FRIDAY July 19th
Ephesians 6:10-12
‘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.’
Now as we move on in these verses, we will see how the devil brings about his schemes, it is through those things mentioned in verse 12, the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Although we rejoice in the wonderful fact that Christ defeated Satan at Calvary, bringing about our eternal redemption, we still need reminding that at present, although defeated, Satan hasn’t given up, and although one day he will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity, until then we are reminded that he goes around like a roaring lion. He is angry, he knows he has lost, and that Jesus has won, but he will not give up without a fight! And so, he will try every trick in the book, every possible scheme to try to wreak havoc on the earth and to try to destroy what Christ is doing in building his Church. That is why it is so essential for us today to heed Paul’s advice to put the whole, the complete, the full armour on which God has provided for us.
It is important that not one single believer falls into the trap of thinking ‘I will be okay’ and as a result be careless and carefree. And why do I say this? Well, imagine living in a perfect world—nothing is going to go wrong—or could it? Well, two individuals did live in a perfect world, they were called Adam and Eve, they had everything they wished for, they enjoyed daily communion with God in the garden in the cool of the evening, they wanted for absolutely nothing. But, the devil, instead of featuring as a roaring lion came to them as a subtle serpent and they fell for him, they believed his subtle lies, and sin entered the world.
Now let’s understand how easy it would be for men and women to fall for the schemes of the devil, if Adam and Eve fell for him in the perfect environment of the garden of Eden, he could so easily dupe us as we now find ourselves living in a fallen world. And sadly, many are, being duped by continuing with their friendship with the world, the things that the devil uses to attract and snare, rather than keeping a 24/7 watch over their souls.
I need the armour of God, I want the armour of God, I want to take up and to use everything that God has made available for me to keep close to him and to be aware of and to battle against every scheme and attack of the devil.