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"Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand."
~Ephesians 6:10-13
As I pointed out last week, James warns us that we must "submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:8) Peter concurs when he writes, "Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour." (1 Peter 5:8) Now, here in Ephesians 6, we have Paul not only agreeing, but upping the ante a bit by going into greater detail about the war set before us and the weapons we have with which to fight.
Paul begins his dissertation on spiritual warfare and the armor of God with a reminder about the fight we are engaged in and who it is that we ultimately fight against. This is where many of us get it wrong. We either don't think we are in a spiritual fight at all (or don't realize we are!), or else we think the fight is against our earthly enemies. But Paul reminds us that this is simply not the case. We are in a very real, very serious fight, and we are fighting against "the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens". This fight is a spiritual one, and it is fought and won with spiritual armor.
Maybe you are asking yourself right about now - "What even is spiritual warfare? How do I know if I am facing spiritual warfare?" Here are some characteristics of spiritual warfare:
1) Spiritual warfare is what you are experiencing when you are tempted to sin.
Scripture makes it clear that temptation does not come from the Lord. James tells us, "No one undergoing a trial should say, 'I am being tempted by God,' since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death." (James 1:13-15) The enemy, whose mission it is to get us to fall, joins forces with our sin nature and tempts us to sin against both God and our fellow image bearers.
2) Spiritual warfare is what you are experiencing when you are experiencing feelings of guilt, shame, and condemnation.
Romans 8:1 makes it abundantly clear that when we are in Christ, we are under no guilt, shame, or condemnation any longer. So if you are experiencing those feelings, you are under direct attack from your enemy, whom John describes in Revelation 12:10 as "the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night..."
3) Spiritual warfare is what you are experiencing when you find it hard to be in the Word and in prayer.
Satan hates it when we praise God and cannot stand to be around the worship of Him. He likewise hates the rest that our souls find in Christ and the spiritual growth which comes from our trusting in God. So if you are finding it hard to engage in any of these things, know that you are under spiritual warfare. There are certainly times in life when resting in, praising, or trusting God is incredibly challenging (I wrote about my own experiences in that area a couple weeks ago). That can be a very normal response to hurt, loss, trial, or pain. But in times like that, the enemy takes advantage and we become ripe for the pickings. Those seasons are the ones when some of the most common spiritual warfare occurs.
5) Spiritual warfare is what you are experiencing when you find yourself in seasons of trial, hardship, loss, and pain.
The experiences of Joseph and Job both confirm for us in Scripture that when we find ourselves in seasons when it is raining and pouring, we are under spiritual attack from the enemy. Of his own trials upon trials, Jospeh declares, "You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people." His brothers planned evil against him, but the enemy was ultimately behind their hateful spirits. In the case of Job's trials and sufferings, we see very clearly in Job 1 that the enemy was behind each of his trials and the mastermind of them. And yet - praise God! - consistently we do see God turning Satan's attacks around and bringing good from them. But if you are being faithful to follow Christ and serve Him, be on guard, knowing that the enemy will get angry and will attempt to come against you as he did with Joseph and Job.
Reading about spiritual warfare may seem really scary, but we have incredibly good news in Ephesians 6! We can stand strong! We can fight back! And we have everything we need in order to do so. Paul encourages us with the unshakable truth that we can and should "be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength" and "put on the full armor of God so that [we] can stand against the schemes of the devil."
There is hope, friends! And it is found in the blessing that is the armor of God, which we will continue to unpack and study piece by piece in the weeks ahead!
Reflection Questions:
1) What stood out to you about today's study? What do you think you learned?
2) What characteristic of spiritual warfare stands out to you? What kind of spiritual warfare do you think you have experienced the most?
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