“Therefore put on the full armor 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.”
Ephesians
6:13
It is every
Christians’ responsibility to show up in the battle against wickedness!
Ephesians 6:13 instructs that each of us are to put on the full armor of God
and stand our ground against evil. This means that each of us is to show up
fully equipped to engage the enemy and fight alongside our brothers and sisters
in Christ.
In ancient
Rome, no soldier went to the battlefield without being fully armed and dressed
for battle. The Roman legions were an imposing and impressive force. The sight
alone of these well trained and properly equipped soldiers would send chills up
the spines of their enemies.
This was no ragtag army. They each carried with
them everything they needed to win.
Does the
enemy we face see us as an impressive and imposing force? Does Satan tremble
when he sees the people of God? Or are we just a ragtag army? Ragtag armies
were recognized as being ill-equipped. Some had armor, others did not. Some
carried a sword, others did not. Some had shields, others did not. This meant
that each soldier had an area of vulnerability, which left the army open to
defeat.
How then
should we be dressed to face our enemy?
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and
with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians
6:14-17
Each of
these pieces of armor play a vital role in our war against wickedness and each
of us must put on the entire armor if we are going to be effective in battle.
Author Rick Renner in his book “Spiritual Weapons to Defeat the Enemy” made
this observation:
“God has not
left us naked before the enemy. He has provided us with spiritual weaponry that
has the ability to counter-attack and defeat any scheme that the devil would
try to use against us. God knows that in or for us to successfully fight the
unseen powers that have been marshaled against us, we must have His special
supernatural power that He has provided for this fight.”
We must then
appropriate the armor God has provided for us and then stand our ground;
because when we do not show up to fight we forfeit the ground we have been
assigned to defend!
Pastor Scott
Burr
Lead Pastor
Dayspring
Community Church
No comments:
Post a Comment