Be Strong in the Lord

Ephesians 6:10-13 - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

This passage in Ephesians is a driving force behind the name of this blog. The opening verses are powerful, true, and should encourage us all to equip ourselves with the full armor of God to fight the battles the evil one has waged against us. We know that ultimately, this war is won already because of what Jesus Christ did for us in His death on the cross and His rising from the tomb on the third day. But the fact is, Satan still wages wars against us daily, seeking only to steal, kill, and destroy.

As men of God, we have a duty to guard the hearts and souls of those entrusted to us. It gets easy to begin to rely on our own strength, knowledge, fortitude, and abilities when the fight comes our way. Being ready and able to physically defend your loved ones from physical dangers is important and a large part of being a man. But our most important battle is not against flesh and blood. We fight pure evil sent forth by the evil one. It may manifest in very physical ways, but the ultimate battle is not for flesh. The ultimate battle is for souls. It is to live in a way that allows others to see the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul gives us each piece of the full armor of God, and we will walk through each of them in the coming weeks. We will look at what each one is, real world examples of how to equip yourself with each one, and the ways to use each of them. Briefly, the full armor of God consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of readiness given by the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Notice anything about these weapons of God? That’s right, they have nothing to do with physicality. This is not armor in the worldly sense. This is spiritual armor given to us by God to go forth and do His work for His kingdom. If we seek to dominate this world physically, ruling over it, subduing it, making it into what we desire, all while we reap the benefits of worldly dominance, we are absolutely missing the point. Look at what Jesus says about this in John 18:36, “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this world.” He was speaking to Pilate in this verse, further proving that He has no interest in conquering this world. Rather, He awaits the coming eternal kingdom in which He will reign forever.

Paul writes about standing firm and acting like men to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 16:13 he writes, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Sounds easy enough right? When I read this verse my instinct as a man is to beat my chest and prepare for battle relying on my strength. But the next verse is what we need to think about. “Let all that you do be done in love.” Again, this is not about us and our own strength. It is about letting the Holy Spirit transform us daily into the image of Christ. Paul knows that the true source of his strength is Jesus Christ. He tells the Corinthians in his second letter to them that the power of Christ rests upon him in his own weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). So go to battle in love. Loving God and keeping His commands is evidence of your faith in Jesus (John 14:15). See to it that you are pursuing His will and not your own.

When duty calls, will you be ready? Are you ready now? You better be. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He is always waging war against us and our families. It’s time to armor up.