Weapons of Spiritual Warfare
Weapons of Spiritual Warfare –Part 1
The spiritual amour in the Ephesians passage is composed of Truth, Righteousness, Gospel of Peace, Faith, Salvation, and the Word of God. All these are aspects of consecration, obedience to and fellowship with God.
The Lord uses our consecration and obedience to overturn Satan's legal hold over matters in our lives and the lives of those we've been assigned to minister to –spiritually, socially, materially and physically. “We will be ready to punish every act of disobedience once (when) your obedience is complete,” 2 Corinthians 10:6 (emphasis added).
God stands as the highest Judge who takes up our cases as we submit them to him to bring justice. Our cases are already in our favor because we use the work of Christ and his blood atonement (sacrifice) for all humanity and matters in life to justify our cases. Our consecration and obedience to God enables the Holy Spirit to effectively work through us in punishing all the disobedience the enemy brings or attempts to, in our lives and the lives we're commissioned to serve.
The term spiritual warfare itself is not in the Bible. It is still relevant since it distinguishes between spiritual and physical warfare. Its closest association is the passage in Ephesians 6:11-18. Unfortunately the enemy has used it to deceive us that we have the right to directly fight his set-up in the heavenly realms. The lie is not new since Satan has throughout history used scripture to justify ungodly acts such as gender abuses, slavery, colonialism, persecution of non-Christians and so on.
The passage in Ephesians says, “For 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 spiritual or heavenly realms.
"Therefore 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 6:11-18.
You'll notice that the entire armor of God is a call to a life of consecration, obedience and fellowship with God - truth , righteousness , gospel of peace , faith , salvation , word of God , prayers .
It is not meant for us to go out and start bombarding the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual or heavenly realms. Paul used the metaphor of an armed Roman soldier, in showing how we can be prepared for spiritual warfare. In his time, a well-armed soldier wore a belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet and carried a sword.
What a difference with our time when a few individuals can destroy the world many times over just by pressing buttons for nuclear and biochemical weapons. God forbid, though the battle of Armageddon is more than likely to feature this. If God placed no limits on Satan we'd all be cooked up by now. Satan would have quickly worked on his schemes to destroy God's creation. Our God still reigns and has his final say over matters on earth. Wheew!
The same mighty God has placed spiritual weapons in our spiritual hands that he says are mightier than human weapons. We have access to spiritual buttons that can devastate the devil's work against humanity.
Their indirect nature may look so simple but as we apply them they set the stage for our mighty God to directly overcome the devil's work against us and against all humanity. The following outlines our primary spiritual armor that has so much power in the realm of the spirit. Appendix 1: Weapons of Spiritual Warfare lists more of our spiritual weapons.
1) The belt of truth
We are to walk in truth in our motives, desires and conduct. Truth has scripture as its foundation. The scripture enables us not to live in error, deception, and sin if we apply it in our lives.
Truth is not relative or circumstantial but unchanging. It is based on the unbreakable scripture. It cannot be used for selfish motives such as to gain material wealth, influence and so on. There is also no room for “white lies,” deception or exaggerations.
Walking in truth works as a weapon against Satan's deceptions, appeal to selfish desires and the flesh. It enables us to walk according to the will of God. No direct confrontation against Satan required yet his legal entry attempts are overcome as we walk in truth. The belt of truth is among our major indirect weapons of spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry.
2) The breastplate of righteousness
Righteousness is a state of living that enables us to be approved before God. He is holy and desires holiness as his standard of approval. Any lukewarmness is unacceptable, like the church in Laodicea. “Because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold -I am about to spit you out of my mouth,” Revelation 3:16.
Although it is the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) that makes us acceptable to God scripture is clear that we are expected to walk in holiness. It is a way of fulfilling our part in the call to righteousness. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit,” Galatians 5: 22-25.
The sinful nature crucified in our lives is what enables the righteousness of Christ to compensate for all the areas we may unwillfully fall short. Without doing our part the righteousness of Christ is in vain. It is degrading the grace of God as a license to sin.
