Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
When was the first time you discovered that the Christian life was a battleground? Many of today’s churches have seemed to make church more of a playground to be entertained than a place to prepare for war… Our walk with Christ is not a place of ease and pleasure, but of hard conflict with enemies of all kinds in and out of the church. Though not every aspect of our faith is a battle, there are times we truly need to be spiritually prepared for the schemes of the devil.
Paul encourages us to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Often in our life we wait until the last moment during a challenge or hardship to stop and finally come to the Lord in prayer. Spiritual preparedness means that we are to not only come to the Lord in the difficulties, but we are to be prepared at all times from what I have heard called “devil darts.” We come up on many challenges… the devil, the world, and the flesh. Paul addresses all three of these in these verses. As we put on the full armor of God, we are able to defeat the challenges that come that will bring us down and lead us into sin in our lives.
The devil is the master of schemes. He has more ways to trip us up than we can imagine and the only way we can stand against him is to put on the full armor of God. Like a military man going to battle, we Christians are in a spiritual battle that we can either win or lose based on our preparedness. The armor that God has prepared for us is perfectly fit for our endurance and protection. When used wisely we are able to not only withstand the devil, but we are able, in the strength and might of God, defeat him.
In his craftiness, the devil will use other men and women in our life to cause challenges. We need to remember that the battle is not against them personally, though it may seem as if it is. The real battle is with the devil and the spiritual forces in this dark world that challenge us and attack us from all sides. Satan’s angels are at work all around us in the spiritual realm.
The way to come against this is not to spend time trying to figure out ways to come against someone or ways to win an argument. Prayer is the answer to solve spiritual battles. Paul reminds the Corinthians: though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. The weapons we use are not well thought out arguments, plans and schemes to manipulate others to our side, or our own strength or influence. We use the weapons provided by the Almighty that are not of this world.
Today I am to remember that when the difficulty comes, the challenging person tries to come against me, or the health issue arises, the way for me to combat it is through the power of God by covering my life fully with His well designed armor.