Armor of Godਨਮੂਨਾ

STAND FIRM!

I don’t know if you’ve ever played a first-person video game, but I was a big fan of the Batman Arkham series. Although I was a fan, it annoyed me when the edge of the screen turned red when a bad guy hit my character. Sometimes, the screen would flash red without me seeing the bad guy. Not being able to see where my attacker made me so frustrated that many times, I would give up and play a different game.

Sometimes, when the enemy (“The devil” according to Ephesians) attacks us, it feels like we can’t even tell where he is. Paul unpacks this in Ephesians 6:12 when he says, “Our struggle isn’t against flesh and blood…” He’s talking about the spiritual realm, which we discussed in parts 1- 3 of this series. So we come to these verses today, where Paul assumes we know who the enemy is, and once we do, he gives us a command: Stand Firm.

One of the biggest ways the enemy begins to trap us is through places in our lives where we aren’t standing firm—places where we have let him already have a foothold. If you read Romans, another of Paul’s books, you will see that he makes it abundantly clear that all of mankind has fallen short of God’s standard, but we are still all offered a spot in God’s family.

But the enemy is relentless. He keeps fighting and fighting, trying to attack us where our defenses are weakest. Standing firm is taking a power stance, a defensive position. Ready for whatever the enemy throws at us. That could be a sin; it could be the spot where we don’t fully trust God (like with our relationships or finances) or any part of our everyday life. But if we follow Paul's strategy for fighting the enemy, we can, and should, stand firm no matter against the enemy’s schemes.

Question to Ponder:

Where do you need to stand firm in your life?