I’ve brushed over this topic a few times so far in these last few months blogging, but I want to hit it from a new angle today. Thanks to a study my Sunday School class has done in Ephesians, I’ve viewed the ordeal of our spiritual battle in a new light, and it’s put some other verses into a better context in my mind; I hope it does the same for yours after reading this explanation of my revelation.
Spiritual warfare is a complex topic. There’s a lot that needs to be talked about, a lot that needs to be prepared, and a lot that needs to be done. The difficult part is that the subject matter is complex and often rather difficult to discuss in concrete terms simply because spiritual warfare can be incredibly far from concrete in its essence, which is that it rarely appeals to the five senses. It’s more of a metaphysical attack on the heart and mind, and that’s hard to quantify.
On top of the actual attacks themselves being hard to describe, it’s also difficult to tell when you’re being attacked. One of the key things to remember about Satan and his demons is that they are not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent like God is. They are finite, created beings, so they can’t level attacks against you all the time. But even more important than the knowledge that we are not fighting this battle 24/7 is the knowledge of what to do in the downtime to prepare for each fight.
Ephesians chapter 6 gives us a lot to go on regarding spiritual warfare and how to go about doing it. First, from verses 10 and 11, we must acknowledge that we cannot stand against the devil on our own.
“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 tactics of the Devil.”
Only with God’s help can we stand firm against Satan. As we are, we have no protection, but God provides us with armor that is specifically designed to combat the ways of Satan.
Earlier, I said that it’s hard to quantify exactly what our battle is against, and verse 12 explains why. “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.”
This verse separates the concrete from the abstract. Our fight is not against other people. It’s more akin to a fight against ideas. Without broaching the political bubble, it’s a lot like wars on common nouns, such as drugs. There’s a general idea of what you’re fighting against, but your enemy is more conceptual than physical.
Our fight is against concepts that invade our minds: things such as, stealing under certain circumstances (from the rich or to provide for yourself when things get rough) is perfectly okay; greed is fine so long as I use some of it to help the poor; lust and adultery are okay so long as I marry the person I have sex with afterward; it’s okay to gossip because I’m asking for somebody to pray about it; or one of the more deadly concepts, that it’s okay to sin whenever we want because God forgives us anyway.
Our fight is against things that we cannot see or hear. It is against ideas that are in direct contrast to the character of God. So, in order to know what it is you’re fighting against, you have to know what is in direct contrast to God’s character, which means you have to know what God’s character actually is, as verse 13 says.
“This is why you must 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.”
But how do I know what God’s character is? Specifically for newer Christians, it would be difficult to truly know a lot about God’s character, which can be dangerous because the more intimately you know God, the better you can defend yourself, and newer Christians will likely be attacked harshly and often due to being the most vulnerable. Well, Paul kindly gives us a shortcut to what we need to defend against by explaining what our defensive strengths are in verses 14-17.
“Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with the gospel of peace. In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.”
Our five main characteristics we must be ready to defend with are truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation. The antonyms of these things, the concepts in direct contrast with God’s character, are falsity, wickedness, unrest/conflict, disbelief, and damnation.
Satan will attempt to twist the truth to convince you that you don’t know what is right and what is wrong. He will attempt to pervert this world with wicked deeds, such as murder, rape, and slander. He will attempt to bring about disagreement between people and ignite anger to cause conflict and war. He will attempt to infect your trust in God by bringing about disaster in your life and the lives of those around you. And he will attempt to convince you that nothing can save you, that you are too far gone into the darkness for God to reach.
These attacks will take on many forms. Some of the most prevalent, on a large scale, today are wickedness, like abortion, and conflict, like the one between U.S. government and its people. And the most difficult part of it all is that each attack can vary based on who you are and your weaknesses. For some, Satan may fire dozens of arrows to attack your faith. For others, he may attempt to pierce through your righteousness by causing you to sin. For yet others, he may disrupt your peace with God by causing anxiety and depression. For yet more, he might attempt to convince you that your salvation isn’t legitimate, that God did not speak truth.
And he will attack until your armor is in disrepair and you are too weak to defend. That’s why the next verse is just as important as the armor of God. It describes how to properly care for the armor of God so that it can defend you every time you put it on to do battle.
18 “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.” And I’d like to add to this verse since it’s not explicitly mentioned here, but reading your Bible is also something you must do to care for your armor.
Praying to God, speaking to Him, and hearing from Him by reading His Word is like sharpening your sword, banging out the dents in your helmet and breastplate, and reinforcing your shield so that it maintains its integrity. If your armor is in disrepair, it cannot protect you from attacks. A dented shield will lead to concussion. A dented breastplate could cave in your chest if struck. A shield that has taken too many arrows without being replaced is no more than pulp—another arrow would go right through it.
Remember that we are soldiers in this battle. When a soldier has downtime, his first job is to repair his gear so that he can trust it in the battles to come. For us, we do so by refreshing ourselves in the presence of God via prayer and studying the Bible.
But now, I want to take us back to the last part of verse 13, because the setting of the battle is incredibly important. Paul’s words here, “so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.” These aren’t the words of a man who is insisting we charge at the enemy to wipe them out. These are the words of a man imploring us to stand firm where we are until the fight dies down.
Here’s why: we know that the war is already won from John 16:33, 1 Corinthians 15:57, Colossians 2:15 (which explicitly mentions two of our enemies), and 1 John 4:4, among others.
When Jesus died on that cross, He won the war for us. The end result is guaranteed, so charging at the enemy would only hurt us. All we have to do is survive.
Oftentimes, when war is fought, battles are waged after the peace treaty is signed because news of the war’s end hasn’t reached the entire army yet. Even after Hitler’s death in WWII, Nazi soldiers still fought in an attempt to take a holding from American and Austrian military.
Much like the Nazi soldiers, Satan’s army has already lost, they just don’t know it yet. Meanwhile, we know the plans that God had for the war, we have a defensive location set, and we have the provisions to last through a siege. Our goal is not to win, to wipe out Satan’s army, but to merely survive until word of God’s victory reaches our ears and those of our enemy.