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We are
in a battle. It is an invisible battle, but it
is a very real battle. It is a war between God
and Satan, good angels and fallen angels, good
and evil, life and death, Heaven and Hell. It
is a battle for the souls of human beings.
Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His
might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you
will be able to stand firm against the schemes
of the devil. We are in a battle, and in
this battle we are facing very powerful enemies.
We are not strong enough in ourselves for this
battle. The strongest human being is too weak
to be in this battle on his own. Our enemies are
too strong for us, but we have an Ally who is
far stronger than them. Our ally is the almighty
Lord of Hosts. He is infinitely stronger than
all of our enemies, and He is able to share His
strength with us.
We can
be victorious in this battle, but only if our
strength is “in the Lord.” Strength
to be victorious in this war comes from being
joined to Adonai, and knowing who He is, and placing
our faith, our trust, our confidence in Him and
His Word. We must be reconciled to Him. We must
get connected to Him. We must be close to Him.
We must avail ourselves of His mighty strength.
We must
know our Ally. And, we must know our enemies.
When you are going to war, it is important to
know your enemies. We need to understand that
human beings are not our enemies. For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood.
It seems like our battle is with human beings
who oppose us, who oppress us, who want to hurt
us. We can see them, and experience the hurt they
can do to us, but human beings are not our enemies.
We love
human beings who may hate us. We bless them when
they curse us. Like the Messiah, we pray for them
when they are harming us, praying: “Father
forgive them, because they really don’t
know what they are doing.” We do good to
human beings who are in darkness. Human beings
can be converted, saved, redeemed. We bless them,
we do good to them, we bring them the message
of love, redemption and salvation.
Human
beings are not our enemies. They may seem to be
our enemies, but our struggle is not against fellow
human beings. Instead, our war is against invisible
evil spirits who can’t be saved or redeemed.
Our real enemies are fallen angels who oppose
God and are opposed to us. 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. Our enemies
not flesh and blood, but they are real. They are
invisible to the human eye, but they are real.
They are non-physical, but they are real. They
have access to this physical realm, but are not
themselves physical.
They have
access to heavenly places but that doesn't mean
that our battle with them takes place in Heaven.
The battle takes place in our minds, in our wills,
in our spirits, in our hearts. It is battle between
embracing or rejecting good and evil, corrupting
morality or keeping morality, embracing true religion
or false religion. It is a fight to keep people
close to or far from the Good News about salvation,
from Messiah the Redeemer, from God the Father
who loves us, from the Holy Spirit who can transform
us, from the Word, from the community of saints,
from service, from goodness, from love.
Our enemies
are organized: There is an authority structure
among them. These fallen angels are organized
into rulers and powers. The devil is their leader.
But, there are leaders under him. It seems that
some fallen angels are in charge of other fallen
angels. Some fallen angels are assigned various
positions of power over the darkened world of
humanity.
Our enemies
are intelligent. The devil is a schemer. To scheme
involves planning. He is a smart, intelligent,
crafty being. Our enemies plan for this battle.
They study us. They know our weaknesses and try
to exploit them.
Our enemies
are powerful. They have powers. They are forces.
They wield authority which extends over this fallen
world.
Our enemies
are wicked. They are rebels against God and corrupters
of humanity. They try to ruin and corrupt humanity
and keep us from salvation by corrupting what
is right, what is good, what is true, especially
in the area of true religion.
Our enemies
are dark. They bring chaos, confusion, error and
deception to humanity that leads to defeat and
death.
But, our
enemies can be successfully opposed! We can struggle
against them and win! We can stand firm, and hold
the spiritual ground that the Lord has given to
us. How? By being well-connected to the Lord and
putting on the armor of God. It’s the armor
of God because God provides it and Immanuel, God
With Us, Himself wore it when He lived among us
as a human being.
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. Someone observed
that all of us have areas where we are weak, and
our enemies look for chinks in our armor so that
they can exploit our weaknesses. But the good
news is that all our vulnerabilities can be off
limits to the evil spirits if they are properly
covered with armor. The armor covers our weak
spots and makes them unreachable to the enemy.
