Divine Warfare

Ephesians 6:10-17(Armor of God) "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against the flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  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.  Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

Yes, we require armor because we are in a war!  Paul encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight of faith.  Peter, in his first epistle, told us to beware of the devil who prowls like a lion seeking out whom he may devour.  If you have had this view of Jesus as a good little Christian boy that never offended anybody, then I hate to bust your bubble.  Jesus, Himself, said that he did not come to bring peace but division (Luke 12:51).  It sounds to me like we need some protection for the battle that we are called to fight for the glory of God.  Keep in mind that we are not at war with any human in existence, but against “the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  To put a name to it, we are at war with Satan and his fallen angels, demons if you will.  Yes, humans do terrible things to each other and to themselves for that matter (i.e. drugs, cutting, suicide, etc).  However, it is the enemy that is a lot of times the influence that leads to this kind of behavior.  Therefore, we have been given tools to use against the devil when he is attacking us.  First is girding your waist with truth.  The girding, or belt, holds everything together so that you are more able to move without getting tangled up.  When you are in battle, you don’t want to have to keep pulling your pants up, wear your belt.  The truth of the Word of God is what holds everything else together.  If there was no truth to it, it would all fall apart and we would just be another bunch of happy clappin lunatics.  Next is the breastplate of righteousness.  Imagine putting walls of a house up and not building a structure to hold them up.  The same is with the breastplate of righteousness of God.  Consider Proverbs 11:4, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” Sounds like some life saving equipment right?  Satan can attack our character all that he wants to, but by the shedding of the blood of Christ we have been made righteous.  There is nothing that Satan can do about that.  The preparation of the Gospel of Peace is the preparing ourselves, studying, and being discipled so that we can deliver the Word when the proper time is upon us.  In this case, this preparation will carry us to and through the battle.  Next is the shield of faith.  This piece was very confusing to me for a while. After much reading and studying, I realized that our faith in God’s word is what can beat back the attacks of the enemy.  He says that you are wasting your time tithing.  You can use Malachi 3:10 in which God promises that if you bring your tithes into the store house, he will open the heavens and give you a blessing that you do not have enough storage for.  Faith in God’s word (a.k.a. Jesus {John Ch. 1}) is your shield. 

When Satan tries to attack your mind, be sure that you have your Helmet of Salvation on.  Knowing that you have been saved from the punishment that comes without salvation will prevent you from being convinced that any little thing that you did in the past will affect your future.  Are there consequences from your past that you must face, OF COURSE!!!  However, you are condemned no more for them because you accepted the price that Christ paid for you on the cross at Calvary.  GOOD NEWS RIGHT??  Here’s my favorite part: the Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.  The word that Paul used when writing this referred to a short dagger type weapon.  Therefore, what he was saying was that you were going to have to be in close quarter combat with the enemy to have any effect.  Use Jesus’ example.  When Satan was in the desert with Him, everything that He said to the devil started with, “It is written,” After those three words he would give him The Law.  He resisted the devil 3 times and Satan left him.  Sharpen your Sword so at the proper time you can use it!!

GRACE AND PEACE!