Why does it feel like we in the middle of a war? We are – a spiritual war. This devotion discusses what we need to be successful in the war against Satan.
Nuggets
- Yes, God wants us to be strong but “… in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Eph. 6: 10 RSV).
- Satan has a lot of wicked and formidable demons doing his bidding trying to get us to follow our sinful nature.
- Satan is a formidable opponent, but we’ve got the armor of God.
It is obvious that we live in a broken world. What isn’t as obvious is that spiritual warfare is occurring on a daily basis.
Spiritual warfare is the fight between the spiritual forces of good and evil. The good guys are led by God; the bad guys, Satan.
Humans are in the middle. God created us and wants us for His own. However, humans threw in with Satan a long time ago and destroyed our relationship with God.
God never gave up for us. He not only designed the plan of salvation, but He also fights this spiritual battle for us.
Being in the middle, we need to be prepared for this warfare. Let’s take a look.
We Need Strength
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Eph. 6: 10 RSV)
Sometimes, we read verses like these and think it is us fighting Satan. It really isn’t. God fights Satan for us.
There is no way we are going to defeat Satan on our own. God must control the fight in order to achieve victory.
We have to fight to do God’s will. We have to fight to obey the laws and commandments. “Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go” (Josh. 1: 7 HCSB). Our war is with sin, not Satan.
So, our war is partly with ourselves. It is our spiritual nature against our sinful nature. It is also Satan trying to use what is in us to get us to deny God.
Yes, God wants us to be strong, but in the right way. “… in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Eph. 6: 10 RSV).
God does want us to band together as an army. As a battalion, we are stronger to withstand the pull of sin. We can encourage and strengthen each other.
Strength is needed to stand against the temptation Satan is throwing at us. We need strength to do the good that God is calling us to do. Moral strength is needed, not physical or mental.
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Davies gave us a good list of what we are fighting. “Victory is to be won over evil; over ignorance and stupidity; over malignant errors and false opinion; over vice and misery. These are the devils servants, ever active and encroaching, who we are commissioned to repel. Our fighting against these enemies must be done in common. These evils are social, or rather anti-social.”
Shouldn’t we have to fight the battles with Satan? There are a couple of issues with that, some of which we will get into in the next verses.
Right now, let’s just say that it isn’t about us. Satan’s conflict isn’t against us. We are just the pawns he is using to wage war against God. It is not our battle – it’s God’s.
It isn’t about us. It is about God and what He has done for us.
We Need an Opponent
“For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6: 12 RSV)
Oh, that is scary. How can we fight something we can’t see?
Oh, right. We aren’t fighting. God is.
But the battlefield is here. And Satan has a lot of wicked and formidable demons doing his bidding trying to get us to follow our sinful nature.
We know that Jesus battled demons while He walked the earth. Matthew 8: 22-33, Mark 5: 1-20, and Luke 8: 26-39 describe when Jesus told the demon to get out of the person and into a herd of pigs. Matthew 12: 22-32 tells another healing.
Look at the list. “… principalities, … powers, … world rulers of this present darkness, … spiritual hosts of wickedness …” (Eph. 6: 12 RSV). That would earn the term success in this world — power and rulers.
So, how are these battles waged? They happen in our minds. Our experiences are used.
We Need Armor
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6: 11 RSV)
If we are going to fight to do God’s will, we have to put the armor on so we can stand. It is war, so we need to be prepared.
Paul gives a detailed description of the armor later, so let’s take an overview now. Beddome’s description is really good.
I had never really realized that the armor covered everything but the back. Beddome said that is because retreat is not an option. If we tuck tail and run, we’re on our own.
That makes sense on a couple of levels. We know the outcome of the battle. We know that, ultimately, Satan will be defeated.
But we also know that we can’t give into Satan now. From the condition of our world currently, we know that Satan isn’t a good ruler.
Satan’s goal is not peace, love, and harmony. It is division, hate, destruction, and death.
We can’t stop fighting against that.
At first, I scratched my head when I read that Beddome said that we must be both on the offensive and defensive. Then I thought, duh, I said the same thing.
We can’t wait until we are in the thick of the battle to start reading God’s Word or praying to Him. We have to prepare ourselves for the battle.
Satan is a formidable opponent. But we’ve got the armor of God. Not just any armor — the armor of the Creator of the universe.
