Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

In his discussion of wrestling against spiritual powers, Paul, in addition to other weapons and armor, tells us to take up the shield of faith. The Roman army used various shields but, according to Strong, the word Paul used here denotes the large rectangular shield that covered the entire body. They were made in such a way that they could be hooked together with the shields of other soldiers to form an almost impenetrable wall in combat.

In so many words, Paul suggests that faith is the ultimate defense against any assault of the enemy. Faith is believing God. It is not just believing in God or that God exists, but it is believing that whatever God has said or promised is true and can be absolutely trusted. Satan deals in doubt and half-truths designed to undermine our faith and trust in God. He has operated that way from the beginning. In the Garden, Satan raised questions about God’s integrity and his commitment to Adam and Eve’s good. Satan twisted the words of God, suggested that God was withholding wisdom out of his own desire to keep Adam and Eve from being all that they could be, and simply declared that God was a liar when he told Adam and Eve that they would not actually die if they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as God had said. His words created doubt in the hearts of the first man and women about whether God and his word could be trusted. Once doubt cast its shadow, they abandoned the directives of God and went their own way resulting in the loss of their place in paradise.

Satan still deals in smoke and mirrors, threats, lies, and accusation. Faith in God quenches the flaming arrows of the enemy. Ultimately the answer to every temptation is to stand invariably on the Word of God. Of course, that requires knowing the Word. It also requires a firm conviction that God is good and that God is love. That conviction is what makes us willing to do all things God’s way because we believe that “His way” is always in our best interest because he always loves us.

Jesus modeled this principal throughout the gospels. When confronted with temptation in the wilderness, Jesus declared the word of God in response to Satan’s offers. After three attempts to draw Jesus into agreement with him, Satan abandoned his attack and left. James tells us to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Ja.4:7). But how do you resist the devil? The verse immediately prior to the one just quoted tells us to “Submit, therefore, to God.” In the original language the word translated “submit” means to surrender, to yield, or to line up under your commander as a soldier standing in formation.

We submit to God by aligning ourselves with Him and his word and surrendering our thoughts, our words, and our ways to his. When we do that, the devil flees because he cannot exercise any power or authority over those whose faith is truly in God. That faith shields us from every attack and extinguishes his attempts to draw us away from the God who is our protector. To those who love and serve Him, God says, “If anyone does attack you it will not be my doing. Whoever attacks you will surrender to you…no weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you” (Isa.54:15-17). That promise applies not only to your enemies in the natural realm but also in the spiritual realm as well. Therefore, take up the shield of faith and ask the Father for even greater faith on a daily basis. When the enemy comes against you today, be strong in the Lord, stand on his Word, and wield the shield of faith.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

Paul continues to use an analogy between the armor worn by Roman soldiers who were everywhere in Paul’s world and the spiritual armor we need to wear to overcome the enemy in our world. He began with a belt of truth, moved to a breastplate of righteousness and now addresses the shoes of the soldier declaring that our “feet should be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” The ordinary foot soldier wore “clavata” which were sandals with nails protruding from the sole that gave them strategic traction in loose dirt when climbing or holding their ground. That is probably what Paul had in mind.

The word “readiness” means to always be ready for action – ready to move, ready to fight, ready to defend, and ready to fulfill the mission. In relation to the “gospel of peace,” we must always be ready to defend the gospel, stand on the gospel, and declare the gospel. In many ways, the gospel simply is the good news that through the sacrifice of Jesus, man can make peace with God and be reconciled by the grace of a God who longs to restore his relationship with each of us. It is both an offensive and defensive weapon.

It is defensive when the enemy comes to accuse and condemn. When he schemes to create doubt in our heart about our relationship with God, the message of the gospel should continually reassure us of our relationship with Him. Many believers forget the message of the gospel of grace because they have not shared it enough with others to write in permanently on their own hearts. When Satan comes to whisper that our spiritual performance has not been sufficient for salvation we must stand on the message of the gospel that our salvation has never been about our performance but about his sacrifice.

As an offensive weapon, it is the weapon that constantly and powerfully takes ground from the enemy. When pushing back the boundaries of darkness, the first victory must be in the hearts of men who hear and are captured by the good news of Jesus. When enough hearts have been surrendered to Jesus then families surrender. When enough families surrender then culture surrenders. When enough of the culture has surrendered then entire nations enter the kingdom of light.

