(1) STAND FIRM AGAINST THE ENEMY BY PUTTING ON GOD'S FULL ARMOR

It is no accident that I use "fullarmor911" in my personal email address. Moreover, Paul is intentional in using today's signature passage of Ephesians 6 with the words "armor" and "resist" (v. 13). The word " resist" comes from the Greek root, "to stand," meaning literally to stand against. It's a military term for holding on to a position that is under attack. It implies the courage to stand your ground because of your allegiance to Jesus as Lord and King, even when others may be fleeing combat because the enemy seems so strong (and understand that a Roman soldier's battle sandals had iron cleats on the soles to help them stand firm in their famous, front-facing shield wall battle formation, the testudo).

An incident about one of David's mighty men, Shammah the son of Agee, further illustrates what it means to stand firm in battle ( 2 Samuel. 23:11-12): " And the Philistines were gathered into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory." Because of his allegiance to David, Shammah stood firm in the Lord (not in his own power) who brought the victory.

As I have taught many times, the "putting on" of one's spiritual armor is akin to how we in law enforcement put on our physical body armor -- it is an INTENTIONAL act. Likewise, there is no place in Scripture where God tells us to take it off (unlike the relief of removing our body armor after a long shift).  

Finally here, understand that we are commanded to stand, not flee. The Roman soldier wore a breastplate -- with generally little armor on the back. To turn and run from the enemy was to open one's back to a death blow (intentionally so). You'll also note that the testudo was intentionally designed to advance or hold ground -- there was little rear protection (thus again is my biblical emphasis on a "front sight" focus on Christ who stands before us in the spiritual warfare of this life). 

(2) STAND FIRM AGAINST THE ENEMY BY GROWING IN THE WORD.

There are four main things to consider here:

(a)  Strong Christians are grounded in the truth of Scripture. Unless you know the Word well, as Jesus did when He defeated Satan, you will not stand firm when trials and tribulations come your way or you are confronted with false teaching.

(b) It it vital that we have a tactical and strategic understanding of our enemy's schemes. In 2 Corinthians 2:11,  Paul states, "so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes." If you're ignorant of his fraudulent schemes (tactics), the devil will be able to take advantage of you. He often works through secular culture (books, movies, music...) to lead us astray.  He uses discouragement, pride, selfishness, "feelings" (if it "feels good, then it has to be right..."), lust, and many other traps to lure us away from the Lord. To stand firm against the enemy, we must understand his tactics .

(c) Standing firm against the schemes of the devil means that we stand firm on the core doctrines of the faith. We cannot budge on the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, biblical salvation through Christ alone, or the inspiration and authority of Scripture. But God also instructs us in His Word to show tolerance for one another in love (Ephesians 4:2). That verse implies that we will not always agree with one another on every point of doctrine or on every method of how to go about the Lord's work. To stand firm, we need to have discernment (through the prayer and meditating on the Word) about where to do battle and where to be tolerant of differences.

(d) Stand firm against the enemy by having backup!  As I taught in a recent Bible study (Iron Sharpens Iron), we must NOT try to stand on our own but rather through iron sharpens iron fellowship with other "tactically sound" (mature) believers AND in actual fellowship with the Lord. On this, Francine Rivers said, "Stand firm in the Lord, Stand firm and let Him fight your battle. Do not try to fight alone."  Folks, it is no accident that Paul used a Roman soldier as his model in Ephesians 6, and that came with the understanding that what made a Roman army so powerful was their unit discipline and cohesion (you must NOT go it alone).   

So how about you?  Are you the genuine, born again "believer" I mentioned at the beginning of this study?  Understand this: without Christ as your Lord and Savior, you do not have the Holy Spirit in you, and without Him, we are ultimately powerless against a common enemy. ONLY those who are "in Christ" are able to put on the spiritual armor required to stand firm against the enemy.  Is that you?  Consider the following: