When a soldier is sent into war, he is issued protective gear. In modern warfare this may consist of a helmet, boots, a belt for carrying a canteen, mess kit, ammunition, basic medical supplies, grenades, a knife, and a gun of some sort. In some cases, a flack jacket may be included, especially when shrapnel from exploding shells and grenades is expected. At other times, gas masks and haz-mat suits might be included. It depends on what he is expected to encounter. Roman soldiers, which were the norm in Paul’s day, carried different weaponry, which is mentioned in Ephesians Chapter Six. Some equipment is also for offense, but all of it can be used defensively. In war, soldiers are expected to defend the ground they already have conquered and to take new ground as directed. The general objective is to stay alive in the process, but at times one may be expected to sacrifice his life to save others or achieve victory. Spiritual warfare has similar goals.

The Bible teaches us that Satan roams the earth looking for people to devour. (1Peter 5:8) His desire is to kill, steal, and destroy by any means possible. (John 10:10) He is after men, women, and children. He does not care whether we have declared ourselves as official combatants or not. The more naive, vulnerable, and unprepared we are, the better. He loves to use “should be” protectors, such as parents and teachers, to betray little ones and open them to attack. He is vicious, unscrupulous, and unrelenting.

As soldiers, our first order of business is to learn how to protect ourselves.

Chapter Six of Ephesians contains a classic passage on spiritual warfare quoted below.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:10–20 (NASB95) —

God has given us spiritual armor and weapons that we use to protect ourselves, defend ground, and advance against the enemy. Whenever new ground is taken, we must always be prepared for a counterattack. Flanking, or coming around behind, is an age old tactic used to encircle and destroy an enemy. We cannot afford to make advances without watching our backside, so to speak. We must realize that the enemy loves to attack us when we have just won a victory and have let our guard down.

Here are some salient points about each part of our armor, mainly from a defensive standpoint. I plan to address the offensive nature of warfare more extensively in the next article.

The Battle Is the Lord’s

The first important principle is for us to realize that this is, at its core, not really our fight at all. It is God’s.

We fight in the strength of his might, but we do fight and put our lives at risk. When David went up against Goliath, he understood that his victory over that giant would be through God’s help. Nevertheless, he had to face him and risk death to experience God’s victory. We do well to adopt this great warrior’s mindset as illustrated in the passage below.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:45–47 (NASB95) —

Stand Firm against the Devil’s Schemes

The next thing we need to keep in mind is that we are up against a superior tactician. He lacks wisdom but is very cunning.

He has observed and plotted against people for millennia and knows what works. Therefore, we must rely upon God’s wisdom when we go to battle. This wisdom is found in the Bible and is directly available to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must know the scriptures and be alert to the Spirit’s guidance.

Since the devil cannot bring a curse against us for no reason, he schemes to bring God’s judgment and discipline upon us by leading us into sin.

Some of the devil’s schemes involve luring us into sexual sin, idolizing riches over God, loving power and prestige over being God’s servant, bitterness, pride, envy, etc. He also likes to spring traps on us when we presumptuously venture outside of God’s will. Another scheme of the devil is to attack at the beginning of our ministry or even when we are mere children. We see this in the life of Jesus and other key figures such as Moses and King David. As someone wisely said, the best time to kill a bear is when it is a cub. Here are some wise words from the apostle Paul.

But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:10–11 (NASB95) —

We need God’s wisdom and good counsel from others to achieve victory over the devil’s schemes.

Prepare plans by consultation, And make war by wise guidance. Proverbs 20:18 (NASB95) —

If we keep in mind the cunning treachery of the devil, we can set up defenses that thwart his plans.

God is always wiser and more creative than the devil, who lacks wisdom and the ability to foresee God’s creative counterattacks.

During Absalom’s rebellion, King David understood that Ahithophel’s counsel could be his undoing; so, he sent his good friend, Hushai the Archite, to persuade Absalom to reject Ahithophel’s counsel. By appealing to Absalom’s vanity and desire to assure himself a victory, he led Absalom to reject Ahithophel’s counsel which led to Absalom’s ultimate defeat.

Identify the Combatants

Friendly fire is always a hazard on the battlefield. In spiritual warfare, it is important for us to know who is and who is not the enemy. Paul wrote that we do not battle against people, but against an implacable spiritual enemy. People always have the possibility of switching sides before death. Fierce enemies can become strong proponents of the gospel, as happened with Paul. This is one reason Jesus told us to love our enemies, meaning other people who align themselves with wickedness and against us. We are never supposed to love evil spirits, however. We hate them with a perfect hatred, as did King David.

Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. Psalm 139:21–22 (NASB95) —

When humans give themselves over to evil and harden their hearts against God, they may become enemies with whom we must fight. This often happens when nations go to war or when our families need defending. In WWII, Hitler aligned himself with abominable lies and drew power from occult sources. He and his henchmen used the German people to help carry out their evil scheme to subjugate the world. Many of the German foot soldiers had no idea what they were doing spiritually, but they became enemies which had to be destroyed in order to keep evil from prevailing in the world. Absalom gave himself over to evil when he turned against his father, King David, and tried to wrest the kingdom from him. God used General Joab to put an end to his life, which was the only possible solution with such an evil and implacable enemy. Such punishments are in the domain of governments. We are not to take vengeance into our own hands. However, self-defense is always justified, except perhaps in the case of when we are persecuted for our faith in Jesus, when we are told to “turn the other cheek.” Being able to forgive a persecutor because we recognize he or she is deceived and being manipulated by Satan takes great faith and courage.

We are encouraged to direct our warfare at the real enemy – spiritual wickedness in every form, from principalities and powers to demons oppressing individuals.

Stand Firm

We put on the armor of God in order to be able to withstand enemy assaults. Those of us who are born again are able to stand because we are seated with Christ on God’s throne (Ephesians 2:6). God has invested us with Christ’s authority which is enforced by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has given us authority over the powers of darkness and promised us that nothing can harm us. (Luke 10:19) We war against Satan and his minions in the authority and power of God. The battle is the Lord’s.

God permits us to be tested whether we will allow Satan’s lies and attacks to move us away from our faith in God’s love and faithfulness.

Satan tries to force Christ’s followers to blaspheme and deny their allegiance to Christ. Retaining our confession of faith in the face of tribulation makes us overcomers who will be richly rewarded.

And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Revelation 12:11 (NLT) —

The Spiritual Armor

• Truth is the first piece of armor mentioned, which is not surprising since Satan’s main weapon is deception. Unless we learn to rely on God’s truth more than on anything else, we are liable to be duped. Eve trusted in what she beheld and felt more than upon God’s words, leading to her downfall. If we determine to put our faith in God’s Word, we will have to learn to ignore what seems to be contradictory evidence. Jesus trusted in his calling and identity as the Messiah despite being ridiculed, tortured, and nailed to a cross, knowing that he would be raised from the dead. (Hebrews 12:3) We are encouraged to adopt the attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who declared that God would keep them from dying in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, but even if he did not, they would not worship his image. Trusting in God’s Word against the pull of contradictory evidence makes us overcomers who refuse to commit Eve’s sin of disloyalty to God.
• Righteousness is the second piece of armor. Satan accuses us before God day and night. Our sin earned for us condemnation and death, but Jesus took that upon himself, liberating us from all guilt and punishment. This is called justification. Only God has the authority to condemn us, but he is now the one who justifies us. Nevertheless, Satan seeks to drag us away from our place of faith and confidence and convince us that we are still unacceptable before God in order to destroy our confidence and boldness. We must learn to stand in the truth of justification if we are to be overcomers.
• The gospel is our third piece of armor. Understanding, believing, receiving, and sharing the gospel is both a defensive and offensive weapon. The gospel is a proclamation of freedom through Christ from the devil’s tyranny. We first believe and receive its message. Then we pass it on. This is one of those cases in which the best defense is a good offense. If we actively share the gospel, we will be insulated to a great extent from the devil’s attacks upon our minds and hearts. We will experience push back in other ways because the devil will always resists the gospel.
• The shield of faith negates the attacks of the enemy. When evil words are spoken over us or evil circumstances befall us, faith enables us to see things from God’s perspective and keeps our focus on him and his love and faithfulness to his promises. A shield keeps the arrows of the enemy from penetrating to our heart where faith resides.
• The helmet of salvation protects our minds from fear and hopelessness. The battle is primarily fought in the mind (a part of the soul, which also includes our will and emotions). If Satan’s lies reside in our minds, we will have difficulty believing God and his promises. Once we cast down such logical strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4), we can fortify our minds against lies ever again getting a foothold by wearing the helmet of salvation, which is related to prayer. Paul promised that if we take everything to God in prayer, he will guard our hearts and minds. (Philippians 4:6-7)
• The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It is both a defensive and an offensive weapon. The Word of God includes the gospel and all of God’s promises. There is a prophetic element to the Word of God. When it is authoritatively proclaimed through confession, preaching, prayer, and prophecy, it releases the power of God to fulfill God’s purposes. (Isaiah 61) It will not return without accomplishing everything God intends. (Isaiah 55:11) Jesus used it to defend himself against the devil’s temptations and lies, and so can we. Every time the gospel is preached, the Word of God advances the kingdom. The gates of hell shall not be able to withstand it. (Matthew 16:18)
• Prayer is the final piece of armor. Jesus told us that the “flesh is weak,” which is a big reason for us to pray that we might not enter temptation. (Matthew 6:13, Mark 14:38) Prayer keeps us in right relationship with God and reminds us how dependent upon him we are, which is a key to our strength. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Conclusion

Whether we like it or not, we are at war with the enemies of Christ. Even though he rendered Satan powerless at Calvary, he did not annihilate him. Rather, he left our spiritual enemies in place for the time being so that we can share in the final victory. In unity with Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, the church will arise to crush Satan under our feet, thus fulfilling the prophecy given in the Garden. (Genesis 3:15)

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:20 (NASB95) —