-going relative who did not believe there was a devil but Jesus certainly believed in him. He referred to Satan as ‘the prince of this world’ (John 12:31), and so he is. Jesus did battle with him in the wilderness right after he was baptized. You would do well to re-read that story and note how Jesus handled Satan’s attack on him (Matthew 4).
Anyone who has not come under the lordship of Jesus Christ is by default under Satan’s lordship. A scary thought, isn’t it. Satan can do what he likes with them and use them for his purposes. Trouble comes when we change our allegiance from Satan to Jesus Christ. That is when we stir up his anger and his real nature is revealed. Satan’s nature is to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ (John 10:10) so his aim regarding believers becomes the prevention of God’s goodness being seen and experienced in our lives.
In Ephesians 6 Paul warns that we need to prepare to fight, and then he goes on to tell us how to prepare for battle with our enemy. This is no ordinary war, it is a spiritual war. Our battle is not against flesh and blood (vs 12), but against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. To westerners this may sound strange because we have not been attuned to believing in a spirit world, however many other cultures are very aware of spiritual activity and so find it much easier to believe in another realm outside of the natural or physical realm. We’d better believe it because it is there and very real!
Natural weapons are no good for this fight, so Paul goes on to teach us about our spiritual weapons. First he tells us to ‘be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power’. We need to put on ‘the whole armour which God supplies’ (vs 11), ‘so that we can take our stand against the schemes of the devil.’
It is important for us to recognise that there is a fight going on to undermine our walk with God. The devil schemes to discourage us, to disappoint us, to make us sick, to make us sin…. anything to make us feel ashamed, bitter or angry – whatever will make us turn away from God who loves us and wants to do us good all the days of our life. Learn to recognise the enemy’s work in the things that happen to you and learn how to fight in God’s strength.
Prayer: Thank you Lord that you have given me spiritual armour and spiritual weapons with which to fight against the plans of the enemy. Help me to learn to use them well. Amen
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