The church’s primary mission is to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations (Mt.28:18-20). Notice that the command of the Great Commission is to make disciples of entire nations not just a few individuals within a nation. If we are not taking ground we are loosing ground. The church quit taking ground in America 50 years ago and now we have lost huge chunks of cultural real estate. Only the passionate and faithful preaching of the gospel of peace will retake that ground and return righteousness to America and America to God. The church in America took off its sandals but needs to cinch them up again with a readiness to declare the Lordship of Jesus with a demonstration of power. The church has been on the defensive in America and Western Europe in recent decades but has the power in Christ to put Satan on the run if we have the will. The gospel of peace is the power of God for salvation (Rom.1:16) and the truth of that gospel enable us not only to stand but also to advance.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

The second part of God’s armor that Paul lists is righteousness. We are to wear it as a breastplate. I believe Paul is referring to righteousness as a quality of faith and character that guards our hearts from the attacks of the enemy. As believers, we possess righteousness in two ways. First of all, the Father declares us to be righteous on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). We also possess a righteousness in proportion to our righteous living. The first thing every believer must know and stand on is that our salvation comes from a righteousness that has been imputed to us by the grace of God because Jesus paid the price for our sins. Our salvation does not initially stand on the basis of our own efforts and it is not sustained by our own efforts. We are saved by grace and continue by grace. The enemy would have us believe different.

The greatest attack on our faith comes from the enemy planting seeds of doubt in our hearts through thoughts of condemnation and accusation. As soon as we feel condemnation we assign the thoughts and feelings to God. At that moment, we sense rejection and begin to feel as if we are on our own in this world and will need to earn or work our way back into his graces. Those of us who feel alone will typically shift into a “high-control mode” because if God is not caring for us then we have to take care of ourselves, provide for ourselves and protect ourselves. We become number one in our lives. Our grace for others, our patience, and our forgiveness are curtailed because each of those actions makes us vulnerable. Both relationships and faith go south when we are feeling condemned and rejected by God.

However, condemnation and accusation are NOT from God. Satan is the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev.12:10) and for those in Christ there is no condemnation (Rom.8:1). Knowing that our righteousness is a result of our position in Christ rather than our condition in this world guards our heart from the attacks of the enemy. It is true that the Father expects us to mature and grow in righteousness as believers, but there is never an expectation of perfection. The enemy constantly hoists that standard as a source of accusation and discouragement but we do not have to live perfect lives because we have a perfect savior.

Even though the blood of Christ gives us a righteous standing in heaven, we should still be committed to living righteously. Our own righteous behavior is a safeguard to our hearts because it keeps us aligned with the Father and prevents the enemy from gaining any kind of foothold in our lives. Paradoxically, part of being righteous is consistently acknowledging our own unrighteousness before the Father rather than pretending a self-righteousness. John reminds us, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn.1:7-9). Satan would have us think that sin after salvation separates us from God and the greater the sin or the greater our awareness of sin the greater the separation.

But John is clear that to claim to be sinless on the basis of personal righteousness is a delusion at best and most probably a lie. However, confession of sin keeps us in the purifying stream of Christ’s blood and is intended to take away the shame and stain of sins we may commit. The spiritual discipline of confession slams the door on Satan and allows our standing as righteous and our desire to be righteous to continue to guard our hearts against the attacks of the accuser. Righteousness, then, is the breastplate of the believer. God has given it to you so wear it with confidence.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

Having made his case for the believer’s daily battle against spiritual forces of evil, Paul goes on to enumerate elements of our faith that constitute God’s armor. Remember the word armor in the Greek is panoplia and includes both armor and weapons. The idea that our armor is the “armor of God” implies that our armor and weapons originate with God. They come to us from God’s armory, are designed by God, and empowered by God. They cannot be shaped or empowered by man. They must be divine weapons not weapons of the world (2 Cor. 10:4).

Paul begins with a call to stand firm in the face of the enemy – to give no ground and to refuse to let the devil push us around. I remember Graham Cooke commenting on the propensity of most believers to simply give in at Satan’s first volley rather than turning the tables and coming at him with all we’ve got. James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Jesus himself declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church – and we are his church. The people of God should not fear Satan. Satan should fear the people of God. We have armor. We have weapons. We have Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth. We have the host – the armies – of heaven to back us up.

