Imagine if you were told that a mass thief, murderer and destroyer was in your area. Would you open up wide the front door to your house? Would you make sure all your windows were wide open? And perhaps even have a sign up saying, “Come to my house! We’re open!”? Okay, okay…. We all know no one in their right mind would do this. In fact, it would be more reasonable to assume that we would take steps in the opposite direction—to make sure everyone is safe. You may double bolt your doors, buy extra security CCTV cameras, etc.
In contrast, we have been warned on countless occasions about the Christian’s (and indeed, every soul’s) real enemy in the Bible, but most of us are quite slack in being on guard against his ways. He cannot be seen with our natural eyes, but make no mistake, he is real.
We are told that ‘The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.’ – John 10:10. Do you see that? He is a mass thief, murderer and destroyer.
We are also told that ‘… your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.’ – 1 Peter 5:8
So this mass thief, murderer and destroyer is roaming around the earth seeking for people to destroy, and yet we are often so preoccupied with our distractions and being slack that we allow the enemy to have a foothold in our life (Ephesians 4:27), rather than fighting back.
‘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.’- Ephesians 6:10-11
We don’t have to fall prey against the enemy’s ways; we can stand against them. How? By God’s might, not our own. On our own we are weak, but with God we are strong. But how can we be strong against an enemy we can’t see and whose ways are devious? Well, Ephesians 6 gives us some keys which are called the ‘Armor of God‘:
Belt of truth
Breastplate of righteousness
Shoes of the gospel of peace
Shield of faith
Helmet of salvation
Sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)
Prayer
It seems so simple. Truth, faith, salvation…. etc. How can what we already have access to as a Christian have the power to defeat the enemy of our souls?
‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ – 2 corinthians 10:3-5 (emphasis added)
‘You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world‘ – 1 John 4:4 (emphasis added)
Our weapons may seem small, but through God they are mighty. All the schemes of the enemy to pollute and bombard our minds, to break up our marriages, to cause bitterness to take root, to cause us to disobey God; all of them are nothing compared to our weapons. We can fight and we can have victory.
However, having one great day at war doesn’t mean we can slack off the next day. Imagine if our armies only fought on Sundays? They would be vulnerable to the enemy Monday- Saturday. In a similar manner, there are no days off in this war we are in. This war we are in is real, and we are soldiers. It’s a daily fight and the enemy wants to run havoc in our lives. Won’t you stand today in the Lord’s might? Take up your armor and fight. Remember, we are on the winning side.
