MONDAY July 22nd
Ephesians 1:10-12
‘Put on the whole armour 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.’
The one line here is vitally important for us to understand, ‘For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood’, for it is a reminder that our spiritual battle is not against our fellow human beings, whether saved or unsaved but against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers and spiritual forces. When we see individuals behaving in ways that we find abhorrent, or against what we accept as followers of Jesus, when we see people of other religions who follow foreign gods, and sadly as some do acting with violence, and we could add so many more things here, what we need to remind ourselves is firstly of the fact that they act or behave that way because they are still in the kingdom of darkness and are under the control of the various forces of darkness. We need also to remind ourselves that such were we, and such could we still be if it had not been for the grace of God which came to us and brought us to salvation. We need to see them as individuals who are lost and who need to come to a knowledge of the truth. As hard as it may sound and as hard as some times it may feel to do, we must love as God loved, even to the point of loving those who we would consider as our enemies and as enemies of the gospel of God.
It is also important to add, after what I have already said, that we must not excuse the sin, we must speak out against sin, for all sin is rebellion against God, while at the same time we love the sinner, and although we understand the manifestation of the powers of darkness, at the end of the day God has built into humanity a moral compass, a conscience and we are all responsible as to how we behave and how we respond to the influences and schemes that come from the devil and as to we respond to the good news of the gospel. And what is more, the Bible is very clear, that one day we will have to stand before the Holy God and give an account. For we who are believers it will be as to how we have lived out as believers and as to what we have done that counts or lasts for eternity versus that which is temporal and will finally be burnt up as straw.
For unbelievers it will be a different matter, it will be a judgment that leads to eternal destruction, for as it says in the word of God, it is appointed for man to die and then the judgment, and the verdict given will be based upon whether a person has come to believing and trusting faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, we do wrestle against the schemes and outworkings of the powers of darkness, we are faced with it every day, if it was going to be easy to stand and survive as Christians, why would God have provided an armour for us. He knows what life is going to be like, he knows the ways and the wiles of the devil, therefore he has given us the maximum protection available, let us put it on.