If we are going to live a life flowing with forgiveness to everyone with whom we come in contact, we must realize that
*The battles we fight are spiritual.
*They are not to be directed toward another human being.
*They should be directed against the forces of hell.
Because 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." (Ephesians 6:12)
When we fight against another we are not fighting against the one who is at the root of our fighting. The church throughout history has wasted time and energy with doctrinal battles and church splits-fighting against people rather than the root cause. There are even "Christian" radio talk shows that are directed at pointing out the faults and inconsistencies of other people and the weaknesses of their ministry.
*We can have the right doctrines and beliefs and still be wrong in how we "defend the faith."
*Fighting against one another will never help spread the message of the cross.
*It is only by living a life flowing in forgiveness that we will spread the message the world will be willing to hear.
*We shouldn’t spend our time fighting against the evil done by others
We must fight our real enemy, the evil one -satan- who is at the heart of all evil.
Contrary to popular belief, satan is alive and well. He is a real, personal being who, as a created cherub, sinned against God and subsequently fell from heaven.
He was "the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." He was with Adam and Eve "in Eden, the garden of God." He was adorned with "ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl [set in] mountings made of gold." He was anointed by God and walked "blameless" in his "ways from the day" he was created until wickedness was found in him. His heart "became proud on account of" his "beauty," and his wisdom was "corrupted" because of his "splendor." God "drove" him away "from the mount of God" and threw him "to the earth." (Ezekiel 28:12-19)
*The wisdom and beauty God gave satan led to pride, the root of his downfall.
*Since his downfall, he has become the arch-enemy of God and God’s plan for us.
*The name satan means "adversary, to lie in wait."
He is called the "tempter," (Matthew 4:3), the "evil one" (1 John 2:13), the great "deceiver" (Revelation 12:9), the father of lies, and a murderer. (See John 8:44) Jesus called him the "prince of this world." (See John 12:31)
Paul called him "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" and "the god of this world." He adds the thought that satan is a "spirit" that "works" in the children of disobedience. The Greek meaning of the word "works" is energy.
*The devil energizes the unsaved to do his will.
Paul said the unsaved walk not only in the "ways of the world" but are directed by the "ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." (Ephesians 2:2)
*Every non-believer is actually under the control of satan.
The "whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19)
The battles we fight should never be against the people of this world, but against satan himself who has these people under his control.
*The unsaved people of this world are considered "spiritual" children of the devil.
They prove this by not doing what is right and by not loving Christians. Spiritual children of God are just the opposite in position and in practice.
*Christians will always do what is right in the eyes of God when they love their brothers and sisters in Christ.
John tells us that "this is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:10)
Jesus told His opponents that if God had been their Father, they would have loved Him because He came from God. Like begets like. When we love and forgive, we prove we belong to God.
Jesus said to those who hated Him, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:42-44)
If God is our spiritual father, we will prove we are just like Him by living a life of forgiving love. However, if we don’t love and forgive, we prove that Satan is our spiritual father because we are behaving just like him.
As our true and only enemy, Satan lies in wait to find our weaknesses and then attack us. When we fight against another we give Satan the opening he needs to make ineffectual our testimony of the life-changing power of the cross. Satan’s main purpose is to blind "the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Corinthians 4:4)
Just as God created light to dispel darkness by saying "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), so God today must create spiritual light to "shine in our hearts" so that man may see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6) When our physical eyes are blinded, we cannot see the light of the sun. But when we come to Jesus, we walk in the light, because He is the Light. When people admit that they are spiritually blind, they will have taken the first step to finding truth.
*If we are to conquer the forces of darkness we need to be "self-controlled and alert," because our "enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
*The devil is always testing us. He prowls around like a lion making a lot of noise and putting fear into the hearts of God’s people.
*The devil is not a lion, he just makes noise like one. Jesus is the "Lion of the tribe of Judah." (Revelation 5:5) and has already triumphed over the works of satan.
*The enemy was defeated by the Cross.
