In Jeremiah 6, we start off with God telling the tribe of Benjamin to flee the land of Judah for safety and those of the tribe of Judah to sound the warning for those around them are preparing for war so they need to be ready. We are told in Ephesians 6, about the war we are in and what to do to prepare for it. We are going to look at preparing for battle and the armor later.
Paul ends his letter to the Ephesians with a call to arms in chapter 6, verses 10-13 NKJV;
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
The first thing we see as we prepare in verse 10 is to be strong in the Lord. The word for strong is the Greek word, endynamoō — be strong, strengthen, increase in strength, enable, be made strong. When we are in the Lord we are enabled to fight the fight because He has given us what we need. Paul states in Philippians 4:13 NKJV;
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
We have the strength we need from God that enables us to fight the battle.
The next step is to be in the power of His might. The Greek word for power is, kratos — dominion, mighty, power, strength. Along with the word, ischys — ability, force, strength, might. I am reminded of a volcano when I see those two words together. I think there is no other example of a mighty force than when a volcano erupts, except for the mighty force that rolled the stone away from the tomb Jesus was in.
The last thing in preparing is putting on the armor of God. We will look at each piece later. There is a reason for the armor I want to look at now. When you go into battle you don’t just go in not knowing anything about your enemy. Paul takes us into the room with the generals in verses 11-13. This is where we study the tactics and the enemy’s army.
The tactics are the wiles of the devil. The Greek word for wiles is, methodeia — cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery, wiles. The devil has a method to his madness. He lies in wait for us to look his way before he attacks. For it is when looking at the shiny object that uses for distraction we put are shield down and are open for the attack. His shiny objects are anything that can get our eyes off of God and look at what is going on around us in this world, hurt feelings, jealousy, envy, strife, and sin. When we have sin in our lives we hinder our walk with the Lord giving the enemy a big open target to attack us.
Many times when we come under attack we tend to blame someone else for what is going on in our lives. In reality, there is something darker controlling the situation. Our enemy and his army twist things in a way that causes strife in friends, family, and the Church. We have the tendency to blame the other person for things going wrong or hurting our feelings. This shiny object was first dangled before Adam and Eve when God asked them why they ate the fruit. Both of them didn’t take responsibility for their actions and their son Cain didn’t take actions for his nor his feelings. God, however, held them each for their own actions, thoughts, and feelings. We have to take responsibility for our own doings, feeling, thoughts, and emotions, for when we don’t and blame others we give satan a foot up in the war.
(Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash)
Bonnie Sue Writes 