Spiritual Warfare, pt II

I Samuel 15:3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’

The last entry was on this same passage. It speaks of king Saul a warrior king. It was also mentioned that as christians we are engaged in spiritual warfare. Today we will continue on that same topic. We will finish focusing on Ephesians six and describe the spiritual armor. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”, (v. 10).
Verse 16 says, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”. The devil and the worldly culture are hostile to our faith. They both send flaming arrows. These mainly come as thoughts or possibly emotional responses. When they land, we doubt and question our beliefs.
As a young believer, I was sharing Christ with an individual. He said he didn’t believe the bible for it was full of contradictions. He cited that Adam and Eve had two children, Cain and Abel. Cain kills his brother. Later it says he got married. The doubter said, “Where did Cain get a wife if there were no other humans?” I was confused and quite upset. I later was told that Adam and Eve had other children (Genesis 5:4). I calmed down and learned that I shouldn’t let those things get to me. But to be patient and trust the Lord for an answer.
What extinguished the flaming arrow was the bible. I’ve since learned that shield of faith puts out the fire and can heal the wound. It hurts, but believing what God says is the remedy.
Verse 17 says to take the helmet of salvation. Those that are in Christ have been saved. We are to keep our minds in that reality. Unfortunately our minds are bombarded with bad messages. If they are temptations, we tell ourselves that God has something better for us and let that thought bounce off. We may be allured by power or riches. While either of those things aren’t wrong in moderation, we serve and follow the Lord. They aren’t to be what drives us. We are the Lord’s and are to follow His ways. We are children of the king.
Verse 17 also says to take the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”. This along with prayer are our weapons, the rest is armor. How do we use the bible as a sword? We counter what’s said. In Matthew 4, Satan tempted Jesus with three challenges. Each time Jesus answered with scripture. We are to do the same. In the previous paragraph the example of pursuing power and riches was given. We are to be informed by God’s Word. If we are putting too much attention to those things, then we go to the bible to get our influence. I Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”. The Lord can help us cut out those wrong thoughts or desires. The sword can be used as a scalpel.
There is resistance to our faith in this world. Our own desires can also interfere as can the devil. We can’t just go with the flow. That’s like a wood chip being driven by the current in a stream. We aren’t to succumb to the world’s direction. We are to get our direction from the bible and the Holy Spirit. The armor of God helps us to put off those other influences and keep walking with the Lord.
Thank You, Lord for Your armor and the sword. Help us to grow in skill in their use. Help us to deflect all of the wrong thoughts and influences that come our way.