“Stand Firm against the schemes of the devil!”

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12 ESV)

In Chapter 6, Paul continues his instructions to the Christian household (verses 1-4), as “children, obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right.” One thing that you will automatically notice is that children are told to “obey,” which differs from the command that Paul uses in verses 21-22 of this chapter, to “be subject” to one another as directives to husbands and wives. It’s sad, but it seems that for too long we have misused God’s Word and tried to force everyone in the house to “obey” what the husband says, like his word or opinion is the only one that matters. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, and wives are to be in alignment with their husbands, and we are all to be in alignment (subject) with one another. Remember, last week we saw that to be “subject” meant “to be in alignment with, to support, to help.” Not obey. To obey is what children are to do, not our partners in life.

The word translated as “obey” means to be fully compliant with the one giving the instruction. I get it; no one likes to be fully compliant and “obey.” We all want our personal opinions to matter, and they should. But, when the final decision has been made by those in authority over us, children are to “obey”, to be fully compliant with their decision. Remember, this is God’s direction for the Christian family, His plan, and His plans are never wrong.

Now that gives a lot of authority and possibility for abuse to the parents, doesn’t it? Yes, it does, but Paul continues with directives for the fathers when he says in verse 4, “And, fathers, to not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  We should also remember that we never take one verse like “Children, obey your parents” and try to build a doctrine around that one verse; we need to keep all of God’s Word in context. We need to see the whole picture of what was being said and what is going on. Parents have the final say; children are to obey them, but fathers are not to provoke the children to anger. Great advice for anyone who has the final say on a subject. Yes, you have God-given authority, but you have God-given limitations as well. The word “provoke” literally means “become angry from close beside”, or to exasperate or frustrate them.

Fathers, and I’d say parents in general, need to actually listen to their children; they need to know that their opinions are important and to demonstrate a Godly attitude as the parent helps the children to grow in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We need to look at both sides of the coin. And to see the issue from the child’s perspective. But God has given the final responsibility of protecting the child to the parents.

In verses 10-17, Paul provides the believer with the necessary instructions so “that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”. Who doesn’t need this advice? It seems that all too often we go through life on our own, trying to get through each day on our own, thinking that “we can do this”, not realizing that every day “…. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (I Pet.5:8). The truth is we cannot do it on our own, we need all of the provisions that God has given to us in order to fight this ever-present foe.

Paul uses, as an illustration, the uniform of a Roman soldier to demonstrate all of the effective gifts that God has given us. This illustration is not by accident but helps us understand that we are indeed in a battle against the devil. We need to take these directives very seriously and not underestimate our foe, the devil. Paul tells us, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (v13).

Paul lists the full armor of God that will ensure our victory over the evil one. He states Truth, Righteousness, Faith, Salvation, and the Word of God are our resources for battle. Please notice that we have been given all of these at the moment of our Salvation; these are not something that we need to work to get. All we need to do is to follow Paul’s command to “Put on” or to use what God has already given us.

Believer, if you are struggling today with something that is weighing down your heart, if you seem to have lost just a little bit of the love and appreciation that you used to have for God’s mercy and grace, if you are weary of fighting the same old sin again and again. Then stop fighting the evil one on your own. Remember, it’s the evil one’s objective to distract you, even just a little bit, from the Love of God. Satan is trying to cloud your thoughts and to take you away from focusing on how to bring honor and glory to Jesus and to have you focus on all of the problems and distractions of this world. Don’t do it; stand strong in the Lord, and use all of these wonderful gifts that God has given us, and we will be able to stand firm against all the attacks of the evil one. We will be able to praise God for his mercy and love.

“Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm…”

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"