Introduction

Paul urges us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

We have been urged to walk in various ways since chapter 4:

We once walked in darkness
Now we are walking in good works
Worthy of our calling
In love
As children of light
In wisdom

But our walk with God is no walk in the park.

Standing Against the Enemy

Ephesians 6:10–12 ESV

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² 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.

In Ephesians 6:10-12 we are told that we need strength and protection because we are also standing, wrestling not against flesh and blood but against:

the rulers
against the authorities
against the cosmic powers
against the spiritual forces of evil

Mankind is in the midst of a conflict and there is no escaping it. We are either standing with our brothers and sisters in Christ or we are standing with the Devil.

It is too easy to loose sight of the struggle that we are a apart of. So easy that we forget we were ever to struggle in the first place.

We’re in this weird position where we believe the word of God, which features plenty of supernatural events: miracles, angels, demons, unclean spirits, exorcisms, and plenty else. But when we hear people talk about those things today we tend to raise the eyebrow.

I’m pretty well set in the Cessationist camp when it comes to modern miracles. I believe Jesus and the apostles did plenty, but until someone can heal me of my blindness I’m confident that those signs were only needed within a specific point in history.

And that thinking gets applied to anything supernatural. I don’t see miracles so that must have been a thing of the past. I also don’t see demons, exorcisms, or unclean spirits except in the movies. So that stuff was only in the past, right?

Is it?

The nature of our faith is believing in things that are not always seen with the eyes, felt with the hand, or heard with the ear. Just as much as we believe that God is for us, we need to believe that there are other unseen forces that are against us.

And it’s not just the culture war out there:

Gay and trans rights
Gender roles
Abortion, etc.

I think we can definitely attribute plenty of the mess we find ourselves in because of the devils influence. You look at the book of Job and, with God’s permission, he is able to stir up the Sabeans, the Chaldeans, a great wind, a great fire, and then take away Job’s health.

But Paul also tells us we need to resist the schemes of the devil. That’s craftiness and deceit. That’s how he got Eve to eat the forbidden fruit without telling her to eat the forbidden fruit. There’s more we need to stand against than open and obvious attacks.

Sowing division when God wants unity
Convincing you that your so righteous like the Pharisees
Convincing you that you really know God even when scripture disagrees
Sneaking in though all the entertainment and media that we consume

Standing in God’s Armor

We are in a struggle, and we are hopelessly outclassed.

Peter writes that the devil walks around like a lion, seeking people to devour. There was a survey done, and 8% of men in the US believe they could take on a lion in a fist-fight and win.

We can’t win against a lion, and we can’t win against the devil, sin, and death. If we’re going to go up against this without any of God’s help then we are doomed. We can’t rely on self-will, self-discipline, and a bit of hard work to resist what we’ve been set up against.

We’re going to need help. Thankfully God has given that in abundance.

First, we need to remember that we have been empowered by God

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Our second lesson in Ephesians was about how God demonstrated his power through the resurrection of Jesus, seating him at his right hand in heaven. Paul writes that that same power is also at work for us, which he reminds us of again here.

Part of that strength is the armor of God which he provides us with.

Ephesians 6:13–17 ESV

¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

Paul tells us that we need to stand four times. If I’m in any kind of battle and I don’t have armor, chances are I’m getting mowed down or running away. Even if I’m only missing one or two pieces I’m scared out of my mind. Who wants to enter a warzone without a helmet? Without this armor we can’t withstand the devil.

This is not just godly armor – but the very armor that God himself is said to wear throughout the book of Isaiah. By putting his armor on we’re not just putting on these blessings or qualities – we’re taking up the same fight that God is engaged in.

Our tools are:

Truth – so that we can see the lies of the devil
Righteousness – showing the world what the image of God is to look like
The Gospel of Peace – to continue on God’s work of reconciliation between himself and all people
Faith – so we can carry on through our doubts and worries
Salvation is one of our most critical pieces of defense as the helmet

Remember that in your fight
You have truth on your side – they hide behind lies
We are spreading the news that God is king – they’re the rebels
They’re naked and afraid with less than cardboard for protection
We have actual armor

Notice how God has given us so much to defend ourselves, and only one weapon – the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

We can defend ourselves by knowing truth, righteousness, faith and so on – but we conquer the enemy with God’s word. Remember back to Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.

Turn these stones to bread!
Cast yourself off the temple!
Bow down to me!

And Jesus was able to counter every temptation with scripture.

