Are You Ready for War?

Are you ready for war? It might strike you as an odd question. After all, unless you’re a soldier or you live in a country or area where conflict is prevalent, when would you ever be at war? But the Bible makes it clear that we are always at war. We have an enemy who seeks to destroy us. When we become a Christian, we emigrate from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Our emigration makes us mortal enemies to those who are still members of the kingdom of darkness. That means war…spiritual war…at any time at any place. We need to be ready.

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 tells us about the battlefield where this war takes place. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” The battlefield is in our mind. We use our spiritual weapons to demolish arguments, to demolish pretension, (some translations) to tear down walls that keep people from God’s truth, to smash warped philosophies. We hold thoughts captive and bring them into obedience to Christ. Satan doesn’t attack us with obvious weapons, instead he starts a smear campaign. It’s a campaign of whispers and innuendos. His attacks cause us to feel shame and guilt. They cause us to doubt ourselves, our identities, and the promises of God. It all happens in our mind.

So how do you fight a war on the battlefield of your mind? What kinds of weapons do you use? As with any battle, you have offensive and defensive weapons. Offensive weapons are for the attack. Defensive weapons help you defend against the attacks of the enemy. We have both types of weapons in our arsenal, but we have more defensive weapons than offensive weapons. Why? Because ultimately, the war has already been won. Jesus defeated Satan at Calvary. He won the war. We fight battles only because Satan doesn’t realize he’s already been defeated and because oftentimes we don’t realize that Satan has already been defeated. That’s why we fight a mostly defensive battle. We don’t need to take territory from Satan because that territory has already been taken. Instead, we need to realize the territory that is already ours and defend it from Satan’s whisper campaign.

THE ARMOR OF GOD:

The armor of God is our defensive weaponry. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11-17 about the different pieces of the armor of God.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ 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 Lord’s people.

Ephesians 6:11-18

Belt of Truth: The belt of truth is the most essential piece of the armor. It doesn’t sound like it. I mean it’s a belt. Why would a belt be an essential piece of equipment? Because the belt held many of the other pieces of weaponry together. The sword hung in a scabbard from the belt. The shield could be clipped to the belt. The pouch that carried his arrows was attached to the belt. Even the breastplate was attached to the belt. Without the belt, all the armor could come apart! Our belt of truth is the written Word of God. All our other pieces of armor rest on the foundation of God’s Word. That’s why we put the belt of truth on first. The Word of God must be central to our lives. Everything else depends upon it. If you remove God’s Word from its central place of importance, other pieces of your armor will lose their effectiveness. You may even lose your armor altogether!

Breastplate of righteousness: This piece of armor protects your heart and central organs from attack. Protecting our heart is incredibly important. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Jesus told us that it is out of the abundance of our hearts that our mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). We produce good fruit from the good stored up in our hearts (Luke 6:45). We have the breastplate of righteousness because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin [Jesus Christ] to be sin^] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” When God looks at us, He no longer sees our sin. Instead, He sees the righteousness of Christ. We are hidden in Christ. Through Christ, we are made righteous. See why knowing God’s Word is essential for the rest of your armor? Knowledge of the word reinforces that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That’s your breastplate of righteousness–the knowledge of who you are in Christ. Your identity guards your heart. It deflects all Satan’s attacks on your identity. Those feelings of guilt and shame? Gone. Why? Because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Shoes/Greaves of Peace: Greaves are pieces of metal that wrapped around the lower legs to protect a soldier from being bruised or scraped. The shoes of a Roman soldier were covered with thick leather on top and spiked hobnails on the tip of the toe and back of the heel. They were also heavily spiked underneath. The shoes of a Roman soldier were definitely weapons! Paul uses the Greek term hupodeomai when he tells us to have our feet “shod.” According to Rick Renner, Greek scholar, this word conveys the idea of binding something very tightly on the bottom of one’s feet. These shoes not only protected the soldiers legs from rough terrain while he walked, they also kept him firmly in place during battle. When we have God’s peace, we are protected from any harassment the devil sends our way. We can’t be pushed around. We can’t be moved. We have a firm footing. The peace of God keeps us marching forward. How do we get this peace? Philippians 4:6-7 says we get it from praying properly: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.“

