We all believe in a supernatural realm. A realm that is not visible to our naked eyes. It’s a spiritual battle.
And we all are in that battle. God wants to turn us into a warrior. The battle belongs to God. The victory belongs to his Church. The book of Ephesians gives us many pictures of the church.
Including the Church as a family. When we read the first part of Ephesians, Paul is using a metaphor of the church as a temple, church as bride, Ephesians chapter 6, church as an Army. The metaphor has changed from church as a family, temple, bride and Army.
Also, we say the Church is a hospital but the ultimate goal is not only to become a hospital, so that the spiritually wounded people can come but it is also a mighty Army of God.
The day we accepted Christ, whether we know it or not we are already enlisted in his Army. We are not only a servant of God. We are also a soldier of the Cross.
As a solider we have engaged with a new enemy. What’s the meaning of an Army if there are no enemies? We don’t just have a Christian walk but we are engaged in a Christian warfare. The warfare is so intense that, Apostle Paul uses a word wrestle.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood” he said. ‘Wrestle’ also means struggle. It is hand to hand, face to face combat (Dangal , WWE). The spiritual war, we are engaged in is hand to hand, face to face. The intensity is that high.
The more we grow in Christ, the more intense the warfare becomes but we are not afraid because “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” but the apostle Paul also knows that the weak will not survive this war.
If we are weak we can’t survive this war. Paul begins with this in Ephesians 6:10“10 finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” We have been told to be strong, strong in what? Muscles? Our commitment? Our passion? No, Strong in the Lord. It’s being strong not in our power, positions, but, in his mighty power.
We are not exempted from the warfare but we all have been given an Armor for defence, weapon for attack and assurance of a victory in Christ Jesus.
When we read the NIV version of Ephesians 6:10-20, we see repetitive words “STAND” four times. The attitude which we need to have when we engage in a spiritual warfare, I will not retreat (withdraw) but I will stand against the devil’s schemes. We will not run away, we will not back out, we will not retreat but we will stand and advance against the devil’s schemes.
Julius Caesar, who played a critical role in the rise of Roman Empire, had led his army to England. Immediately as they reached they burnt their boats behind them. Their attitude is this, there is no turning back. You either win this war or you die. We should have this kind of attitude in Spiritual Warfare.
A question was asked to a military General, which army usually wins? He said the Army which advances. In a defensive position we cannot win a war. The army which advances usually wins.
Church, I want to challenge you today, that we arise to take a stand against the scheme of the devil. The word scheme means methods, strategies, plans. That means no scheme, no methods, no plans of the enemies can prosper against us. Can we read this scripture portion?
1 Corinthians 15:57
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:31, 37-40
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us,who can be against us?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Before even we start engaging with the enemy, we must first put on the full Armor. When Paul writes about the Armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-20, we should know the context . Apostle Paul is in a prison and he was chained.
Ephesians 6:10-13
11 Put on the full Armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 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.
We have to put the full Armor of God. How can we stand strong in midst of a spiritual war? Put on the full Armor of God.
If we want to stand strong in a Spiritual war , we can do these 3 things
- The Armor must be put on before not After the Battle :
Paul Says, Therefore put on the full Armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes,
The ‘days of evil’ is a time of attack, times of temptations. The soldier must put on before the day of the battle not after. i.e Before we are even attacked NOT during the attack (temptations, deceptions, attack). During time of PEACE , we have to put on the Armor of God. So that when there are attacks, temptations, deceptions, we are able to stand and not caught off guard. In other terms we have to be operationally ready. Can we imagine a soldier putting on his weapons after it is attacked? The Armor must be put on before, not during or after.
Some of us do the same thing, during good times, we do our own things. Chasing our own ambitions and when the temptations come, they are unable to stand. When the attack comes they fall, when the heat comes on, we all get burnt. If we put our Armor beforehand, there is no surprise attack. Whatever attack comes, we are ready for it.
- Secondly, The Armor which we put must be complete.
Paul Says, Therefore put on the full Armor of God
During training, the soldiers are trained, from carrying water bottle to a weapon . They have to carry everything. Like for some of us our Heart is protective but our mind is not Vice versa.
- The Armor belongs to the Lord
The Armor is the Lord’s. God’s Armor is fashioned and designed by God. No human ideas can take its place. No amount of management skills, people skills, modern physiology, positive thinking can take the place of the Armor of God for our defence.
It is his belt of Truth, breastplate of righteousness, his shield of faith.
The truth is we can’t earn it and we must not try to earn it. It is supplied by God through his Grace.
When a solider goes for a battle, all the weapons are his or it is supplied by someone? The Government issues to him the latest weapon based on the fact that he is part of the Army.
In the same way, based on our relationship with Christ, the Armor of God, is issued to us. As long as we are the child of living God, we all have the Armor of God.
All together there are 6 pieces of equipment
- The Belt of Truth
- Breast plate of righteousness
- Shoes of the Gospel of Peace
- Shield of Faith
- Helmet of Salvation
- Sword of the Spirit
We have Six hardware and One Software “pray in the Spirit on all occasions”. The whole thing is wrapped up with praying, a dependence on God.
We will look at these equipment one by one
- The Belt of Truth
If we look at the context behind it, Paul is writing this letter in a prison during the Roman rule. The Romans used to wear long robes and their belt , helped them with their movement.
For our spiritual movement, we have to guard our mind with Truth, with the word of God. Our mind needs to be filled with the word of God.
Devil can deceive us by his lies. Most of us fall here. We need to discern the lies of Satan. The more and more we walk with God and grow spiritually, the more we can discern these lies.
And we have to guard our mind with the truth, i.e. the word of God (Jesus Temptation).We should be gripped with the word of God in our lives. Satan’s lies, deception, accusations, temptations. We will be able to take a stand and resist them in Jesus Name. We will become people of destiny not doubt.
When things press on, Children fall sick, relationship issues, Job issues, pressure at work, exam pressure. We become gripped by circumstances. We go in depression, start doubting God, start complaining .We lose faith, and we are discouraged. We are talking about someone who is spiritually good, when things were good. We need to be strong not deceived by lies.
The devil wants us to be in this cycle of defeat. First he attacks us with circumstances, one after another and as a result of this, we are stressed out. And it quenches our faith, making us discouraged. Once we are down, we begin to doubt, we read all the promises but we ask ourselves is that true , and then there is doubt and lies by Satan.
God says, wear the belt of truth. Stand by it and fight the lies and we have won the battle.
1 John 3:8
8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
Series on Spiritual warfare – Belt of Truth -Courtesy Benny Ho:
Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community.
The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue
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