Be Forewarned and Forearmed!
There are people who walk through this life ambivalent as to the dangers that are all around them. It is not a faith they have, rather a kind of blindness that just does not pay attention. This should not be true of the saints of the Living God. Our Father God has not only prepared us to be forewarned of dangers, but also to be forearmed – He prepared tools for the battle before it is even fought:
10-18 In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organisations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil. Therefore you must wear the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women. Ephesians 6:10-18 (PHILLIPS)
I chose this translation of this familiar passage because there are some key expressions. First of all, God never wants us to be so cocky that we feel as if the strength lies within ourselves. Yet, He wants us to know there is a "boundless resource" of power available to us. He knows more than we could possibly know that the war we are going to have to fight is not a regular war. Unseen forces surround us with evil beyond our natural imagination. The enemy of our soul does not ever intend to fight a fair fight!
Yet, God ha given us tools that will take that evil force out every time! We must however put on the whole armor – we must be covered from head to toe with the tools of salvation, righteousness, the gospel of peace and constantly have ready the sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God. The protector or shield that protects us is our faith, able to withstand the most severe fiery attacks. And because we neither can see with our natural eye the origin of attack, or know how long we will be attacked, we must pray and pray without ceasing.
The question is always asked, "will we always be in warfare"? The answer unfortunately is, "yes"! The good news however is that as we become more familiar with the tools of our trade, and as we become more familiar with the tricks of the enemy we learn how to be an overcomer in shorter periods of time. We recognize that ultimately God has ALL POWER, and we need not fear the enemy. We learn to trust in our Heavenly Father and our eyes become sharper to see beyond the attack to the ensuing victory!
We conclude our look at Ephesians today; by no means did we exhaust the richness of this book, but we hope it stirred your heart to read, re-read, and feed upon the glorious riches of this epistle.
God Bless You,
Maria