Our culture laughs at the idea of demons and the devil. Jesus, however, did not. Acts 19 describes ancient Ephesus as a centre of dark spiritual activity. When Paul wrote to the church there, he described Christ and the Gospel as a spiritual armour, which we must put on if we are to stand firm against evil in all its forms. What follows are some questions to help us clothe ourselves with this armour as we live out our lives day by day.
THE BELT OF TRUTH
Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist (Eph 6:14)
Is your thinking being defined by the culture around you? Are you letting it define true and false, good and evil, success and failure, right and wrong? Are you just adopting the values and attitudes you were brought up with or see all around you?
Consider how Adam and Eve were taken captive when they believed the serpent rather than the Lord. Consider how Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’ Consider how he said the Scriptures cannot be broken and that his words were ‘Spirit and life’. Think too how he said, ‘the truth will set you free’ and that ‘God’s word is truth’.
Then commit to this book as the definitive authority over your life. Put it on like a pair of glasses through which you view the whole of life. Take it up with a new thirst and confidence, looking for God to open your eyes and show you wonderful things from his word, and especially to show you Jesus who is the truth. Strap on the Gospel like a belt to anchor your life that will help you hold everything together in the heat of battle.
THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
with the breastplate of righteousness in place (Eph 6:14)
Are you making the huge mistake of thinking that your good standing with God depends on how well you are doing, how righteous, faithful or zealous you are?
Face again the fact that even your best works are flawed and contaminated by sin. But then consider again how God has provided his own beloved son, Jesus Christ, to be your righteousness.
Remember the Gospel which teaches that God credits the perfect record of his Son to the account of everyone who believes in him. Consider the spotless righteousness of Jesus, who in his life was holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and is now exalted to the heavens. Strap on his righteousness as a breastplate to guard your heart against fear that you are not good enough. You believe in him, he is your righteousness and you are as acceptable to the Father as Jesus himself.
THE GOSPEL OF PEACE
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (Eph 6:15)
Are you worried and troubled? Are you experiencing anxiety and uncertainty about your life, your past or the future?
Remember that through the blood of Christ you have been reconciled to God and are at peace with him forever. Consider that now he finds no fault in you and that there is nothing that could ever threaten your relationship to him. Consider too that whatever comes at you in life comes from his loving hand, and that he will guide you through every twist and turn. Consider that not even death can alter this reality, and that as Jesus himself was raised, you too will be raised on the last day, and that on that great day, even creation itself will be raised.
Embrace this unbreakable peace by faith and put it on like a pair of sturdy boots to give you stability and mobility even in the roughest of terrain and on the longest march.
THE SHIELD OF FAITH
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Eph 6:16)
Have you forgotten that the Christian life is a life of faith from beginning to end? Remember that, until we reach the end of our journey, however much progress we make, there will always be a disconnect between what we feel and experience in our everyday lives and what we know to be real and true of God and his unfailing grace.
Are you experiencing doubt and fear that hits you out of the blue with an explosive force that shakes your peace and joy? Realise that this is an attack from Satan and take shelter behind the finished, saving work of Christ on the cross.
When you are under attack call to mind some specific promise of God and hold on to it, making it your own. In so doing you will be taking up the faith that God himself has given you, using it like a shield, and so be safe until the attack has passed.
THE HELMET OF SALVATION
Take the helmet of salvation (Eph 6:17)
Have you realised how important your thought life is? God made you as a thinking being, with an amazing capacity to remember, reason, reflect, analyse and imagine. Satan loves to fill our minds with that which is wicked. If he cannot do that, he will settle for that which is trivial. If he can, he will put your feelings in control of your life. If possible, he will break your mind altogether.
Remember that you have been made to think God’s thoughts after him. Consider Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians to fill your mind with whatever is noble and of good report.
Consider that the work of God in your salvation is the noblest of all themes.
Consider the grace of God in choosing, seeking and saving you at such great cost and with so great a salvation. Fill your minds with thoughts of this throughout the day, putting on salvation as a helmet to protect your thought life from dwelling on wickedness or descending into triviality.
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph 6:17)
Have you realised that the Scriptures are the one thing that Satan cannot stand against? Have you forgotten that Scriptures are like a sword in the hands of the Holy Spirit?
Remember how Jesus modelled this by using the book of Deuteronomy to defeat Satan in the time of his temptation in the wilderness. Take up the sword of the Spirit and use it in your own life to resist spiritual attack and demolish Satan’s strongholds in our lives.
Wield the sword by praying for the work of the Holy Spirit, and by renewing your confidence in the power of the Word.
Wield it by meeting every fear, lust and setback with some biblical truth or promise.
Wield it by praying and speaking the Word into the lives of others with humility and faith.
Wield it by taking and applying some truth or promise to your own heart every single day.