Spiritual Warfare
I’m a sucker for war movies. I especially appreciate realistic war movies that don’t glorify war, but show the reality of the awfulness of war. There’s something incredibly compelling about watching ordinary people navigate the horrors of war. It could be any war really: WW1, WW2, Vietnam, the Civil War, or the battle for Scottish independence. These people aren’t super heroes. They’re normal people with fears and flaws and they need to survive extremely intense, life-or-death situations.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul tells us that if we’re believers in Jesus, we’re engaged in spiritual warfare. We’re facing an onslaught of temptations to sin and unbelief, whether we realize it or not. Paul calls us to attention. He calls us to put on the full armor of God so that we can fight the spiritual battle and stand firm in Christ.
Facing the reality that we’re fighting a spiritual battle may seem daunting at first. However, the good news is that God will strengthen you to withstand the attacks of the devil if you put on the spiritual armor that God has given you. As we consider engaging in spiritual warfare, let’s look at Ephesians 6:10-12 to look at our orders and our enemy in this battle.
Our Orders: Be Strong in the Lord / Put on the Armor of God
Finally, be strong
verse 10a
Paul begins closing out the book of Ephesians with a call to action. Be strong—don’t be weak. This is not a new concept in Scripture. After the death of Moses, God gave this command to Joshua (Josh 1:6-8). If you were the Ephesians reading this letter, you might read that and think, “Ok—I need to be strong. I guess I just need to muster up the willpower to pull myself up by my own bootstraps and be mentally, physically, and spiritually strong. I have to do this on my own—mustering up my own strength.” However, Paul is going to qualify how we should be strong.
in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
verse 10b
We’re not told to be strong in and of ourselves by our own power. Paul says to be “strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” We’re not the source of our strength—God is the source.
The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
Psalm 28:8
This is a huge relief, because, if we’re honest, we have no lasting strength in and of ourselves. You might say, “Wait a minute, there are plenty of strong people I see in the world who are not Christians. These people seem to have mental toughness and physical strength.” That may be true—but mental and physical strength are entirely different from spiritual strength. Paul shows what true spiritual strength looks like:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor 12:8-10
The Psalmist gives us the right perspective we should have in:
Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. 6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.
Ps 44:4-7
We should be looking to God as the source of our strength. But what does that look like in practice? Paul says:
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
verse 11
We’re called to use the resources or blessings that God has blessed us with in Christ:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
Eph 1:3
We already have every spiritual blessing in Christ, so Paul tells us to put on the whole armor of God. The Greek word for “put” carries the idea of once and for all permanence. We’re in an ongoing spiritual battle and we need to suit up once and for all with everything that God has provided us. We would be fools to go into battle without a weapon or protective gear. Satan is waging war on us. He’s scheming against us. He’s plotting how he can take us down. Putting on the whole armor of God will allow us to stand fast.
The word “stand” is repeated multiple times in this passage. On the one hand, that tells us we should not retreat in times of trouble. On the other hand, that also tells us that we’re not to proactively move forward to try to attack Satan. Instead, we’re told to hold our ground and stand firm. The Greek word for “stand” used here speaks to defending a critical military position in an attack. We can be unmovable even when we’re facing a full-scale spiritual onslaught from our enemy. Who is our enemy? Well—Paul gives a surprising answer
Our Enemy: Satan and His Spiritual Forces
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
verse 12
Our enemies are not other people. They’re not humans with flesh and blood. What about politicians corrupting the culture? What about the people who were persecuting Paul and other Christians? Nope—we’re not ultimately wrestling with flesh and blood. That’s a good reminder in our extremely partisan outrage culture. Our true enemy isn’t the other side’s political leaders. No—our true enemies are not people we’re wrestling against:
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Our true enemy is Satan and his spiritual forces.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Pet 5:8
Satan is ultimately the one animating corrupt political leaders, the media, false religions, etc. He and his hierarchy of demons are exercising their influence on the leaders of this world. That sounds terrifying. Satan and his demons are scheming against us? That’s the reason why we can’t be strong in this battle on our own. We can’t fight spiritual forces with human strength. We need spiritual strength.
Spiritual Armor
Paul goes on in Ephesians 6 to give us good news—God has provided the spiritual strength that we need to stand firm. We don’t need to rely on ourselves—we can rely on Him. We can have confidence that He has given us everything we need to fight back. Paul is going to explain the spiritual armor God has provided for us to fight against the constant onslaught of Satan’s attacks.
In our next article, we’ll look at the tactical weapons that God has given us to successfully withstand the attacks of Satan.
