God’s Armour. Put it on and take your stand

Scripture is very clear; whether we like it or not, Christian’s are in a battle with an enemy whose CV reads ‘kill, steal and destroy’. We ARE in a war; it is real, it is vicious but it is winnable because as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “… though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds” (AMP)

It should come as no surprise then, that the armour we use in this battle is not the armour commonly accepted by the world. Ephesians 6:10-20, in particular, describes the Christian armour. This passage brings together all of Paul’s warfare teachings and is the only place in his writings where Christians are “explicitly called upon to struggle against ‘principalities and powers” (Arnold).

The strong command in this section of Scripture involves our stand. In verses 10-14, the command is to ‘take your stand’, ‘stand your ground’, ‘stand’ and ‘stand firm’. Paul, the apostle who wrote so eloquently on love elsewhere in Scripture, here makes it very clear that even to love as we should we must also recognise that we wage war against an enemy whose focus is hate. There is no place for a backward step, disunity or a false understanding of what it is to be a Christ follower.

We are at war! BUT, we have supernatural armour and, through Christ Jesus, we are redeemed men and women carrying His full authority to overthrow and destroy strongholds that the devil and his powers and principalities seek to build against us. It is up to us to recognise, accept and take up that armour and, with it, the stance that will bring us victory.

In order for us to be fully and victoriously engaged in this warfare, we must also have a proper focus. Among his strategies to thwart us, the devil seeks to cause us to focus on things such as self, the issues we may have with or about others, even that he (the devil) is not real – just a figment of someone’s fertile imagination, and his lies about God. However, as we learn to focus on Jesus Christ – our Commander in Chief – and take up the armour He has provided, we will be able to take our stand for the cause of Christ and we will gain ground, leading to the final victory gained by Christ Himself.

Don & Julie
With you on the journey