Spiritual Warfare?
What comes to your mind when you
hear the phrase “spiritual warfare”? The nineteenth century French poet Charles
Baudelaire once wrote that “the devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he
does not exist.” As C. S. Lewis says in the introduction to his famous Screwtape
Letters, the general public prefers either to ignore the forces of
evil altogether or to take an unhealthy interest in everything demonic.
It’s so important to have a healthy, balanced, biblical understanding of
spiritual warfare.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we know that the devil exists. This is the first step to win the battles: to recognize that the enemy does exist and his attacks are coming. So what kind of spiritual warfare are we engaged in? Sometimes the attack will take the obvious form of actual authorities in towns and cities who try to prevent Christians from spreading the message. Sometimes it will take the more subtle form of persuading Christians to invest time and energy in irrelevant side issues, or to become fascinated by distorted teaching. Sometimes it will be simply the classical temptations of money, sex and power.[1] We wrestle daily with some of these whether we like it or not. Paul says that our struggle is not with human beings, but with evil spiritual forces. Our enemies are not human but demonic. So we must be prepared for spiritual battle.
Put on the Full Armor of God
Thankfully, to win the battles, God
has provided a set of armor for us (vv. 13-17). For Paul and his audience, this
armor analogy is very down-to-earth and effective. At that time they were very
familiar with Roman soldiers. They saw the soldiers everywhere – in their
travels and in their everyday life. Paul details the six main pieces of a
soldier’s equipment from head to toe, and uses them as pictures of Christian soldiers - the belt of truth, the
breastplate of righteousness, the boots of good news of peace, the shield of faith,
the helmet of salvation and the sword of the word of God. But here putting on
the full armor of God is not a mechanical operation. We don’t literally put the
armor on. Putting on the full armor of God is a symbolic metaphor for our
full dependence on God[2],
or our union with Christ. It is to put off the old self and to put on
the new self, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. So Paul says in his letter to the
Romans, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify
its desires” (Rom 13:13-14, ESV).
In C. S. Lewis’ book, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” Eustace is the character that you love to hate, he’s selfish, greedy, spoiled and complains constantly. He enters the cave where he sees a dead dragon and discovers a huge treasure chest. He ends up falling asleep on the treasure only to wake up and find that he has turned into a dragon himself. He is miserable and lonely. He starts scratching himself and his scales begin coming off all over the place. But the problem is that there is another layer of the scales underneath the first one. So he scratches again and peels off his scales, but then he finds another layer. He does this three times, but the same thing happens again. Now he thinks to himself, “O dear, how many skins should I take off?” Finally, the Lion, the Christ-figure, comes. Eustace describes what happens next:[3]
This is what the Lion said, but I
don’t know if he spoke. “You will have to let me undress you.” I was afraid of
his claws I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate, so I just lay flat
on my back and let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I
thought it had gone right to my heart and when he began pulling the skin off it
hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. The only thing that made me able to
bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off.
All-Prayer
That is how it is with putting off
the old self and putting on the new self. We would rather do it ourselves, but
we cannot. The only way to do it is to let Christ undress us first, and then to
put on his new clothes. So how do we
put on the full armor of God? The answer is by
prayer. After describing the six main pieces of the armor, Paul tells us
how to put it on: “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and
supplication” (v. 18). We equip ourselves with God’s armor as we pray. As we
pray, we learn to fully rely on God. As we pray, we learn to be united with
Christ. We put on the full armor of God by prayer – being in communion with God. In Pilgrim’s
Progress Christian defeats Apollyon the dragon with his sword. But then he
enters the valley of the shadow of death. In that valley you hear things like a
continual howling and yelling; you see people bound in afflictions and irons,
discouraging clouds of confusion hang over the valley; the pathway is so dark,
that you can’t see where your next step would land. It was when Christian
‘perceived the mouth of hell … hard by the narrow way, and saw flame and
smoke and heard hideous noises, that ‘he was forced to put up his sword, and take
another weapon, called All-prayer: so he cried, “O Lord, I beg you, deliver my
soul!”[4]
Oftentimes Satan’s attacks are so subtle but persistent. He whispers that God is not good and that he is not for us. The enemy makes every effort to discourage us, tempt us, intimidate us, make us doubt, “If God is good, why do bad things happen in the world?” That’s the time when we need to put on the full armor of God by All-prayer – pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. When you feel unworthy and down, pray, “Lord, have mercy” (Ps 123:3). When you are confused, pray, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (Sam 3:9). When you feel powerless, pray, “Help me Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 121:2). When you are worried and afraid, pray, “When I am afraid, I will trust you” (Ps 56:3). When you are anxious or impatient, pray, “Not my will, but yours” (Lk 22:42). When you are overwhelmed by sad news, pray, “Come Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20). Always be in communion with God. By All-prayer, we win the battles.
Stand Firm
When we think about our spiritual
warfare, God does all the work. He provides the armor for us. He protects us,
sustains us, helps us. He gives us desire and strength to win the battles. But
there is one thing that God requires of us. That is to stand. In today’s passage God commends us to stand four times. Put
on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (v. 11), that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. Stand therefore. Stand, stand, stand,
stand. That’s our part. God provides all the means to overcome, but still we
need to stand, endure, persevere. We need to be willing to fight the battles.
When the Moabites and Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat for battle, Jehoshaphat was afraid. But he resolved to seek the Lord, praying, “O our God… we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” God answered, “Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s… You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf” (2 Ch 20:17). Early the next morning Jehoshaphat and his army went out, marching and singing to the Lord, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever!” As they began to sing and praise, the Lord ambushed the enemies, and they were defeated. They began attacking each other, and no one had escaped. So how did Israel win the battle? By standing. God did all the work, but still Israel had to stand firm, hold their position by faith.
I still remember an inspiring story of the father-and-son team of Dick and Ricky Hoyt for an “iron man” competition (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run) in 1999. The two have run together in more than eight hundred races. Even more remarkable fact is that the now adult son, Ricky, was born with cerebral palsy. To race, he must be pulled, pushed, or carried by his father with special equipment. Yes in the race the father does all the work. But there is the son’s role. The son still has to endure wind, cold, and an equipment failure with the father. In one competition the father knelt down to his son, contorted and trembling in the cold, as the two were still facing many more miles of race on the defective bike. Said the father to the child belted to the bicycle seat, “Do you still want to keep going, Son?”[5] The son nodded, and they finally finished the course together. I believe that’s how it is with standing. We have a Father who is right with us, and who is for us. We have a Father who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us. We have a Father who has already provided his full armor to overcome all the challenges of the enemy. Whatever be the challenges, we can prevail through him who gives us strength. So sisters and brothers in Christ, let us stand, stand, stand, stand. Amen.
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[1]
N. T. Wright, Ephesians (N. T. Wright for
Everyone Bible Study Guides) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. Location 867
of 1084.
[2]
John Scott, The Message of Ephesians, InterVarsity
Press. Kindle Edition, 283.
[3]
C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn
Treader (London: Collins, 1974), p. 102.
[4]
John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Aneko Press. Kindle
Edition. 69-70.
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