Gearing Up for Battle

 In the life of a Christian, the enemy is constantly looking for somewhere to attack. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” We must stay alert and be ready for the enemy’s attacks. We must always be ready for battle. In Ephesians 6:10-18, we read, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against 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. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” There are a few things I would like to point out about these verses.

  The first thing I want to point out is in verse 12 above. We are not fighting against flesh and blood; we are fighting spiritual battles. This means we need to fight with spiritual weapons. These verses give us our armor and our spiritual weapons to fight with. These weapons are the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, and prayer. These are our armor and our weapons against the enemy. They are our offense and our defense.

            The second thing I want to point out is that most of these pieces of armor are defensive, rather than offensive. Most scholars state that there are six pieces of armor, but I agree with Priscilla Shirer. In her study of the Armor of God, she states that prayer is the seventh piece of armor. Out of these seven pieces of armor 5 are defensive: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. There are only two offensive pieces of armor: the sword of the Spirit and prayer. Although I would argue that prayer could be both defensive and offensive, but that’s for another blog post. Our best offense is a good defense, and we must start our defense early.

            We cannot wait until we are in the middle of a spiritual attack to start suiting up; we must be ready when the attack arrives. That means praying now (Matthew 26:41), being assured of our salvation (John 5:24), being faithful to God and His Word (1 Sanuel 12:24), reading God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12), going to church  (Hebrews 10:25), serving Him and others (Matthew 25:40-45), and worshiping Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). When we align ourselves with God, He clothes us in His spiritual armor. That is how we prepare for spiritual battle. We must go on the defensive now, get down on our knees (or whatever your preferred posture of prayer is) in prayer and pray earnestly for God to walk before you through these battles, to guide you and give you wisdom, and that you would glorify and honor Him through it all. God has promised that He is always with us (Matthew 28:20) and will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We may face hard battles, but God is there, and He will give us what we need when we need it. And that’s the beauty in the ashes of it.

 

 

“To console those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty for ashes. The oil of joy for mourning. The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:3