#DailyDevotion The Battle & The Fight Is The LORD’s

Ephesians 6:10–17 ¹⁰Finally, let the Lord and His mighty power make you strong. ¹¹Put on God’s whole armor, and you will be able to stand against the devil’s tricky ways. ¹²You’re not fighting against flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities, and lords of this dark world, against the evil spirits that are above. ¹³This is why you should take God’s whole armor; then you can resist when things are at their worst and having done everything, you can hold your ground. ¹⁴Stand, then, with truth as a belt fastened around your waist, with righteousness covering you as a breastplate, 15and with shoes on your feet, ready to bring the good news of peace. ¹⁶Besides all these, take faith as the shield with which you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷And take salvation as your helmet, and the Spirit’s sword, which is God’s Word.

What are we relying on? Our own power and strength? It is not enough. In our weakened fallen state we can stand against our enemy by our own power and strength. Now you may think you have all kinds of adversaries. You may think a political party or foreign entity is your enemy, but they are not. Jesus redeemed all those people as well. Our enemy is the devil. As Paul says here, “You’re not fighting against flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities, and lords of this dark world, against the evil spirits that are above.” This is why we my rely on the LORD’s mighty power to make us strong.

So Paul commends to us to put on God’s whole armor and then we can stand against the devil’s tricky ways. I wonder if Paul was thinking about David a little bit here. You might remember when David, a mere lad went to fight Goliath. Saul had given David his armor but David decided against it. It didn’t feel right to him. It is thought perhaps Saul was seeking some glory for himself if David succeeded in defeating Goliath wearing his armor. David instead went out to Goliath with the name of the LORD his God.

The armor of God here is similar to facing our true enemies with the name of Jesus, the LORD. I do appreciate Paul telling us here, “you can resist when things are at their worst and having done everything, you can hold your ground.” Some translations have that last phrase, “to stand.” It’s like everything is thrown at you and everything is lying in waste around you, and there you are still standing. You are still standing because you are on the Rock, our LORD Jesus Christ and his Word.

Now you can make of what you want of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. We should note these are all pieces of God’s armor, not our own. It is God’s truth, his righteousness, his gospel, his faith, his salvation and his Word. Because this is His armor it can stand against all the devil’s schemes. When we feel attacked, afraid, and fearful because of what is happening within and without, we can turn to God’s armor and trust it will get us through this particular battle and every battle we are going through. His armor reminds us the battle and the fight is the LORD’s and not our own. He fights our battles for us. We simply trust in him and in his name. He and his name are seen in this armor. Jesus is the truth. It is his righteousness that clothes us. He gives us faith. He has won salvation for us. His word, the Scriptures are sure and certain.

Heavenly Father, grant us your full armor in the day of battle so we may overcome the devil and all his schemes so we may stand before you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.