Christ Has Won! Are You Now Ready To Battle?

10 A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. 11 Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. 13 Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. 19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too. 20 I am in chains now for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should. ~ Ephesians 6:10-20 NLT

As we see Christians around this globe being uprooted, driven from their homes, kidnapped, raped, beaten and even killed by an unholy people we see scripture come to life just as it did for thousands of Jewish and Christian people during the day of Hitler. Satan and all those who he opposes are in grave danger and the sad part is that most of them do not even know that there is a war going on. Look around you, especially in the first world countries, USA, Great Britain, Germany, etc. They are making themselves an easy prey for Satan and his minions. As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, we must know that we are in the midst of a great spiritual battle. Even though most Christians seem to not believe this to be true but continue to believe the lies of Satan. Lies such as you have to spend all our time working in order to support our self and our family because God is not going to take care of us. The lie that we have plenty of time for Christianity later right now we have to establish our self and support our family, but a big house, have a fancy car, etc. There are many, many more lies that Satan tells us, we are not good enough and God does not love us, how about the one that there is no God and we are all just an accident. Then there is the disturbing fact that many who believe themselves in the fight do not fully understand the nature of Satan’s blueprint, of the weapons that he uses. Most Christians are not even aware of the weapons that God has provided for our security.

Paul’s words earlier in this letter to the church at Ephesus are words that are important to every Christian that has lived. The letter addresses the issue of how God through the work of Jesus Christ has put into place a plan for salvation. God destined us (the church) for adoption as children through Jesus Christ. We were dead because of sin God chose to save us by grace through faith as a gift, salvation is a gift. We cannot boast that we are saved because of what we have done it is because we are saved, that we are created through salvation to do good works.

Now the definition we find in our reading today chapter 6 verses 10-20 is most likely the utmost straightforward definition of spiritual warfare that we will find from Apostle Paul. Paul not only attests that there is a spiritual war going on but warns us that unless we use the tools God has provided to us we are powerless and hopelessly under equipped. These verses instruct us as to what our heavenly arsenal consist of. We can also attain from this scripture and the description of the arsenal as to the nature of the battle we are in. The contents of the arsenal God has provided to us are weapons that are the best in repelling the attacks of Satan. We are also able to learn important information as to the nature of Satan’s opposition from just considering each of the weapons in our heavenly arsenal.

It should come as no surprise to any Christian that Satan is God’s enemy, we can find evidence of this are as far back as the third chapter of Genesis. Satan striking the first blown in the spiritual war however this war began long before Adam and Eve were placed in the garden. Look at two Old Testament prophecies:

12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. 13 For you said to yourself, 'I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.' ~ Isaiah 14:12-14, NLT

12 "Son of man, weep for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone -- red carnelian, chrysolite, white moonstone, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald -- all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. 14 I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire." 15 "You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. ~ Ezekiel 28:12-15

From these two prophets we can clearly see that they are speaking of a ruler possessing a much greater power than any earthly ruler. They are speaking of Satan himself, an angel created by God (Ezekiel 28:13). Satan given the highest authority under God was not content with his position. Satan the one who was in Eden, the garden of Jehovah, Satan blameless at the time of his creation found with sin (Ezekiel 28:15). Satan commanded enchanting beauty, consummate power, and God given authority wanted more. Satan wanted to exalt himself further, Satan wanted to become like God (Isaiah 14:14).

When Satan rebelled against God, others decided to follow him in opposing God and His purposes. This is when Satan made his first public appearance, Genesis chapter 3. Not as Satan but as a creature God had made, Satan came to Adam and Eve as a fellow creation under God’s authority and that of the man and his wife. Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation disobeying God’s Word leading to the downfall of humankind and all of their offspring.

This was just the beginning of the spiritual warfare, the story of Satan opposing God and His authority is threaded all through the Old and New Testament. Let us get back to the lesson from Paul in Ephesians 6:10-20:

1. Coming to faith in Jesus Christ is to be understood as entering into every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places if Christ.
2. The Church is engaged in a spiritual war and the enemy is Satan and all his unseen angelic and celestial followers, enemies whose power greatly exceeds our own.
3. Paul’s Focus here is not on all aspects of Satan’s opposition to God and man but oh the war with the saints. (Seeking to keep unbelievers from the truth.)
4. The spiritual war that Satan is employing has many strategies to oppose and to defeat Christ followers.
5. Satan is not fighting out in the open he deploys subversive tactics through intrigue, deception, and trickery.
6. Have no doubt that there is a coming “evil day” when the spiritual war will be so intense that all believers will be in intense danger.
7. The arsenal that we need to battle Satan and his followers which has already been provided it is Christ Himself!
8. Do not think that Paul’s instruction to “put on the full armor of God” a suggestion it is a command, one that all Christians need to heed!
9. Our protection from Satan and his attacks can only be assured when we follow this command and take up the full armor of God and use it!
10. Our purpose is not to be on the attack or to defeat Satan but to withstand his attacks. We are to be on the defense, we do not have to strength to attack Satan and that is not God’s plan for us. It is not us who will defeat Satan, it is Christ, He alone has the power.
11. Our defense and Satan’s downfall is what is spoken of in the gospel. Jesus spoke of Satan’s defeat many times and each time it was in the context of being finished at the cross of Calvary. In those terms Satan has already been defeated: “This world is being judged now. The ruler of this world will be thrown out now.” ~ John 12:31 NLT. (Read more: John 16:8-11)

The nature of the weapons God has supplied us will tell us much about the nature of the war we are in and how we are to do battle with Satan’s efforts to destroy us.

1. Victory is not always evident in whether we see defeat or success. Sometimes what may appear to be a defeat may actually be God’s success. Just look at the empty cross and tomb.
2. The opposition of Satan may not always be evident; his tactics include tricking us in things that seem natural and human. Look at the immoral behaviors of the world, just one example.
3.  Satan very seldom attracts from the front, he will use people close to us, common situations that may seem like everything is going wrong. These are ways to distract us from what is important.
4.  Satan’s own warped sense if reality is what guides his opposition to God. He just does not understand why anyone would worship God because of who He is instead of what He gives.
5.  We know Satan was defeated at the cross, he knows this too and he knows his days are numbered, this make him especially dangerous.
6. Although Satan’s opposition to the people and purposes of God appear to be destructive to the Church in reality Satan is furthering God’s purpose and plan for His creation. Satan is bringing glory to God producing what God uses for our good. While Satan continues to do his deeds meant for evil God always turns them for His good purpose.

Bottom line, there is a war going on, not between nations (even though these may be a smaller part of the spiritual war), it is a spiritual war between Satan along with his fallen celestial allies and Jesus Christ and His Church. This war invisible in nature fought against an enemy that we cannot see is a war that must be fought by faith not by sight. We cannot fight this war by our might but only with the strength given us by El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty.

8 This grace was given to me-the least of all the saints!-to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah, 9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. 10 This is so that God's multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. 11 This is according to the purpose of the ages, which He made in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord ~ Ephesians 3:8-11

We are not fighting to win we already know the answer to that this war is for our benefit and for God’s glory. It is part of the instructions to the angelic host. The question is not whose side God is on, its not about who is going to win. Just as Joshua saw a man standing opposite him with a sword in his hand and Joshua ask him whose side are you on my side or the other and the he said neither I am a captain of the host of the Lord. Are we more interested in getting God on our side or are we in need of getting on God’s side? So ask yourself, whose side am I on, after all in this great spiritual war is it not a good idea to know? May question is: Are you now ready to do battle?