Eph 6:10-11
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. NIV
This verse
is probably familiar to most of you. Many great teachers have instructed
believers on the “full armor of God,” breaking down each individual piece of
that armor. That knowledge can be a great help to us, but only if we understand
what that armor is actually for.
Look
closely at the second half of the verse. This armor, is to help us take a stand
against Satan and his “schemes.” The Greek word for schemes is methodeias. It is the origin of our
English word, methods. It has the idea of of trickery or deception. So we see
that the armor, which is mostly defensive in nature, is to help us stand
against the deception and trickery of Satan.
Eph 6:12
explains this further, “For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
This
doctrine is critical to our understanding proper use of our spiritual armor. I
have heard these verses used to speak about our own struggle against the “lust
of our flesh, or the desires of our sinful nature.” When people hear this, they
take it to mean using the spiritual armor in fighting against such desires.
This is incorrect and leads to a life of failure against the flesh. It is the
wrong battle.
Look at Col
3:5-6 "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to
your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed,
which idolatry." Also, Rom 6:11 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to
sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” So you see, we are not to
try and fight sin, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin. We win this battle
by being, “alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Ro 6:11).
The other
mistake we make, is to think that any of our battles are really with people. They
are not. These instructions come immediately after Paul’s teaching on
relationships with people in the church. The battle, which requires spiritual
armor, is a spiritual battle, fought with spiritual weapons, against the
spiritual realm. It is not against any flesh and bIood. The verse could not be
any more explicit about this.
It is we, “soldiers
in the service of God,” versus Satan and his fallen angels. The verse indicates
that these angels are formed into a demonic army that has a chain of command.
It is organized and has a purpose. Satan wants destroy God’s work of
reconciliation with man. He will try anything to negate the victory over death,
that was accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross. Paul is telling us here
that we have a responsibility to “stand against” this satanic plan.
2 Cor
10:3-5 puts it this way, “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. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets
itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to
make it obedient to Christ.”
Considering
all of this, we should ask ourselves some questions. How much time are we
spending fighting flesh and blood instead of recognizing the spiritual nature
of our situation? How often do I feud and fight with people, not recognizing
that I am falling into a trap set by the enemy?
We need to
ask ourselves as a church, when we come across those who would oppose the gospel,
do we see the problem as something wrong with them or do we understand the
spiritual forces that are controlling them? Do we use carnal means to stand
against them or do we use our spiritual weapons? Do we try to “destroy” them or
do we use our weapons to “demolish a stronghold,” that might keeping them from
coming to the truth of the gospel?
Let’s
follow Paul’s instructions to stand against the “schemes of the devil,” with
all the spiritual armor that God has given us. The belt of truth, not slander, gossip
or false witness. The breastplate of righteousness, not revenge or anger.
Preparation in the gospel, not the wisdom of man. The shield of faith, trusting
in God’s power to do the work. The helmet of salvation, understanding that no
matter what man does to us, our standing with the Lord is secure. The sword of
the Spirit, which is the Bible itself, guiding us into all truth. Finally, Paul
says to pray at all times, in tune with the Holy Spirit. He will lead and guide
your actions, to be consistent with God’s purpose and plan, in every battle you
face!
God bless
you
Coach
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