10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)
We do not fight against flesh and blood but against the power of the enemy. The enemy has power but he does not have all the power. In Satan’s kingdom, there are ranks and we must know his strategy in order to overcome him. Many Christians are defeated in their lives because they are not serious about spiritual warfare. Many attend religious services each week but are lacking knowledge concerning the spiritual realm and spiritual warfare.
Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). This is true but in our Christian life, we will encounter various problems and persecutions. We will be persecuted for His name’s sake (Matthew 10:16, John 16:33). Daily we are in a battle with the enemy. Many of us ask God why we go through certain trials and tribulations but it is necessary for our growth. Wherever there is an effective ministry, we will be attacked by the enemy. We must not believe the lies of the enemy that we are doing something wrong because everything is going wrong. Rather we are doing something right and are in the will of God.
We must stand firm in our faith.
To stand means to stand fast and to be unmovable. In order to stand firm, we must understand what is truth. We must understand what is right. Unless we will see good as evil and evil as good. We must be careful and be able to discern what is of God. The world has made many wrongs right and we must be careful not to follow them. We must follow truth. What is truth? Jesus is truth and His word is true (John 8:32, John 14:6, John 17:17). We must believe the Word and speak it. What we speak has an impact on our lives.
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV)
When we stand, we persevere and we endure (Matthew 24:13, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9). We will have to endure sufferings and afflictions. It is not the end when these things happen. We must still stand in the midst of sickness and disease (Ephesians 6:11). We must not lose faith because our children and our husbands are not in Christ. We must stand and continue to intercede on their behalf that they will be saved. No matter what, we must stand firm in our faith. No matter how difficult the circumstance is that we are going through, God is on our side. God is fighting for us. We must believe that Jesus is coming again for His bride.
When we call on the name of Jesus, mountains will move. When we call His name, things happen. Our words have power and what we speak into our brothers’ lives will have an impact. We must stop destroying our brothers in the church. We must love them as we love ourselves.
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 1 Peter 5:9 (NIV)
We must stand fixed, stable and permanent.
When our hearts are fixed, we don’t worry about tomorrow. God has tomorrow already covered, we just have to trust Him. Our hearts can only be fixed, if the Word is written on our hearts (Psalms 112:1). We are called to the will of God in our communities, workplaces and schools (John 4:34). We are sent. If our hearts are fixed, we are found faithful. We never forget where we came from and we testify of the goodness of God. If our hearts are fixed, we would not follow the path of a loser. We know where we are going. We have a vision of where God wants us to be.
We must stand focussed.
Our eyes should be fixed on Him. He should be our focus and our gaze. If He is not our focus, we would begin to serve the systems of this world. When He is our focus, we become like Christ. We begin to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit and the character of Christ. We place a lot of focus on the enemy and what he does. It is time that we focus on Christ and give Him the glory. When our eyes are fixed on Him, faith begins to arise in our hearts. We begin to live Christ in the earth. In order for us to stand, there must be someone greater. That someone greater is Christ. Christ is the rock that we must stand on (Psalm 62:1-2).
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