Prepare for Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:10-20
There is a story from the Korean War about courage in the face of overwhelming power of the enemy. As enemy forces advanced, Baker Company was cut off from the rest of their unit. For several hours no word was heard, even though headquarters repeatedly tried to communicate with the missing troops.
Finally a faint signal was received. Straining to hear, the corpsman asked, “Baker Company, do you read me?” “This is Baker Company,” came the reply. “What is your situation?” asked the corpsman. “The enemy is to the east of us, the enemy is to the west of us, the enemy is to the north of us, the enemy is to the south of us.“
Then after a brief pause, the sergeant from Baker Company said with determination, “The enemy is not going to get away from us now! We have them right where we want them! Now we can destroy them!” Although surrounded and outnumbered, he was certain of victory, not defeat.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are engaged in spiritual warfare with unseen wicked forces. To overcome our enemy in the power of the Holy Spirit, we must remain resolute in our confidence in God and determine never to accept defeat.
Our scripture lesson in Ephesians 6 provides for us a clear definition of this spiritual war. It not only warns us about the desire of Satan to wage war on the church and the Christian, but it warns us that apart from utilizing the divine protections which God has provided for us, we are hopelessly underpowered.
It should come as no surprise to the Christian to hear that we are engaged in a great spiritual battle and that we must Prepare for Spiritual Warfare. From the early chapters of the Old Testament, it is obvious that Satan is the enemy of God, and that he actively seeks to oppose God, His purposes, and His people.
This holy war actually began long before the creation of Adam and Eve. Satan’s rebellion against God is described in two Old Testament prophecies, in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.
In those two books, the prophets are not speaking only of an earthly ruler, but of someone possessing much greater power. They are speaking of none other than Satan, who was an angel who was created by God and was given the highest authority under God, but he was not content with that.
He was the one who was in Eden, the garden of God. He was once blameless at the time of his creation, but then was found with sin. He possessed great beauty, power, and authority, but he desired to have more. He wanted to exalt himself further; he wanted to become like God.
For his wickedness and unholy desires, Satan was banished from Heaven and sent to the world to be eternally separated from God. The rest of the Old Testament is filled with story after story of how the Evil one tried to align men and women against God in Satan’s attempt to grow as powerful as the creator of the universe.
In the New Testament the spiritual warfare is also evident. In Matthew 4 and Luke 4, we know well the account of the Lord’s temptation by Satan. Satan sought to get our Lord to renounce His submission to the Father by acting independently for His own selfish gain. He was, of course, unsuccessful. What worked on Adam and Eve would not work on the Son of God.
In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns us that Satan is our adversary when he writes:
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
That someone that he wishes to devour is me and you and our eternal souls.
And finally in Revelations 2 and 3, Jesus frequently mentions Satan as the source of temptation and trials in the church.
These are just a few of the instances where we find that Satan is the enemy of the church and is intent on breaking it apart in any way that he can, including by sowing disunity within the church and lackadaisical attitudes towards God and participation in worshipping him. He is ever seeking to cause the saints to stumble and attempting to thwart the plans and purposes of God for His church. Dear ones, we must Prepare for Spiritual Warfare!
In our scripture today Paul warns us about the foe we face:
Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Friends the church is constantly engaged in a great spiritual war, and its enemy is Satan and a host of unseen angelic and celestial enemies whose power vastly exceeds our own. Our enemies remain invisible to our eyes, but they are nevertheless real, and so is their opposition.
Paul’s focus in our text is not on every aspect of Satan’s opposition to God and man, but rather on his war with the saints, with mankind, with each of us, individually. Satan carries on his warfare on various fronts. He seeks to keep unbelievers from the truth, and he may use his demons to possess men. Fortunately, Paul tells us, that God provided protections that can help us resist the wiles and schemes of the evil one as we Prepare for Spiritual Warfare.
Take up the whole armor of God, Paul writes to us in Ephesians, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Our protection against Satan’s attacks is assured only if and when we take up the full armor of God. Satan’s schemes are many, and he attacks us at any point he considers vulnerable. Paul tells us to Prepare for Spiritual Warfare our armor must be complete. We cannot pick and choose our armor, but rather we must put all of it on. We must be completely equipped, or we are vulnerable to his attacks. Our protection is complete when we have:
The Belt of Truth – Satan fights with lies, and sometimes his lies sound like truth; but only believers have God’s truth, which can defeat Satan’s lies.
The Breastplate of Righteousness – The devil often attacks our heart, the seat of our emotions, self-worth, and trust. God’s righteousness is the breastplate that protects our heart and ensures his approval. He approves of us because he loves us and sent his Son to die for us.
The Footgear of Readiness to spread the Gospel – Satan wants us to think that telling others the Good News is a worthless and hopeless task because the size of the task is too big, and the negative responses are too much to handle. But the footgear God gives us is the motivation to continue to proclaim the true peace that is available in God which is news everyone needs to hear.
The Shield of Faith – What we see are Satan’s attacks come in the form of insults, setbacks, and temptations. But the shield of faith protects us from Satan’s flaming arrows. With God’s perspective, we can see beyond our circumstances and know that ultimate victory is ours.
The Helmet of Salvation – Satan wants to make us doubt God, Jesus, and our salvation. The helmet protects our mind from doubting God’s saving work for us.
The Sword of the Word of God – The sword is the only offensive weapon in this list. There are times when we need to take the offensive against Satan. When we are tempted we need to trust in the truth of God’s Word.
Then once we have girded ourselves with the protections that God has provided for us, as we stand watch against the coming assault from the forces of evil we are told to sanctify those protections by going to the Lord in prayer; praying 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.
Hear the Good News my friends……..
We are today, always have been and always will be in a spiritual war against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places BUT our protections have been divinely provided, in and through Christ. Preparation for Spiritual Warfare is putting on the armor with which our Lord girded Himself against the Evil One. When we put on the “full armor of God” we are putting on Christ Himself.
Paul’s instruction to put on the full armor of God is a command, not a request. It is an expectation, not a hope, if we are going to Prepare for Spiritual Warfare. Paul is informing every Christian that they have been drafted into God’s forces, not to fight a physical war, but to fight a spiritual war. We are not encouraged to take up, we are not offered to take up the “full armor of God,” we are commanded to do so!
As we prepare ourselves today with the protections provided for us, please know that our challenge is to repel, it is to resist the attacks of the evil forces as they probe for the opportunity to destroy the Body of the Church, to find a channel to instill disunity and disagreement into the collective heart, mind and soul.
We will be challenged to try and make us weak and vulnerable but if we Prepare for Spiritual Warfare, through the grace and protection of God, we can like Baker Company, be confident and bold in victory even though we are surrounded by the enemy on all sides. It is not a matter of if we will face the enemy, but rather when. Are you Prepared for Spiritual Warfare? Amen.