Taking Our Stand (Part II)

September/07/2010 03:27 PM

Ephesians 6:10-14 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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."

Last week we talked about how people, when the enemy is seen or heard, sit or lay down from fear and intimidation. They have no strength or confidence in God to stand. Our victory for today relies on whether we are strong or weak! Our strength, or the lack of it, can also determine our destiny! It is so important to stand our ground by being firm in our faith. Remember our wrestling is not with people, but it's with wicked spiritual powers and rulers of darkness. Our battle is in the spirit, not the flesh. When we lay down spiritually, we can yell, scream and beat the air, but nothing will change. However, there is good news. We fight the good fight of faith with spiritual weapons. God has given us His word, the name of Jesus and a mighty suit of armor.

II Cor. 10:4 says, "The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."

Notice in Ephesians 6:10 that the apostle Paul begins by saying, "Finally, be strong in the Lord..." With our own strength we cannot fight the enemy and overcome in this life. In our own ability we would not have the strength to stand. If the Apostle Paul's sentence would have stopped there we might feel hopeless. It almost sounds as if he’s saying, "Be happy," when they may not feel happy or "be at peace," when feelings are raging. However, the rest of the verse speaks of faith that makes us strong because our God is mighty and powerful! We can say, "I am strong in the Lord and in His mighty power!”

In the following verses Paul tells us not only to be strong, but how to stay strong. Notice he said, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to "Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." A couple of verses later he says this again,"Therefore put on the full armor of God..." There seems to be an emphasis on "the whole armor" and "after you have done everything, to stand". Obviously it's possible to walk around without all of our armor! We must do everything we are instructed to do and use our weapons properly in order to stand firm in our faith!

So many Christians may be wondering how the enemy gets so many pot shots in to knock them down flat. Is it possible they have only part of their armor on? We may have one, two or maybe even three pieces of our spiritual armor on, but the ones we neglect leave us vulnerable to attack. The enemy is always looking for weak spots. The Bible says he walks about seeking whom he may devour.

What do natural lions do when hunting prey? They look for an animal that is weak, injured, not aware of imminent danger or separated from the others in the herd. That's the scheme of the enemy. He is walking about, to and fro, looking for those without all their armor on and their defenses down.

We need to understand what our weapons are and how to use them. We may have our helmet of salvation on, but neglect to pray. We may be picking up our sword of the Spirit, but get stung with a fiery dart because we left our shield of faith at home! All the armor and weaponry have been given to us, but our armor will be ineffective if it is only collecting dust!

Ephesians 6:14-18 "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. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Come back next week as we pick up the "the belt of truth" and put it on!
I Peter 5:8-9 "Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."