But there's a catch; only the full armor can protect
us. Partial armor won't do the job. Even if you
were to put on most of the pieces it still wouldn't
be enough; only the full armor will do.
Having
girded your loins with truth, and having put on
the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod
your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of
peace.
The belt
of truth buckled around your waist: The belt keeps
the rest of the garments properly attached to
the body. The belt supports the mid-section. That
region of the body is vulnerable to sexual temptation.
We must stay away from sexual sin. Sexual activity
outside of the God-ordained boundary of marriage
is destructive to us. Truth is like a belt. There
is such a thing as truth - absolute truth. We
can and should know what really is. We must be
supported, held up, by the truth. Sexual temptation
is common, and giving into it is very destructive.
We particularly need the truth to protect us from
sexual sin. Knowing that the Word of the Lord
teaches us to keep sexual activity within the
marriage relationship will keep us safe.
The
breastplate of righteousness: The breastplate
covers our chest area which includes vital organs
like the heart and lungs. We need righteousness
to be protected. We must be in a right relationship
with God, which comes through the atonement provided
by the Messiah. Then, we must live by the principles
for right living that are found in the Word of
God. We must get right with God, and stay right
with God. Not being in a right relationship with
God and neglecting what is right will leave a
hole in our armor that exposes us to harm.
Our feet
need to be fitted with the readiness that comes
from the Good News of peace: When in battle it's
essential to have the proper footwear. A soldier
is easier to kill if he slips and falls while
in hand to hand combat. Knowing the Gospel of
Peace - the Good News about the peace that God
has provided through the Messiah - peace with
God, and the end of hostilities with our Creator,
and having a wholesome relationship with Him,
brings us a personal, inner peace in the midst
of this conflict. It keeps us from falling.
But it
doesn't stop there because the placement of this
armor on our feet indicates we are also to be
messengers of the Good News. The readiness of
the Gospel of Peace means that we are to be prepared
at all times to give a reason for the hope that
is in us. We are to be going about our daily tasks
with the goal of telling others the Good News
that God has made it possible for them to have
peace with Him, and experience peace that passes
all human understanding.
You've
heard it said, “The best defense is a good
offense?” Going on the offensive with the
Message of Salvation protects us. It helps us
walk and live the right way. It helps us hold
our ground. When we are actively bringing the
Good News to other people on a regular basis,
we are helped. Telling others the truth is not
only good for them, but it is also strengthens
the one who is witnessing!
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. Roman
soldiers, and maybe Jewish soldiers also, carried
a shield that protected them. It was better if
the enemies’ flaming arrows landed on their
shield rather than on them. Faith is our shield.
Faith is trust, confidence, belief and reliance
in the God of Israel and in His divinely inspired
Word. Do you believe in Him? Do you trust Him?
Do you have confidence in the accuracy and reliability
of the Special Writings?
Our demonic
enemies will attack us with various temptations,
which are like arrows that have been set on fire
and shot at us. We will be encouraged to cheat,
steal, lie, cut moral and ethical corners, lose
our tempers, strike out in anger, cheat against
our husbands and wives.
We will
be enticed to not witness, not to come to be part
of the synagogue, not to serve, not to practices
our spiritual disciplines; to believe that God
doesn’t love us, that our trials will be
too hard, that we should curse God and die. Keep
those shields up! Reliance on God, belief that
the Lord is good and true and faithful and just,
and completely pure and righteous and merciful
and kind, and that He cares for us, and loves
us and knows what is best for us, and won’t
allow us to be tested more than we are able to
endure, will prevent those arrows from piercing
us.
And
take the helmet of salvation. It can be easier
to kill a soldier if he isn't wearing a helmet.
The helmet protects the vital area of the head.
We need our heads protected. We need our minds
protected. Salvation protects our minds. The knowledge
that we are forgiven, and that we are going to
live forever with God, protects our minds from
the onslaughts of the enemy. We need to know the
Savior. We must be saved, and know that we are
saved. We must know Yeshua, the One who saves
His people from their sins.