The outcome of the war has already been determined, but the daily battles still need to be fought.
*Each day we are to "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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:13-18)
Let’s take a close look at each piece of armor and see what it covers.
*First, there is the "belt of truth buckled around your waist."
The belt used by the soldiers of Rome was not just to hold their clothes up. The belt went around their waist and between their legs, covering and protecting their reproductive organs. Paul calls it the "belt of truth." If we want to "hold up" to the wiles of the devil and "reproduce" Christians, then we must live our life both in, and by, truth.
Jesus said, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32 KJV) It is by living our life in truth and honesty that we will be able to set others free. We must guard our testimony with the belt of truth.
Second is the "breastplate of righteousness."
This covered the torso of the body, which contains all of the major organs, including the heart. It is from the heart that the blood of life flows. But also, in a spiritual sense, the heart is the home of love and faith. Jesus said that we are to "Love the Lord" our "God with all" our "heart and with all" our "soul" and with all our "mind" and with all our "strength." (Mark 12:30)
Jesus also taught that a "good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
Every day, if we want to live a holy and righteous life, we must put on "righteousness." Living a righteous life is living a life of faith and love. Paul also calls the "breastplate of righteousness" the "breastplate of faith and love." (1 Thessalonians 5:8) If we are to be effective in our daily testimony as a Christian then we must live righteously though faith and love. This is a conscious and deliberate act on our part. We don’t wake up each day overflowing with faith and love. Faith and love are our defense against attacks, whether or not those attacks are in the form of a harsh, cruel word from a loved one or a direct assault from the enemy.
Following the breastplate comes the
*3. "feet fitted with readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace."
Roman soldiers wore sandals that protected and supported their feet and ankles. Paul says we are to wear shoes of "readiness." We are always to be prepared to go and share the Gospel with others. This readiness comes from living in peace with one another. We can never be ready to go and share the Gospel if we are not living in peace.
Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27) We are not to be afraid of the evil in our past or even the evil that will come in the future. Finding the real peace offered by Jesus is by actually understanding that He has everything under His control in spite of the circumstances.
4."take up the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16)
The shield was almost as large as the soldier himself and was carried in one hand. This would protect him from an onslaught of flaming arrows and rocks. As the flaming arrows hit the shield, they would burn themselves out as there was nothing to feed the flame. The shield was also used to ward off the blows of an enemy’s sword.
This "shield of faith" can ward off all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Therefore, it is of significant importance that we always take it with us wherever we go, because "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)
The faith that will protect us and extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one is simply trust. To do this successfully, we must live a life of faith, "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ’The righteous will live by faith.’" (Romans 1:17)
As you learned in a previous chapter, contrary to popular belief, faith is not a tool that can be used to make God work on our behalf. Each day we must "take up the shield of faith" by entrusting every breath we take to our Savior.
We are now told to "take the helmet of salvation." Paul also calls the helmet "the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8). The helmet was used to protect the head. The head, of course, houses the brain, which controls the whole body-what we speak and hear, as well as what we think. When we put on this helmet, we are saying that our actions, the words we speak and our thought life will be according to "things that accompany salvation" (Hebrews 6:9).
We are to meditate on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable." And, as a Christian, whatever things we "have learned or received or heard" from our study of the Scriptures and the testimony of faithful believers, we should "put it into practice." Then, when we do, "the God of peace" will be with us (Philippians 4:8-9).
A soldier would not be complete without a weapon to defend himself, so, next, you take up the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). There is no defense without a good offense. The sword was used, not just as a weapon to protect, but also to destroy. It had a short, double-edged blade and was designed for close-quarter, one-on-one fighting. A soldier had to spend many years learning to use it effectively.
The well-trained soldiers of Rome were able to conquer most of the known world using these unique swords. If we are going to destroy the works of satan we must learn to use our unique sword-the Word of God-and study it diligently. No soldier would ever go into battle without having learned how to use his weapons.