Paul, then, tells us to stand immoveable on the day(s) Satan comes against us. We should keep in mind that Satan rarely comes against us with a frontal assault. His first choice is always to draw us out of God’s will in some area of our life so that the natural and spiritual consequences of sin roll over us like a rockslide. If he can seduce us in one area that we begin to withhold from God for a season without repentance, he will gain a foothold in that area which soon becomes a stronghold. The armor of God keeps us aligned with the Father so that no door is left open for the enemy to enter.

He begins with truth. He may be instructing us to always be truth tellers but I believe his emphasis here is in knowing and standing on the truth of Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn.8:32). “Truth” in this context means a reality that stands firm – an unchanging reality. Jesus came to blow away the smoke and mirrors of Satan’s lies and to enlighten our own darkened understanding so that we might know what reality truly us. God told Adam and Eve the truth – you eat, you die. Satan clouded that reality when he declared that they would not die – at least not in the physical sense, at least not right away. Adam and Eve believed the lie and here we are.

God’s truth is a window into eternal realities and absolute right and wrong. Satan’s first line of attack is always to woo us away from that truth just as he did in the Garden. In a sense, everything else hangs on knowing and believing what is true – what is real. When we know God’s truth and stand on it, Satan has no point of entry. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he stood on the truth revealed in God’s word and Satan soon gave up the game and left. One of the church’s great challenges today is that by and large, believers no longer know much of the truth. Real Bible study has given way to devotional books and light reading. Those things are not wrong but should not replace serious study and time in the Word.

Most believers today have no chance of defending their faith based on the Word of God. Many believers have attached themselves to favorite preachers and teachers who present one slice of the biblical pie over and over but don’t present the whole counsel of God. As a result, a believer may be well versed in grace but not holiness, self-esteem but not self-sacrifice, or in end-times theology without knowing the teachings of Jesus on faith and character. When we are familiar with only one facet of God’s will it is easy for Satan to lie to us about other parts of his will.

God’s truth is a foundational weapon of spiritual warfare and is essential in these last days. Paul warns us when he says, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1Tim.4:1-2). Everything hangs on God’s truth. He expects us to know the truth ourselves not just to depend on others to know if for us. Our first line of defense is knowing the eternal realities that God’s Spirit has revealed to us. Study to know.

More about God’s armor in my next blog.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  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.  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. (Eph.6:10-13)

In this section of scripture and others, Paul paints a picture of unseen spiritual warfare that is going on all around us. A legitimate question is whether or not we play a role in that warfare or if God is simply orchestrating things in the spiritual realm that we have no particular part in.

To begin with, let’s go back to Daniel 10, which we referenced in the last blog. Daniel prayed. An angel was sent. War broke out in the spiritual realm. Even an archangel got involved in the ongoing battle. It all began when Daniel prayed and continued to pray. I believe Daniel’s persistence in prayer for twenty-one days is what prompted God to release Michael to go to the aid of the first angel. If he had stopped praying, he may never have realized the answer he needed. There is resistance in the spiritual realm to our prayers being answered.

In 2 Kings 6, we see Elisha surrounded by the armies of Aram and trapped in the small town of Dothan. His servant panics when he sees the army encamped around the town. However, Elisha, who knew he was a hunted man, must have prayed daily for protection and when his servant alerted him he was essentially unconcerned. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike these people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked” (2 Kings 6:16-18). Our prayers put the armies of heaven into play to fight against the enemy as he comes against the people or the will of God. It may be one angel or a company of angels but much more is going on in the spiritual realm on our behalf than we can imagine.

When we command demons to relinquish their hold on another human-being, angels are there to enforce our commands as we represent the commander of the armies of heaven and command in his authority. In one sense, angels were created to minister to us (Heb.1:14) but in many cases they minister with us. While John was receiving the vision we call the Book of Revelation, he was so overcome by the presence of a great angel that he forgot himself and almost worshipped the angel who corrected him immediately. “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev.19:10). As fellow servants, we and the angels both are sometimes involved in accomplishing the will of God on the earth – we labor in the seen realm while they labor in the unseen realm on the same heavenly mission.

What we fail to realize is that we live and operate in both the natural and the spiritual realm as those who are already seated in heavenly places, who already possess eternal life spiritually, and whose prayers, commands, and declarations set the armies and the Spirit of God into motion. John Wesley said, “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” But when we pray in alignment with God’s will, our prayers shake the heavenlies. God intends to rule the earth through his people. Spiritual warfare is just that – letting God push back the dominion of darkness through us as we pray, command, declare his word over situations, share the gospel, and do as Jesus would do – healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing the lepers and even raising the dead. In doing so, we join Jesus in destroying the works of the devil (1 Jn.3:8).

