Prepare For The Battle

Prepare For The Battle

We are in a war zone. The war that is being waged is for our souls and for the souls of countless others who do not know Jesus. We are being prepared to do battle with not the flesh and blood but with the evil one and his minions. This is spoken about in Ephesians 6:12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. They are trying any thing and every thing to try to get as many people to stay or stray away from God as he possibly can. Our enemy wanders here and there looking for someone who he can pounce on like a big cat does on an unsuspecting antelope. In 1 Peter 5:8 it says Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Here God is admonishing us to be sober, have our wits about us, and be vigilant, watching closely, because we are being stalked by the devil.

We need to prepare ourselves for this battle. We need to go out and and be sure that we have on the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand. We are then told what this armor is. Lets go through each part of this armor piece by piece. Firstly we are told in Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; Here we are told to wrap our loins or our lower bodies with truth. This truth comes from the knowledge of the Law of God. Know how we are going to be attacked. Satan will attack us concerning each of the laws of the ten commandments. We need to establish the fact that we know the law and that we can do battle with the truth.

Next in that verse it talks about the breastplate of righteousness. Cover our chest and heart with Gods righteousness. We receiver righteousness through faith. The breastplate guards us against the charges of the enemy. Our heart is a vital organ so we must protect it. The breastplate is a security from all wrath and condemnation.

In Ephesians 6:15 it reads, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; We want to go to other with a peaceful demeanor. Being slow to anger and not distressed. We need to be prepared to face anything that the devil can throw at us. We need to be prepared to preach the Law so that the sinner goes running to the cross. To be prepared with truth means to have a firm and grounded knowledge of what we are teaching.

Ephesians 6:16 reads, Above all taking the shield of faith, wherein ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. This shield is a large part of the armor It is large enough to cover the whole body. Faith, in this place, must mean that evidence of things unseen which every genuine believer has, that God, for Christ’s sake, has blotted out his sins, and by which he is enabled to call God his Father, and feel him to be his portion. The shield is used to stop the fiery darts, the accusations, of the wicked.

This brings us to our head protection. Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Here the helmet is pretty self explanatory. We need to have our lives right with God and have our salvation worked out with fear and trembling. We need to know that we know that we know that we are saved by grace through faith. The best way to know beyond any doubt is to use the sword. The Word of God is so sharp it will cut us to the core and show us that we are all sinners in that we have all transgressed God's Law but through the grace of the cross we have gained our salvation. When battling against the devil we need to know the word and keep it close to us. Gods word is the only way to put the devil to flight.

The next verse, Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; This admonishes us to pray at all times and to keep watch at all times because we never know when the enemy will attack.

If we put on the whole armor of God then we will have the victory over the enemy. Even when we feel that we are failing, if we have the whole armor on, we will come out the other side shining for our Lord.

We need to encourage each other to put this armor on daily and to fight the good fight in faith that we will come out triumphant.