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We had a wonderful prayer school in Illinois at the end of July; God moved in power with miraculous victories and healings. We’ve come to expect that, and to have faith that He loves us and wants what is best for us, yet He doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we expect. Though we know that He is the Creator and that all things come from Him, are to Him, and are for Him, we often still can’t help expecting that He will give us what we want the way we want it. That includes protecting us from the trials and seductions that befall those around us.
Everyone who has attended a VMTC prayer school knows that, after the teachings and prayer sessions, one of the last things we do is go over a method to help us all hold on to the victories just won. As followers of the risen Lord, we are in a spiritual war with the powers of darkness; we are Christian soldiers. To be soldiers of Jesus Christ requires that we be not only stout-hearted but also well-armed.
Reciting the pieces of the armor from Ephesians 6 will not protect us; they are just words. However, reciting them and applying what they mean to our lives daily can be very powerful.
The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. – Romans 13:12
We know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. God desires us to be like Him, to embrace truth and sincerity in our inner being—that which only He can see. This is the strength that holds the rest of our armor in place.
Taking up the shield of faith may be the most important of all. Without it we cannot please God, and James 1:6–8 says the doubting person should expect nothing from God and is unstable in all their ways. God either is or He isn’t; there is no room for doubt. We are either all in or all out—there is no in-between. It is our trust in Him that keeps those inevitable missiles of the enemy from wounding us.
The sword of the Spirit is something everyone can understand, yet so many fail to familiarize themselves with God’s Word. How could you have a relationship without it? John 1:1–5 tells us that Jesus was the Word, and that He was with God and was God; then, skipping down to verse 14, John tells us that the Word became flesh. If you really want to have a relationship, particularly a covenantal or marriage-type relationship, you would naturally want to find out as much as possible about the person you are entering into a relationship with. You’d want to know their family, their friends, their likes and dislikes, their nature or personality. Unless we know the Word intimately, we can’t wield it without wounding people.
Similarly, we are to be shod with the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. This means living a repentant, obedient life, always prepared for warfare. If that seems incongruent, consider Phinehas. When a chieftain of Israel rebelled by lying with a Midianite woman, Phinehas killed them both with one spear thrust, stopping a plague that had already killed 24,000.
Therefore say, “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.” – Numbers 25:12–13
We must be strong and stout-hearted; what good is armor to warriors who have no spiritual strength or courage? We must be strong in the Lord, because our natural inclination is to shrink from pain and unpleasantness.
The Lord Himself has prepared each piece of the armor for us, and He bestows it on us, but we must put it on. We must pray for His grace and use that grace to stand firm. We are to stand firm against the machinations of our great enemy, not necessarily against what is unrighteous in our own eyes. As with any soldier, victory depends on keeping our focus on our King and being obedient to Him. He alone is the One who sees the future and the big picture.
Our enemy is cunning, subtle, and spiritual in nature. If we trust in our own strength and cunning, we are lost. We must abide in the One who called us and chose us to be on His side and to belong to Him, so that He can abide in us. It is only through His Spirit that we may avail ourselves of the armor and weapons He has prepared for us.
To be successful, we must stand ready, fully armored.
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. – 2 Timothy 2:4
As true believers we are all warriors and ministers of the gospel; we must stand fast through all trials and not let ourselves be ministers in vain.
Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”—giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. – 2 Corinthians 6:2–10
May the Lord strengthen us all to fulfill His plan for us, that we might, having done all that we can, continue to stand firm against every attack of the enemy on us, our families, and the brethren. Through the Lord our God is victory and salvation! Amen.
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