The real work and the real enemy lie in the spiritual realm. We cannot conquer forces in the spiritual realm with weapons of the world but only with divine weapons that launch the power and authority of Jesus into hearts and into situations. If we are going to be angry, offended, or resentful those emotions should be directed toward Satan not toward the people he manipulates. Couples who fight, should start fighting the devil, not one another. Even when we stand against a force consumed by evil such as ISIS, we must remember that there are spiritual realities behind the movement that must be defeated through prayer, fasting, and other divine weapons or after ISIS that spirit will simply raise up another group filled with violence and hatred.

The church is focused too much on this world and approaches too many issues with weapons of the world rather than weapons that wield spiritual power. State-of-the-art buildings, celebrity guests, political clout, light shows, smoke machines, sports programs, and coffee bars are not wrong in themselves but these are weapons and tools used even by Vegas casinos. Holiness, prayer, love, authority, and the declared Word of God are the weapons that will win the world and the day for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. That is not only true for the church as a whole but for us as individuals as well.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  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.  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. (Eph.6:10-13)

There is an armor that has its origins with God. Paul instructs each of us to put on that armor – literally to dress ourselves. There is an intentionality in that directive. Each believer must initiate the process and, in order to be fully ready for the battle, must put on the whole “panoplia” which includes not only armor but weapons as well. Paul is clear that without the armor and weapons that God supplies we cannot stand against the assaults of the enemy. Paul’s statements here echo his directives regarding divine weapons in 2 Corinthians 10. We cannot stand against the enemy in our own strength or defeat him in our own wisdom. We must receive and wield what God provides.

Paul continues to emphasize the necessity of standing in God’s strength and putting on God’s armor because our real struggle is not against human adversaries but against those that exist in the spiritual realm. Paul uses the word “wrestle” to describe the struggle. It is a Greek word that specifically describes wrestling in the Greek game, the Olympics. When you think of Olympic wrestling, it is not guys in striped tights flying off the top ropes and whacking each other with folding chairs. Rather, it is a sport involving strategy (schemes), strength, and endurance. One interesting rule dictates action on the mat. Wrestlers are expected to force the action, and they receive passivity warnings from the referee if they don’t. A wrestler deemed passive is then at the mercy of his more active adversary, who is given the option of putting his opponent in the par terre (on the mat) position, which generally makes it easier to score points. Passivity on our part, in the realm of spiritual warfare, also gives the enemy a great advantage.

Paul goes on to speak about rulers, authorities and cosmic powers in this spiritual realm we war against. He is speaking about ranks of demons and their roles. Several translations use the word principalities instead of rulers. In the book of Daniel, the prophet prays for an interpretation of a dream God has given him. After twenty-one days of praying and fasting, an angel appears and tells him, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia” (Dan.10:12-13).

The first angel is one of the hosts of heaven (a member of the armies of heaven – See Rev.19:14)). As he attempted to fulfill his mission, he was opposed by a demonic spirit referred to as the Prince of Persia. This high-ranking demonic spirit ruled a spiritual principality over the nation of Persia. We can assume that his mission was to promote Satan’s agenda in that nation and to command lesser demons under his authority. He was powerful enough that he withstood the angel that had been sent by the Lord for twenty-one days. Only when Michael, one of the chief princes (an archangel), was sent to aid him and take up the battle was the first angel able to fulfill his mission.

This section of scripture reveals that both angels and demons have specific territories and people to whom they are assigned. In the book of Revelation, it also appears that angels are assigned to churches (see chapters 2-3). If angels are assigned to churches it is not a stretch to believe that demons have also been assigned. If we have guardian angels then it is also a small stretch to believe that we may also have demonic spirits assigned to harass us and oppress us, at least from time to time. In the spiritual realm there are armies with different ranks of commanders who receive orders from the top. Jesus is the commander of the armies of heaven (Rev. 19) and Satan commands those in the dominion of darkness. There are strategies, campaigns, wars, etc. that take place in the invisible realm and we, as believers, play a significant role in those wars. More about our part in the next blog.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  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.  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. (Eph.6:10-13).