Isaiah

Whenever we talk about Christian living in military terms it can lead some to a Navy SEALS, charge in, guns blazing, take no prisoners attitude. and it can develop a very strong Us vs. Them attitude. But when we look at how God wages war in his armor we see that it’s much more of a rescue operation than anything else.

There area couple of places in Isaiah where God dresses himself in the armor that Paul describes:

In Isaiah 59, the land i full of violence. people run to evil, and there is no peace.

Isaiah 59:9 ESV

⁹ Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

we hope for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

Isaiah 59:15–16 (ESV)

¹⁵ … The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

¹⁶ He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

Isaiah 59:17 ESV

¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

God saw that there was no justice, that we walked around in darkness. And when he put his armor on he didn’t do it so he could slay us – but rescue us. He wonders why there is nobody to interceded on our behalf so he does it himself – bringing us from darkness to light.

Ephesians 5:8 ESV

⁸ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

We’re in the light because God put his armor on and rescued us.

Application

These passages help us understand how we’re to wage the war we’re fighting in. It is first and foremost a rescue operation, and the result is peace.

Remember what Paul said in verse 12

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

¹² 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.

People are not the enemy – the devil is the enemy. People are simply the devils pawns. Paul has a similar thought in 2 Timothy 2:24-26

2 Timothy 2:24–26 ESV

²⁴ And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵ correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Those people we’re trying to teach have been captured. We’re using God’s tools to free them, turning enemies into family, and make peace.

God has given us truth, righteousness, faith, etc. and we are in turn to bring it to the world.

Standing in Prayer

Our final tool used to stand against the enemy is prayer.

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Prayer is a lifeline that we take for granted all to often. I’ve always likened it to having a direct line to the president who would drop everything to listen to your problems and see what he could do about it. It’s the secret weapon in our arsenal.

Always

Paul says that we’re supposed to be praying at all times. It’s not just a practice or a habit – it needs to be a lifestyle.

In the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the British were gearing up for a siege against American forces. A supply ship was to sail up ahead to a drop-off point to deliver the seige equipment ahead of time so that the army would march right to it, pick it up, and carry on the assault. But when the British forces arrived at the pickup – there was nothing there. Nobody told the supply ship to make the delivery.

How many disasters could we avoid if we took the time to communicate with God?

All Prayers

Second, Paul says pray with all prayer and supplication. Pray all of your prayers to God, no matter how you feel about them.

You could even pray like this to him:

Psalm 137:8–9 ESV

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who repays you

with what you have done to us!

⁹ Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock!

… In Jesus name amen?

The cool thing about God is that he wants us to talk to him in any kind of emotional state that we find ourselves in. If I’m in a place where I want to slam babies against rocks I can still talk to God about it. We won’t stay in the place – but I can bring it to God so he can help me through it all.

Sometimes our prayers might be inexpressible. How are we feeling? Ugh…

Cool

Romans 8:26 ESV

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

The Spirit can take even the ugh prayer and bring it to God and translate it for us.

Persevering

Third, we need to persevere in prayer.

Ephesians 6:18 ESV

¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

This implies that I’m not going to get everything I pray for.

Plenty of you know about my Mormon friend. I was looking for bible studies so ordered a couple of missionaries off the Mormon website. Was able to show a lot of things to one of them and really rocked his boat.

A few years go by and he’s still Mormon. Last year he reached out to me out of the blue again and we had some really good talks and he’s much more critical of the Mormon faith, but he’s still a part of it.

I could give up and let him alone, or, I could keep praying with perseverance that he would come to the truth – because we still got plenty of time for him to be saved.

Pray for All

And finally Paul says that we need to pray for everyone – even him!

Ephesians 6:19–20 ESV

¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

It’s easy to look at Paul as the super apostle who was above everybody else in evangelistic zeal. the guy was beaten, stoned, left for dead, imprisoned, you name it! But he still kept going on. If anybody was bold – it was Paul.

But he still says he needs prayers, specifically for boldness. Even after his track record of being brave for God, Paul needed God’s help.

I hope that we can be more willing to open up to each other and ask for prayers.

Not just for being sick
Would you pray for me to be a better father? A better preacher?

Conclusion

God has given us so much. Since the beginning of Ephesians with every spiritual blessing of adoption, redemption, and an inheritance, to the body of Christ in chapter 5, to the song we sing in chapter 5, and now the armor of God and prayer here in chapter 6 – we have an abundance of resources that God is raining down on us so that we would stand firm together.