And
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God. The sword can be used as a defensive
weapon and as an offensive weapon. The sword is
the Word of God. When we are attacked, we must
go to the Scriptures. We must remind ourselves
of what the Word of God teaches.
Messiah
showed us how to do this when He was being tempted
in the desert. He responded to the Adversary’s
first temptation to do wrong by answering, “It
is written.” He responded to the second
temptation by answering, “It is written.”
He responded the third time, "Begone Satan,
for it is written." If the Captain of the
Lord of Hosts defended Himself with God's Word,
shouldn’t we fortify ourselves against Satan's
attacks in the same way? We need to become familiar
with the Word of God so that we can use it when
we are tempted. That is how we use the Sword of
the Spirit for defense.
We use
the Sword of the Spirit on the offensive when
we teach people the Scriptures. We teach them
what the Word of God says about God, salvation,
righteous living. We teach them how to have a
successful life in this world, and eternal life
in the World-To-Come.
Messiah
Yeshua Himself used this armor. Isaiah 11:5 and
59:16-17, which Rabbi Paul quotes here, are prophecies
about the Messiah. They tell us that Messiah would
put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness
and the helmet of salvation. If the Son of God
needed the protection of truth, righteousness
and salvation when He came into this world, how
much more do we?
Prayer
is not described as part of the armor, but maybe
it follows because it can help us so much in this
great battle we are in. With all prayer and
petition (with all kinds of requests) pray
at all times (someone wrote that praying
at all times means that every incident in life
should be dealt with in prayer. Anything of significance,
whether it be our circumstances or our own thoughts
and feelings or the needs of others, should be
brought to God. Prayer must become a healthy life-habit
that has to be learned, like brushing your teeth
and washing your face) in the Spirit
(prayer that is guided by the Spirit of God, praying
for the things the Spirit of God wants us to pray
for, particularly), and with this in view,
be on the alert with all perseverance and petition
for all the saints. We are to be alert when
it comes to prayer. We are to be aware of the
need to pray. We are to be thinking about the
need to pray, especially the need to pray for
our fellow Christians and Messianic Jews throughout
the world. We are to pray with endurance for other
believers. Pray for them, and keep on praying
for them. Pray for the saints, that the children
of God will be victorious in this battle, resist
the onslaughts of our enemies, that we will stand
firm, hold our spiritual ground. Pray that the
ones who are set apart to accomplish God’s
special purposes will be bold, be righteous, be
holy, be pure, be moral, be uncompromising, stay
within God-ordained boundaries, be unified, be
full of love, full of truth.
Remember,
Paul was writing this letter from prison. His
circumstances were not the best. He was in prison
for being a godly mean who told the truth. If
you were unfairly imprisoned, and could ask for
your brothers and sisters to pray for you, what
would you ask them to pray for? For your freedom?
That you be released? Here is what the Apostle
asked them to pray for: 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, for which I am an ambassador in
chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly,
as I ought to speak. Paul does not ask them
to pray that he be released, that if he goes to
trial, that he trial goes his way. He does not
ask that he be given more comforts. He asks them
to pray that he would be bold, courageous in a
difficult situation, uncompromising in the face
of danger.
But
that you also may know about my circumstances,
how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother
and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything
known to you. I have sent him to you for this
very purpose, so that you may know about us, and
that he may comfort your hearts.
Peace
be to the brothers, and love with faith, from
God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
In other words, may God the Father and Messiah
the Son give you wholeness, so that you experience
integrity in every aspect of your life; and may
the Father and the Son continually care for you
and enhance your life. May the Father and the
Son enable you to have faith, to believe and trust
in Them, and be faithful to them.
Grace
(may unmerited, undeserved, unearned good things
come to and) be with all those who love our
Lord Yeshua the Messiah with incorruptible love
- a true love for Messiah, so that He is appreciated
above all else and all others, true affection
for Him, genuine feeling for Him that will last,
not a love that can be corrupted, a short-term
love that only lasts until interest is lost, a
love that ends when it comes under pressure by
opposition.
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