Day 58
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:10-12
Spiritual Battle
Spiritual battle characterizes the norm for the daily life of the believer. We do not occasionally come into the realm of spiritual conflict. We live there. The reality of a spiritual battle can be seen in every aspect of our lives. Our adversary always seeks our harm. The devil loves to see our defeat. He pursues it with tremendous vigor and passion. This warfare consumes Satan’s every thought. In the end, he knows that he has already been defeated. However, out of rage and hatred, he seeks to dismantle as much of God’s work in His people as possible. He employs his evil minions to do further harm to the believers in Christ and our mission. We do not fight in the physical realm. There are no weapons in a traditional sense. The weapons of our battle are spiritual weapons, divinely provided to us by our God. We also do not use these weapons with our own strength. Notice that the use of the spiritual weapons in the spiritual battle can only be used by His strength. “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10) We are called to be strong in the battle with the adversary. However, the strength is not our own. Our strength comes from outside of us, beyond us. Our strength comes from the One who spoke the universe into being. Our power in the battle comes from the One who defeated sin and the grave, the two greatest assets of our adversary. Through our faith in Christ, we stand firm, united in Him. “By virtue of its union with the resurrected-enthroned Messiah the church is strengthened with God’s resurrection power to do battle against its enemies.” Joshua Jipp
We stand firm as individual believers, but this text seems more corporate in nature. Though it is true that each of us must engage fully in this spiritual battle, this text encourages the entire church to individually and corporately participate. No one person can fight for the group and no group can fight without the participation of each individual member. Imagine the battle lines if a portion of the force abandoned the rest. Imagine the potential danger to the entire church if some within the congregation abdicate their calling to stand firm with the power of God in the weapons He provides. We need each other. Our adversary schemes to defeat us. He works at finding our weaknesses and using our doubts and failures against us. He especially focuses on deception. Lies are his greatest tool. Paul encouraged the church to think deeply about the spiritual reality God has brought about in their lives. We must think maturely. “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14) One huge deception from our adversary concerns his very existence. The lie told to the world at large and even among the church is that the devil does not exist. He tells terrible lies and does his greatest damage to those who are unaware. This scheming by Satan to get us to lower our defenses prompted Paul to give a clarion call for our focused, wartime mindset. The spiritual battle is raging and our adversary, wants us to disarm. He seeks your lowered protective armor, exposing heart and mind to him. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, procured our eternal salvation already. We must live in the safety of His daily provisions, being ever vigilant to stand firm against our adversary.
Suggested Prayer: Open our spiritual eyes to the struggle all around us. God, You are greater than our adversary and only by Your power can we stand firm. In Your strength, may we place our trust today. Amen.
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