As we are trained through our study of the Bible, we learn to use its power to demolish those strongholds that have existed in our life because now we are able to take captive our every thought and make it obedient to God’s word. When we go into these spiritual battles, we fight with weapons that are not of this world.
Our spiritual weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds and "every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God." And when we do fight with these "spiritual" weapons, we can then "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
There is, however, one area of the soldier’s body that is left unprotected. The armor wasn’t made to cover the back. Roman soldiers gave no thought to covering their back for two important reasons:
First, they were trained to always march forward. There was never any thought of retreat. The soldier was to press on, fighting the enemy face-to-face. And so it must be with us in our "spiritual" battles. We must always confront our enemy face-to-face, never giving up in retreat. The war has already been won, but not every battle fought will end victoriously.
Second, each soldier was trained with others as one unit. If a soldier were attacked from the rear, another would stand with him, back-to-back, in order to protect him by fighting the enemy from both sides. We must learn to stand back-to-back with fellow believers, protecting each other as you fight your own spiritual battles. Prayer is the best covering you can offer your fellow soldier.
Finally, and most importantly, we must "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18)
As a Christian soldier, maintaining a strong relationship with the Father through prayer is the greatest weapon we have to use against our true enemy. We can dress ourselves with faith, righteousness, peace, pure thoughts, and be a great student of the Word, but if we do not pray, if we do not keep in constant communication with our commander, we will not have the strength to battle against our enemy.
Prayer is what strengthens us to do battle because it is our lifeline. Prayer is also the way we fight for, and defend, other Christians throughout the world. Without a consistent prayer life, we will not be an effective warrior as we enter into battle. We must always be in prayer. And when we pray for fellow soldiers, they will be covered by the Holy Spirit.
When we fight against another, when we don’t forgive, we give satan a temporary victory. But in addition, we also give him a stronghold from which he will be able to attack us again. We are admonished to "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (1 Peter 5:9)
Resisting the devil so that he will flee from us is, however, more than just saying "no." There is a condition that must first be met in order for the devil to flee from us. We must first "submit" ourselves to God. Then we will be able to "resist the devil" so that "he will flee from [us]." (James 4:7)
Submitting to God means to lay aside our own personal agendas and aspirations so that we will do His will. By submitting, we are in essence surrendering all to Him. We are saying, "You know what is best for me," and, "Not my will, but Yours be done."
It doesn’t matter what someone does to us or why something happened to us. What matters is how we respond to it. Even in those times of suffering we "should commit" ourselves to our "faithful Creator and continue to do good." (1 Peter 4:17-19)
We will never be able to "resist the devil" and have complete victory unless we surrender ourselves totally and completely to the will of God. Satan finds much pleasure when we don’t forgive and when there is no reconciliation with those who have hurt us or whom we have hurt.
Jesus came for two purposes. The first was to reconcile man to God. When we are involved in the ministry of reconciliation, we are doing that which pleases the Father and displeases satan. The second reason was to destroy the "devil’s work." (1 John 3:8) The good news is that we have a Savior, the Creator of the universe, living inside us and His power has already defeated Satan!
Sadly, too many believers think that "spiritual warfare" is simply using the words "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" like a magical mantra. As I previously said, if we want to resist the devil so that he will flee from us, we must first humbly submit ourselves to God. Then, as we "draw near to God" He will "draw near to [us]." (James 4:8 NKJ)
*Only after submitting to God will we be able to resist the devil so that he will flee from us.
If we are not submitted and obedient to the Lordship of Jesus in our life, and we attempt to resist and rebuke satan, the only response we will get is the sound of Satan’s laughter echoing through the halls of hell.
The real spiritual battle of forgiveness goes on in our mind and in our thoughts. Our warfare must be targeted not at breaking people but spiritual strongholds. Anger, bitterness, hate, and unforgiveness all originate in the mind. We must pray fervently to break these strongholds in our own life as well as in the lives of others. We must never give up; rather, we should be confident that we have been promised the victory already as we walk humbly, yielded to the Lord.
