Mohamed-Ibrahim Yattara, Mali
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Ephesians 6:10–11
Life on earth is marked by perpetual and ongoing battles. We cannot triumph without fighting. Alas, many Christians do not realize that they are on a battlefield and not on a playground. In every situation of life, we need preparation to win. We need a plan of battle—planning, organization, discipline, determination, etc.
As Christians, we face three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world refers to the system around us that is opposed to God. The flesh is the old nature that we inherited from Adam, a nature that is opposed to God and can do nothing spiritual to please God. The devil is Satan, the master of the spiritual forces that back all evil in this world. By His death and resurrection, Christ overcame the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are involved in a lifelong war, so what is your battle plan to deal with these three enemies?
In Ephesians 6:10–15, Paul gives us five instructions for effective spiritual warfare. We will look at the first two today and at the other three tomorrow:
1. Prepare Properly (6:10) Paul is not saying that the battle is for those who live in difficult places like the third world. He says brethren (KJV)—it’s you and me. Every Christian is called to fight; every Christian is a soldier of Jesus Christ. We live in a dangerous world and we have many spiritual enemies. But Paul reminds us that it’s only by the strength of the Lord that we can have victory. By ourselves, we do not have the possibility of overcoming Satan; we must count on the very powerful forces of the Lord, to call upon Him in prayer and obey His word. Then we will have the victory in our conflicts with the powers of darkness.
2. Take the Right Weapons (6:11a) You cannot stand up long in human armor. It’s like David trying to fight Goliath in Saul’s armor. Our effectiveness in pursuing spiritual warfare depends in part on the equipment we are using. The tense of the verb indicates that this armor must be put on once and for all and be carried in a permanent way. Believers must never remove it, because they would be vulnerable to the attacks of the devil, who is disguised as an angel of light, because his specialty is to mislead and divide. He darkens the intelligence of men with twisted information that is always presented well. Let us not forget that there is someone who does not want you to succeed. We’ll study him more tomorrow.
Believers are to resist Satan by putting on the whole armor of God. Never try to defeat the devil using human equipment. The devil is smart, but not omniscient; swift, but not omnipresent; strong, but not omnipotent. Since the enemy is invisible, the Christian soldier needs supernatural equipment to fight and win the battles. God has provided the armor—it is up to us to wear it.