In my last blog, we looked at Paul’s teaching regarding worldly weapons and divine weapons in 2 Corinthians 10. He is clear that the church must employ divine weapons infused with divine power because the real battles are fought in the spiritual realm. Paul pulls back the curtain on the spiritual realm in the text above.

He begins by counseling us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Strength is found in the Lord as he releases his mighty power. The word for power here is not “dunamis” but “kratei” which means the force inherent in a person or thing such as the withering force of a category five hurricane. When we speak of the power of a king, we usually mean the power that he can command in his armies. The power does not rest in him personally but in the numbers of those that serve him. This power (kratei) actually rests in God with or without angelic armies to back him up. That word makes sense when we remember that God alone not only spoke the natural universe into existence but the spiritual realm as well – including his angelic armies. So our strength is to come from trusting in the Lord and the power that he personally brings to bear on our situation. That power is greater than anything we can imagine, so that is a very good place to stand.

Secondly, we discover that God expects us to take up the battle and to stand against the enemy. My first response to that revelation is that I would much rather God just handle things for me. He has the power and might to sweep away the enemy without me leaving the house and some days that would be my great preference. That however, is not how God operates. Many of the events and doctrines of the Old Testament were “types” and “shadows” of things to come (see Rom.5:14; Heb.11:19; Col.2:16-17; Heb.10:1). In other words, they were imperfect forerunners or hints of greater realities that God would bring to pass in the future that still give us insights into the reality. For instance, Moses was a “type” of Jesus who was sent by God as a deliverer for God’s people. The temple sacrifices and the festivals were “types” and “shadows” of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God. The Red Sea crossing was a “type” of baptism. The Promised Land of Canaan was a “type” of our salvation.

After forty years in the wilderness, God brought a believing generation of Hebrews to the brink of the Jordan River to enter the land he had promised to Abraham and his descendants. The problem was that Canaan was still full of powerful tribes and walled cities like Jericho who had no intention of giving up the land. It would have been no problem for God to destroy these enemies without any effort on the part of the Hebrews. In 2 Kings 19, the king of Assyria laid siege to Jerusalem. King Hezekiah truly was helpless to defend the city but cried out to God for deliverance. The text says, “That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew” (2 Kings 19:35-36). God is clearly able to deliver us from our enemies without us breaking sweat. On occasion he does, but that is not the norm.

The norm is that God’s people fight. He goes with us and goes before us but we are called to put on armor and fight. Even when previous generations have won victories, God still leaves us battles to be fought. Joshua did not drive out all of the opposing tribes in Canaan. After his death there were still tribes and cities that had to be conquered. We are told, “The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua. These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience)” (Judges 2:23-3:2).

Those tribes were tribes who worshipped idols and those idols represented demons (Dt.32:16-17). God still calls on us to fight against demonic forces today. In the battle, we draw closer to God, increase our faith, and gain strength. In the battle we learn the realities of the spiritual realm, the authority of our King, the heavenly joy of victory, and the comradeship of those who go to battle together.   More about Ephesians 6 in my next blog.

Over the past few weeks we waltzed through the eighth chapter of Romans together. Paul ends that chapter with a flourish as he emphasizes the Father’s love for us and the assurance of our victories as those who are more than conquerors in Christ. That final thought prompts me to go back to another familiar text and look at it in more detail than usual. That text is found in the last chapter of Ephesians.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  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.  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. (Eph.6:10-13).

In many ways this is the definitive text on spiritual warfare in the New Testament or at least one of the definitive texts. The apostle Paul wrote this letter and this text with extensive experience in the realm of spiritual warfare. Paul had been persecuted, stoned, arrested, threatened, beaten, left for dead, shipwrecked, and more during his mission as an apostle and had come to understand that the spiritual realm was behind every one of these attempts to silence or destroy him as a great proclaimer of the gospel. It is essential to come to this understanding in your life because without that understanding you may fight but you will lose because you will be wielding weapons against an enemy who is impervious to the weapons you carry.

Paul makes this reality very clear in another place when he says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor.10:3-4, emphasis added). There are weapons that have effect or influence in the natural realm but have no effect in the spiritual realm. Worldly weapons may seemingly win a battle but will not win the war because there is an entire realm behind the curtain that keeps recruiting, motivating, and resourcing those who will oppose the kingdom of God in the natural realm. It is like fighting the terrorists who come against you face to face without defeating those in the background who are recruiting, training, financing, and providing weapons. To truly win, you have to root out and defeat the unseen enemy as well as the seen.