Even though many of us are skeptical by nature, I think we do have to prove to ourselves that 1) the armor is there and 2) it can withstand. We have to do this since the armor is spiritual and not visible.
Did you catch the end of verse 11? “… stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6: 11 RSV). Can I say it again? Satan is a formidable opponent. Yep, he may have lost to God big time once, but he sees that as just the battle. He is fighting the war.
Satan is delusional. He sees that he is going to win. His hatred, pride, and rebellion are still there in full force.
Satan is not going to win. Walker told us why. “The weapons of Satan are carnal; those of Christ, spiritual. Those of Satan are worldly things, whereby he endeavours to gratify pride, or to nurse indulgence. Jesus, on the other hand, comes with the word of truth, and the power of the Spirit.”
“Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6: 13 RSV)
Did you see that? We have to put on the whole armor.
That is logical. With God, it is all or nothing. We have to turn our whole lives over to Him. We have to turn away from all of our sins.
So, we have to put on the whole armor of God. If we leave one thing out, we are exposed.
Any part that is not covered is vulnerable in an attack. Any vulnerable part could mean defeat.
We also have to consider that, when non-believers examine our lives, they look at everything. Everything we do and say will be held under the microscope — usually with the intent to find our faults.
We need to pick the armor up, put it on, and keep it on until we have victory.
How long is that? It says, “… withstand in the evil day …” (Eph. 6: 13 RSV).
Is that until the battle is won or until the war is won? It is probably both.
The battles are going to come and go. What did Pastor Tim say? We are always in one of three conditions: getting ready to enter trials, experiencing trials, or ending trials.
The battles are important, but the war is the goal. We want to say “[we] have done [our] best in the race, [we] have run the full distance, and [we] have kept the faith” (II Tim. 4: 7 GNT). We want to get our “… well done, good and faithful servant …” (Mt. 25: 21 ESV).
However long, we need to stand. Don’t run. Don’t fall. Don’t call a truce. Stand.
Making the Connections
So, we’ve got a formidable opponent — but we’ve got formidable armor. Even though God is the actual fighter, we have to be protected and trained.
Disciples are soldiers. Because we have admitted our sins, believed on His Son Jesus as Redeemer, confessed Him as Sovereign Lord, and try to demonstrate that by living our lives following His laws and commandments, we are under spiritual warfare. Satan wouldn’t bother with us if we weren’t a threat to him.
We’ve got God fighting for us. He is before us, with us, and behind us. We are in the palm of His hand.
No, it should still be scary. The last thing we would want to do is underestimate Satan.
But we cannot underestimate God. We cannot doubt His love of or provision for us.
How Do We Apply This?
Satan is the master deceiver. We have to run everything through the Truth (Jn. 14: 6). We’ve got to focus on the eternal instead of the temporary of this world.
We have to remember that God has won the war, but He still allows the battles. That means we have to be prepared for the battles.
Disciples have the Holy Spirit living within them, but a major way He talks with us is through God’s Word. So, we need to be seeking Him in it.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17 NLT).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3 ESV).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16 ESV).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11 NLT).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11 NLT).
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Satan is going to try to get us to be dissatisfied with our relationship with God. He is going to try to convince us God isn’t going to provide because He doesn’t care. We have to make sure Satan knows we will never believe that.
Satan is also going to try to keep us being uncomfortable with sharing our testimony. That is one of our jobs as disciples, to share the gospel with others. Knowing this, we have to find training on witnessing. This will not only give us pointers on how to witness but also practice.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Be prepared. Satan is going to throw things at us. Right now, he is throwing technology issues at me (so if something doesn’t look right in the next couple of weeks, bear with me). Sometimes, we just have to say, “Go away, Satan. I am doing what God said for me to do.”
Watch out for worldly pleasures becoming even more attractive. Satan will do what he can to keep us tethered to this world through the battles. We have to focus on the war.
Just remember. Sometimes, we will be on offense. Other times, it will be defense. We have to be ready.
My word for this year is intentional. We have to be intentional in seeking God to make sure our relationship is right when we enter a season of spiritual warfare. Think about the rewards waiting for us.
Father. Satan doesn’t like it that we have given our lives to You. He wants us to deny You. In order to succeed, he is going to keep us dealing with spiritual warfare. But Lord, we won’t be fighting him. You will. We will have our armor on and standing firm for You. Amen.
What do you think?
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