On the other hand, when the sinful nature is crucified in our lives it enables the righteousness of Christ to overcome the legal grounds of Satan against us. God becomes our defender in Satan's accusations against us. He finds us blameless for Satan to have any claim to attack us. No direct confrontation against Satan required yet his legal entry attempts are overcome as we live righteousness lives. The breastplate of righteousness is among our major indirect weapons of spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry.
3) The shoes of the gospel of peace
Inner peace is not found among those living outside the will of God. They are very poor in this area regardless of whatever some may have achieved. “The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. ‘There is no peace,' says my God, ‘for the wicked.'” Isaiah 57:20-21.
Because their eyes are still blind they look in all the wrong areas trying to find it –worldly pleasures, entertainment, alcohol, pursuit of riches, fame, power and influence. Many of us were once there, constantly running from something or towards something all in pursuit of peace. Now we have the Prince of Peace living in us without resorting to alcohol, worldly pleasures and so on, to look for peace.
God has now given us the shoes of the gospel of peace to “walk” to people without peace. We reveal to them the gospel of peace that brings true peace in their lives.
The shoes of the gospel of peace also protect us from the rough ground that we walk on. The ground we walk on is the earth with all its problems that resulted from sin since Adam and Eve fell. There is much poverty, disease, greed, crime, immorality, wars, conflicts and so on. Without wearing our shoes we will have no peace walking in such territory. We will have no peace with ourselves, with God and with others.
4) The shield of faith
Faith is critical in five major situations in life:
a) When we desire or seek something we are unable to have through our own strength and wisdom,
b) When storms and trials in life strike us,
c) When obeying God's word is being challenged by certain respected secular beliefs – e.g. where it's popularly said that saving money instead of giving is more important in increasing financial security. Though necessary it's not more important than giving,
d) When the temptation is strongest to have certain desires through biblically forbidden ways – e.g. the temptation of marrying a respectable non-believer, or seeking financial matters through non-biblical ways,
e) When believing in matters one may find difficult to understand or difficult to draw much sense out of them – e.g. the God of love in a troubled world, bad things happening to God's people, the trinity, etc.
Faith is probably the most important area that Satan targets most among believers. He knows that once we stop trusting God in a particular area he can easily offer us his deceptive solutions. He did that to Adam and Eve. The whole creation is still paying the price. The whole earth is still groaning from what it is being subjected to after Adam and Eve surrendered their inheritance to Satan.
In our own lives most of us succumbed to Satan's lies at one point or another. We knew what God's word says. However we still believed the lies were more worthwhile to follow. Satan may not have come in a serpent form yet he still came into our thoughts directly or through the media, through a person or through circumstances.
The moment we stopped trusting scripture our faith in God's word in the area of concern ended. The consequences are always the same – negative. Walking by sight or according to the flesh is costly in the long run.
On the other hand walking by faith enables us to receive rewarding results in the long run. In the short-run it may seem costly, slow and unconventional. However the rewards are worth the wait if we are willing to trust God for as long as it takes.
Walking by faith extinguishes “all the flaming arrows of the evil one,” (verse 16). The flaming arrows include Satan's temptations, doubt, fear, despair and confusion. He will try to bring them through all sorts of ways – directly into our thoughts or through the media, through a person or through circumstances. We refuse to compromise for anything that is contrary to God's word.
We trust his word even when the shortcut appears rewarding or when we cannot see how it will work out. In this way we are lifting up the shield of faith against Satan's attacks. There is no direct confrontation yet Satan is overcome as we fulfill our indirect role God has assigned us.
5) The helmet of salvation
Our salvation through Christ is the only treasure we will take with us after we die. Without it we would be heading for hell. It is the only treasure that the devil cannot take away from us. Like with Job, the Lord may allow him to take everything from us. Yet for as long as we remain trusting and having faith in God our salvation remains intact. Even if all fails we know the place God has prepared for us is better than the brief experiences on earth.
Next Part The sword of the Spirit