There is a vast array of worldly weapons that individuals, groups, and governments use to expand their territories and their influence. In Paul’s day, a look at Rome and the methods used by Rome and her citizens to establish their national or personal empires would make quite a catalogue of worldly weapons. Money, power, politics, propaganda, celebrity, violence, deception, manipulation, entertainment, bribery, brute force, and even massive programs to make people dependent on government or organizations were used by Rome and are still frequently used weapons for individuals and governments to achieve their goals or to win people over to their agenda.

Even men and women who seem to have moral standards and objectives often exercise the weapons of compromise and appeasement to move ahead, to be part of the system, or to be socially acceptable so that they can “work within the system.” All of these can be used to influence the natural realm but, typically, play into the hands of the dominion of darkness and open the doors for demonic involvement. Unfortunately, many churches have not been immune to employing some of these worldly weapons in their attempts to expand the kingdom of God on earth.

Even in areas such as science and medicine where people are trying to alleviate the suffering and trials of mankind, their discoveries can only take us so far – typically treating symptoms of disease, poverty, violence, and emotional illness but never affecting a cure or pulling the cause up by the roots. Worldly weapons do not have the power to get to the root of things because that root lies in the spiritual realm. If you attack weeds by simply cutting off the part you can see, they keep coming back until the root is destroyed. Only divine weapons can reach into the spiritual realm to affect the root of the problems that plague us.

Recognizing that our real struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces that move in an invisible realm should motivate us to strengthen ourselves spiritually and learn to fight skillfully with the divine weapons Jesus has provided through the cross. Many believers have sincerely fought the same issues in their lives for decades without any lasting victory. Frequently, that is because they have not used divine weapons in the battle but have employed weapons of the world that have been brought into the church. Not all of these weapons are bad in themselves (secular counseling approaches, twelve-step programs, drug therapies, etc.) but they simply can’t touch the root of the issue because the root has a spiritual dimension that continues to thrive.  More about Ephesians 6 in my next blog.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom.8:35-39)

Paul finishes this section of his letter, which translators have dubbed Romans 8, with a theological volley. It reveals the mindset of a spiritual warrior and a mindset that we must all adopt as we move into a probable season of persecution in the world and our nation. There is definitely a war on Christianity and Judaism unfolding all around the globe and we would be naïve to think we will escape it. The spirit of Anti-Christ is certainly on the move.

In the face of his own battles with this spirit, we should notice Paul’s emphasis in this section. It is not so much on power as it is on love. His great hope is the love of Christ and the devil’s inability to sever us from that love. As you look at this part of Paul’s letter, you realize that this love is a sustaining love. If you don’t watch the context, you might assume that Christ’s love keeps us from trouble in this world and just moves us from blessing to blessing as we live the good life above the fray. The context does not suggest that and Jesus never promised that either. In fact, what he did promise was persecution and trouble (see Matt.5:10-12 and John 16:33). He also promised great reward for those who did not abandon their faith in the midst of that trouble.

I have noticed an essential difference between our brothers and sisters in places like China and the Middle East and American believers. Those coming to Christ in “non-Christian” countries expect and even invite persecution and hardship for the sake of Jesus. They pray for strength to endure while we in America pray for God to deliver us from any hardships and almost take offense when they come.

Paul makes no promise that God’s umbrella of protection will keep us from struggles. To the contrary he uses words like hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death and slaughter to describe the potential Christian experience in this world. Paul’s hope is not in a life of ease and blessing in this world but in the love of Christ sustaining him in seasons of hardship as he presses toward the next life.

Many believers see hardship as evidence of God’s indifference or abandonment. Paul saw hardship as the normal course of the believer’s life while we push back against the dominion of darkness. But in the midst of that he experienced the love and faithfulness of the risen Lord. In fact, it is in the midst of battle and struggle that we truly discover the goodness and faithfulness of God. Because of that he saw himself as more than a conqueror. The Greek word means to “completely prevail” and is actually a verb declaring that we live in a state of absolute triumph. The “indicative mood” of the verb makes it clear that Paul sees this state as an actual rather than a potential or figurative view of the believer’s life. The paradox is that we truly are more than conquerors even while sitting in a “Chi-com” cell in a re-education camp outside of Beijing or in a hospital room watching a loved one fight a losing battle with cancer. Only an eternal and relational view of our faith makes that possible.

