Ephesians 6:12
Jesus continually
gives his disciples authority over unclean spirits, demons. They used that authority and drove out demons
and cured the sick. This was the mission
Jesus gave them and his authority gave them the ability to accomplish it.
In our present day
authority issues revolve around who can be at the pulpit, who can oversee the
giving out of the sacraments, and who is in charge of leadership in the
church. Those were not the issues Jesus
concerned himself with. He was clear who
the real enemy of God and Christians was.
“For our struggle
is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with
the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens”
(Ephesians 6:12).
We have been
“enlightened” and have grown too sophisticated to believe in evil spirits or
demons, so rather than fight the real enemy we fight each other over eternally
insignificant and frivolous things. Mean
while the enemy’s stronghold gets stronger as he walks around free to do as he
pleases, and what he pleases is to rule and reign in the place of God, over all
the world.
He took his claim
to this position right in the face of Jesus.
“Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and said to him, ‘All these I
shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me” (Matthew
4:8); pretty arrogant move on the devil’s part to stand face to face with God
and say that.
Due to the fact
that we are too sophisticated to believe in the devil anymore, he has been free
to walk around and work his tactics over all the earth; and he has. For those who don’t know how the story ends
it appears that he has made God and the people who love and follow God
impudent, weak, and inconsequential in the world; but the master of delusion is
himself deluded. When the appointed hour
comes he will be exposed and destroyed. But until that hour comes God’s people
are to stand strong, in battle mode, against the true enemy and not one
another. God provided a suit of armor
for His people. It has been chipped away
at by the enemy but can be repaired and made ready once again.
It is interesting
that it is the very armor of God that the enemy has been working on to chip it
away and leave God’s people defenseless and open to attack. The devil is experienced in the use of his
tools and his tactics; he has been using them since the beginning of time. His tactics of deception, lies, distortion of
and fostering doubt in God’s word, the promise of being wise in our own eyes,
distraction, and disobedience, have been honed throughout time and appear to be
working in our world today. Look at
things that have been under attack for awhile now; Truth, Righteousness, the
Gospel, Faith, Salvation, Prayer, the Bible, and the Word of God. These are all the elements of the Armor of
God.
The darkness has
continued to get darker, but something is happening. People sick of being saturated in darkness and
being fed lies that have no substance and offer no sustainability are now
opening their eyes and seeing through the deception. It is time to open our eyes and ears, to mend
the Armor that God continues to provide and make it strong again, so that we
can stand strong against the tactics of the devil.
QUERY
What Does the Armor of God consist of,
And how do we mend it and make it strong?
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