Shield of Faith: The shield that Roman soldiers used was roughly the size of a door. It could be linked with the shields of other soldiers to form a phalanx. It was covered with a leather hide that had to be lubricated each day so that arrows would slide off and fall to the ground instead of sticking in place. Paul uses the Greek word thureos here, which is an oblong door that was wide in width and long in length. This is no tiny shield. It’s huge! God has given us the measure of faith necessary to keep us completely covered (Romans 12:3). The key is to maintain our shield. Without regular care and maintenance, Roman shields became brittle, stiff, and breakable. We don’t want to go into battle with a brittle shield! Every morning, the soldier would rub oil onto his shield. We need to do the same. We need to make sure we are applying the Holy Spirit’s anointing oil to our shield of faith every single day. We need a fresh touch of God’s Spirit every day. Also, these shields linked together to form the phalanx. If you’re in the midst of a particularly difficult battle, link your faith with others for some added protection against the attack of the enemy.

Helmet of salvation: The helmet of a Roman soldier was especially fitted to his head. Paul uses the Greek word perikephalaia to describe this piece of armor, which means a piece of armor that fits very tightly around the head. These helmets were ornate and noticeable. Your salvation is the same. God has given us a gorgeous, elaborate, precious gift: the gift of salvation. When we are saved, our spirits are made new. We become new people. Our salvation sets us apart. It should make us stand out. It should be noticeable. When we have a complete knowledge of our salvation and what it means in our lives, we are immune to the attacks of the enemy in our minds. We are protected when he tries to steal from us. Like a firm understanding of our identity guards our hearts like a breastplate, a firm understanding of our salvation guards our minds like a helmet.

Sword of the Spirit: What image comes to mind when you hear the word “sword?” Something like this?

Paul uses the word machaira here. It looked more like this:

This was a dagger-type sword. It was approximately 19 inches in length and was inserted into a victim at close range. In fact, this sword was only used in close combat. It was razor sharp on both sides of the blade. The tip was turned upward, possibly even twisted so that it would shred the insides of the victim. This sword was a terrifying weapon that left a horrible wound! Paul says the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The Greek word used here for word is rhema. Rhema refers to the spoken word of God. It is a quickened word. Rick Renner gives this explanation for rhema words:

You are praying about a situation when suddenly a Bible verse rises from within your heart. In that moment, you know that God has supernaturally made you aware of a verse you can stand on and claim for your situation. When this happens, it’s as if the Holy Spirit put a sword in your hand–a spiritual dagger–that you can insert into the heart of the enemy to bring about his defeat.

Because rhema is a spoken word, we not only need God to speak to us the verse we are to use. We need to speak it ourselves. This is one of two offensive weapons mentioned in the Ephesians passage.

Lance of supplication and prayer: This is the final weapon mentioned in Ephesians 6:18. It isn’t listed as a specific piece of armor, but it’s important nonetheless and as a standard component of Roman armor, it would be a part of the “whole armor of God.” The lance gave the soldier the ability to strike his enemy at a distance. The lances used by the Roman army were diverse. They varied in size, shape, and length. This affected the distance they could be thrown, so a soldier would choose a lance based on his intent in using it. Just as there were many different types of lances for many different purposes, there are many different types of prayer. Using the lance of prayer helps us attack the enemy from a distance, before his schemes get close enough to do any damage. We can use the prayer of faith, the prayer of agreement,, the prayer of intercession, the prayer of supplication, the prayer of petition, the prayer of consecration, the prayer of thanksgiving, united prayer, the prayer of praise, etc. We need to fit our prayer to the situation in order for it to be effective. That’s why Paul instructs us to “pray with all kinds of prayer.” Without our lance, Satan has an opening to get a lot closer to us in his attacks.

It’s clear God has supplied us with everything we need for the spiritual battles that we face. He has given us defensive armor and the offensive weapons of His Word and prayer. There’s no need to be unprepared for the enemy’s attacks. We know the enemy will come. We know he will try to attack us, but now we know how to put on the whole armor of God and stand firm in defense of our territory in the Kingdom of God.