TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY APRIL 13, 2016.
WARFARE
State of war; fighting; combat; armed conflict between two factions.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:11.
Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, which is the devil. Hebrews 2:14.
Any person that would say that there is no spiritual warfare in life today believes the lie that Satan and evil do not exist. We were all born into an ongoing war that has already been won for us. It is a war between God and Satan and Jesus defeated Satan and sin and death forevermore by dying on the cross of Calvary for us. The verse we have written above from Hebrews makes this fact very clear.
But Satan has not surrendered. Satan is actively still opposing God and is constantly at work using every sort of scheme and form of deception to snare those who love and honor God and bring them under his control. This is why we need to put on the armor that Paul talks about in the verse we have put above from Ephesians as permanent life-long attire. Be assured that these battles will continue to persist until Jesus returns and the last battle against Satan is fought and won.
Many people today seem to feel that spiritual warfare only affects some people. Paul warns in Ephesians 6 that the day of evil will come to everyone and spiritual warfare will be faced by all believers, and we must be prepared. Satan’s goal is to defeat Christ’s Church and if he can lull believers to sleep he will win. Satan and his army of demons will use every conceivable device and scheme to turn us away from following the Lord and lead us back into a life of sin and destruction.
Satan has methods of deception like immoral practice, false theology, false religion, and worldly enticement. He will find your weakness and will hit you hard at that weakness.
Paul in Ephesians 6 wants us to understand that spiritual warfare is real and no one is exempt from its effects. God has given us some answers through Paul as to how we are to fight Satan.
First, we must be prepared and put on the whole armor of God. We are to stand firm in what we believe girding our loins with truth and with His righteousness. Paul, when he said girding, he was referring the way that soldiers prepared for battle in his days by tightening their robes with a belt so their robe would not get in the way. The belt is the truth of the gospel. To defeat Satan we need to know the truth that is given us in God’s Word so that Satan’s deceptions do not hinder us in the battle.
Paul then uses the example of a soldier who wears boots with nails in them to grip the ground in combat. We call these cleats today. He is saying that we need to be grounded in the Word in order to stand firm in our faith that God is on our side.
We are to take up our shield of faith to protect us from flaming arrows of Satan just as shields protected soldiers in Paul’s day. Satan’s arrows are what we will call today temptations he attacks us with.
Paul reminds us in these verses in Ephesians 6 with illustrations from the armor of his day to wear the helmet of salvation. This is a protection for the head. Satan will do all he can to destroy what is in our mind and head of the believer. The head is the major target in battle and Satan does all he can to destroy the believer’s assurance of salvation by attacking one’s mind with doubt.
Paul then reminds us to carry the sword of the Spirit and to pray at all times, in the Spirit, for leadership and help as we face each and every battle. God’s Word is more powerful than any of Satan’s weapons. The key to winning the battles of life that Satan brings our way is our relationship with Jesus.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 81:1.
Sing aloud to God our strength; make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
Open my eyes so I can see the world around me with a new vision as to how I can reach this world with the message of Your love and Your free gift of salvation. Enable me to step out on faith believing that I can fulfill the vision You give me knowing that You will be with me and will be guiding me every moment of the day.
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