Word Live: Strength, God's Way
Pray you will take today’s reading about spiritual battle seriously without applying it erroneously.
Bible passage
Ephesians 6:10–18
The armour of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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. 13 Therefore put on the full armour 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 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 Lord’s people.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
You might think that after Ephesians’ magnificent vision of God’s kingdom, the Christian life would be plain sailing! But there is a spiritual battle – our only hope is derived from our only source of strength: the Lord and his mighty power.
Verses 11–13. How are we to battle an invisible enemy? The issue is not so much defeating the devil as standing firm against him (v 13). How might verse 12 help in a discussion with someone who applies this imagery directly to human conflicts?
Whenever the Bible repeats something, it is important! So take note of verse 13.
Verses 14–18. Another repetition of Paul’s agenda (v 14) leads to an explanation of the Lord’s armour. Look out for the defensive items, and those which are used for taking the initiative. Notice how each one applies gospel truth and reality for the believer. Christian truth is never merely a matter of information; it always brings transformation and, in this context, protection. The enemy, ‘the father of lies’ (John 8:44), always seeks to undermine what Christ has already won for us. These are the truths in which to stand firm, the grounds for our unshakeable confidence in Christ. That is why we desperately need to pray (v 18), for ourselves and our churches.
Author
Mark Meynell
Respond
Take each item of armour in turn and claim it as your own. Pray that wearing each one would give you confidence to face the day and the challenges it brings to your Christian walk.
Deeper Bible study
‘Cleanse me from my sin, Lord, / put thy power within, Lord, / take me as I am, Lord, / and make me all thine own.’1
We don’t fight against ‘flesh and blood’ (v 12) but that doesn’t mean our battle is not with the world. The proponents of spiritual warfare see us constantly under attack from demons, evil spiritual forces (v 12) which we must confront. We must locate the demonic strongholds in institutions and individuals and defeat them by prayer. However, as CS Lewis pointed out, we can become too obsessed with the satanic.2 Destructive forces are often much closer to home. Evil assails us from without, but it also arises within ourselves – one of Scripture’s most difficult paradoxes. Satan tempted Eve, but the prophets speak of evil within our own hearts.3 Satan tempted Jesus, but Jesus taught us that our own hearts make us unclean.4 This very letter stressed that evil is a choice. People ‘have given themselves over’ to immorality and greed; the battleground is in our own hearts and minds.5
That is why we need armour. Some we have already. The helmet of salvation is the absolute prerequisite. God gives us salvation through Jesus and with it the breastplate of righteousness, the confidence that we are right with God. Our weapon is the Word of God, not words to shout at Satan like magic spells but its sure promises and teaching encouraging our hope in God’s protection. Other components of the armour we fashion ourselves. We need to cultivate good positive virtues deep within ourselves: the belt of truth and shoes of peace. We must use faith to shield us from harm. The flaming arrows of the Evil One do not come to me from remote heavenly realms: they come from my TV set, the internet and the shopping mall. If I do not block them, the evil within me rises to meet them.
‘Be thou my armour, my sword for the fight, / be thou my dignity, thou my delight, / thou my soul’s shelter and thou my high tower, / raise thou me heavenward, / O Power of my power.’6
1 RH Pope, 1879–1967 2The Screwtape Letters, 1941, p3 3Gen 3:1–4; Jer 17:9 4Matt 15:18 5Eph 4:19,23 6 EH Hull, 1860–1935, from Old Irish, ‘Be thou my vision’
Author
John Harris
