Spiritual Warfare, it is real. And we need to be conscious of it. Because so often we’re focused on the outward things, the difficulties of life that we can see that we don’t understand that there are underlying forces trying to pull us away from God and to destroy us.
And so with this in mind, we come to Ephesians chapter six, verse number 13. And we see that there is hope. Here’s what it tells us. Ephesians 6:13, therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm.
And so we’re introduced to this concept of armor. God truly wants to equip you to overcome temptation, to deal with the hardships of this life. And so I want you to notice that there are two specific elements that are brought out here in this verse.
Number one, he says this, that he may be able to withstand in the evil day. The idea of withstanding is to resist. Now, sometimes we might think that our temptation is greater than others, or even that we’re the only one being tempted in this way. But it’s really not true. The fact is that we are all tempted. And all of us have to make decisions.
But how do we resist? Is it by the strength of our own will? Probably not, because that will fail us more times than not? The answer is in the armor of God. It’s using what God has given us to deal with the moment that we’re faced with. And in the days ahead, we’ll be looking at the specific elements of the armor of God.
The second thing that we need to understand today is this, having done all to stand firm. This is the second of three times in this passage in Ephesians chapter six, that the Bible talks about standing. We need to stay up in the fight.
The temptation is to lay down, give up. But my friend today, God wants you to take a stand. He wants you to stand strong, but you don’t have to do it in your own strength or with your own equipment.
You can stand firm if you will take on the whole armor of God. So let’s today, covenant together, that we will take up that armor so that we can resist so that we can stand and bring glory to God.