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Monday, March 06, 2006

The Armor of God (Part 3)

Ephesians 6:12 "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 heavenly realms."

While we may have struggles against flesh and blood in personal relationships or in our business dealings, or courntries war against each other, this is not where our battles lie as Christians. These types of battles are human or fleshly battles and not spiritual ones.

As a Christian, our battle is with Satan and his minions. The 'dark world' refers here to those not of Christ's light, but Satan and his demons - those who follow him. Matthew Henry's online commentary says this: "The combat for which we are to be prepared is not against ordinary human enemies, not barely against men compounded of flesh and blood, nor against our own corrupt natures singly considered, but against the several ranks of devils, who have a government which they exercies in this world." Satan and his devils are roaming the earth in search of not only finding people to join their forces (in other words those who deny Christ), but also to make war against those doing the work of the Lord - God's children.

We need to be on guard for Satan's attacks. He is cunning and sneaky. He knows our weaknesses and where to hit during an attack and is not afraid to use whatever means possible to strike. He is subtle and will tempt us, try to twist God's word around to cause doubt in us, cause oppression in the church, and manyother things. Mr. Henry's commentary goes on to say: "The devils are wicked spirits, and they chiefly annoy the saints with, and provoke them to, spiritual wickednesses, pride, envy, malice, etc. Our enemies strive to prevent our ascent to heaven, to deprive us of heavenly blessings and to obstruct our communion with heaven."

The Believer's Bible Commentary by William MacDonald states: "While it is true that the [demons and evil spirits] cannot indwell a true believer, they can oppress and harass him. The Christian should not be morbidly occupied with the subject of deomonism; neither should he live in fear of demons. In the armor of God, he has all he needs to hold his ground agains their onslaughts."

So, we need not fear Satan and his minions. We have God on our side and we have the protection of the full Armour of God, as well as God Himself. However, we do need to be aware and prepared for the attacks Satan will throw at us.

Satan will attack those who are doing God's work - we are a threat to him! If we aren't doing God's work we aren't a threat to Satan, and he won't bother us. However, doing the Lord's work will bring attacks that will be used to try to keep us from doing it. Satan wants us to be separated from God, to not be focused on Him and to not do His work. Don't let Satan have that chance with you.

My friends, as we are told, put on the full armor. Stand firm. God is with us, He is for us and not against us. God will equip us to fight the good fight!

8 comments:

kdoll aka *~Puzzle~* said...

And we have God on our sides, who is more powerful then the devil. we can take comfort in knowing we have God to help us.

Maggie Ann said...

Thats a good reminder Shelley..I like the scripture and commentary comments too. Your topic makes me think of the verse...'greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world'...in my own words there. Its soooo late and I'm tired, but had to come over and say Hi. I haven't been over to visit you for quite a while. I am thankful to have a working pc now...smile. Blessings to you friend.

Anonymous said...

oh, yes! God is on our side. He is for us and with us! thanks for that reminder. God bless. =)

Joe said...

Satan has been, is and always be defeated, but he keeps acting like he is not.

We must continually stand against him.

Good post!

Prayerful Knitter - Shelly said...

Thanks Shelley for posting all this great info. : )

BTW, I added this blog to my links on my blog today. I don't know how I missed adding this one when I had added your knitting blog. Sorry! I've corrected the oversight now. : )

Shelly in OK

Jennifer said...

"...but against the several ranks of devils, who have a government which they exercies in this world."

Wow. That is stunning to me for some reason. But no, we do not need to be afraid when we've got our armor on. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this series! Very useful and what a great study!

Hope you are getting some rest this week!

Bill said...

So often I find myself fighting the wrong battle and need to be reminded that my battle isnt against people but my battle is in the spiritual realm. Thanks for writing this.