Ultimately, for our faith to endure we must believe that God is, that God is always good, and that God is always motivated by his love toward us. We must also believe that the “norm” is this world is hardship at some level. We live in fallen world. We still live in enemy territory. We still have bodies subject to aging and our own bad choices in diet and exercise. Hardship comes in the form of persecution, broken relationships, damaged genes, internal struggles against temptation, demonic attack, and more. (Don’t think about it or you won’t want to get out of bed in the morning.) It is the rare believer and, probably, the one who keeps a low profile on the devil’s radar that doesn’t encounter significant battles in this world.

The victory comes in knowing the ultimate outcome of every struggle and every encounter with the enemy. The victory is often apparent in this world but at other times it won’t seem so apparent except that the “big win” is always being with Jesus. In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) told his men that his primary objective in the war was to get home to his wife. Our primary objective must also be to get home and our primary mindset must be that this world is not our home. How often do we find believers who are angry at God because some saintly person they knew died. If our primary goal for ourselves and others is to be with Jesus then we should not be angry when those we love reach that goal – maybe envious but not angry.

Paul’s celebration was not about “the good life” on earth but that no person, no demon, and no circumstance can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. No doubt there will be seasons of blessing in this life but there will also be seasons of battle. In all of that, the love and grace of God is assured and we can take heart in that. We will never be alone and his grace will also be sufficient. Knowing that, we can live without fear as those whose ultimate triumph is absolute and absolutely assured. Be of good courage.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Rom.8:31-35)

As Paul begins to wrap up this section of his letter to the church in Rome, we should be full of confidence because of our relationship with the Father. He has already declared that because you are in Christ you are no longer subject to any condemnation. Christ became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21). His righteousness is assigned to us and, therefore, never waivers. Our spiritual condition may bounce around like a cork on a windswept lake but our position remains constant because God’s righteousness has been assigned to us rather than our own.

We have been adopted into the family of God and have great standing as his children. In addition, we have the Spirit of God living in us who is willing and ready to direct our steps at all times. His Spirit intercedes for us even when we don’t know how or even know that we need to cry out to God. Our Father has promised to intervene in even bad situations to draw good out of those situations on our behalf and he has set (predestined) ahead of time, all kinds of opportunities for us to grow in Christ and to bear fruit in his kingdom. He has already called us, justified us, and glorified us.   What more could we need?

After enumerating all the things that the Father has provided for our salvation, Paul summarizes in one sentence one of the great corollaries of scripture. In so many words he declares that if the Father has already, willingly and lavishly, given us his most precious gifts (his Son and his Spirit), why would he not give us everything else we need for this life? If Jesus has already willingly died for us and is interceding for us now, why would we doubt the love and provision of the Father? Paul has already underlined this proposition earlier in his letter. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And yet we so often do doubt his care and provision.

For the most part, when we doubt, I don’t think we judge God as uncaring. Instead, I think we hear the accuser telling us that we have not measured up in our walk with the Lord and that our sins and weaknesses have disqualified us from his care. When we allow ourselves to think that way, we have slipped back under a yoke of law that requires us to enter God’s grace on the basis of our own righteousness rather than on the basis of his love and righteousness. Then the enemy tells us that salvation came to us by grace because when we sinned we didn’t know any better. But now that we are saved, we do know better so our sins disqualify us now. The truth is that we began our relationship with God on the basis of his grace and we continue it on the same basis.

I have found that the great battle for most of us is in the arena of refusing to allow the accuser of the brethren to allow us with condemnation where we put the emphasis on ourselves and our own spiritual performance rather than on the love and provision of God. As soon as our emphasis shifts to our own worthiness, we immediately feel disqualified to receive blessings, to operate in anointing, to command the enemy, or to witness to others. We start feeling like hypocrites and start shrinking back to the corners or trying to operate in our own strength. God does not expect perfection from his children any more than you expect if from your children. He does want love and a desire to grow and be pleasing to him but he knows that, in this life, we will always need an intercessor in heaven and his Spirit directing and redirecting us on earth. So, Paul reminds us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and since God has already given us his most precious gifts in the midst of our sinfulness and imperfection, he will not hold back on the other things we need as long as our hearts are still turned toward him, imperfect as we may be.