The spiritual realm reaches out to affect the physical realm. Not only does Father continually act to draw mean, and women, to come to him, and become part of his Kingdom, but the enemy also acts to distract, discourage, and dissuade. God's family does not have enemies among mankind. The real enemies of God's family are spiritual powers, working in agreement with the enemy. When the days seem especially evil, the enemy and his allies are especially busy.
In such times, Paul says God gives us armor to defend ourselves, and to wage war against the enemy.
Our first weapon is truth. People navigate life using the building blocks of the values, and truths. So, the enemy introduces multiple lies to add confusion, and doubt.
So, not only do God's family need to be familiar with God's word, and God's revealed truth, but maybe they need to be reminded often, so they remain focused, and undeterred, in life. And reminded of all of God's revelation, like:
- God designed, and created, the world.
- God designed, and created, people.
- The rules that govern the world's operation were given by God, not man, not the enemy.
- If we choose to follow Christ, we are united with Christ.
- If we are united with Christ, we are part of God's family.
- If we are united with Christ, we are God's heirs.
- If we are united with Christ, we are God's artwork.
- God's love is what empowers our lives.
- God's family should band together, equip one another, demonstrate his love and power, and expand, and increase, to and through every people group on the earth.
- God will continue to reveal himself to his children, so we can understand our future, God's power and action on our behalf, and God's victory in the world.
The second weapon is the results of our being united with Christ. I have mentioned some of the results above. But, Paul's main focus here is: Christ satisfies God's justice, and God's family is no longer under a curse of God's judgment. We can stand before God blameless, because he removed the blame. We can stand before God innocent, because he removed the guilt. We can face the future with hope, because we have returned to where God intended us to be. With him. In his family. In close relationship. Having the ear of the King, in which he promises to listen, and act. I know the way he acts may not be how I expect. But he will act with complete love, and complete wisdom.
The third weapon is the peace that comes from the gospel. If we receive the gospel, and agree with it, and give allegiance to Father because of it, then we have become part of God's Kingdom, and part of God's family. Then, all of God's promises are available to us. Some are automatically a part of choosing to follow him. Some we should ask, and receive. But, in either case, the love, and power, of God are injected into our circumstances. Though the world is in chaos, we can live in peace, as we connect to what God has done, and is doing.
And, as these weapons should be aimed at the enemy., and his kingdom, we can wage war against him directly, by bringing God's message to those under his authority. Those, not in God's family, are in the enemy's kingdom. And the two are at war. It's not a war of bullets and bombs. It is a war for hearts. It is fought by gaining agreement with God's message, and gaining faith responses in that message about God's love and the cross. We cannot debate someone into the Kingdom. We can plant, and water, seed. We can change the spiritual atmosphere by our conduct. Perhaps mostly by using these weapons. Not the least of which is sharing about God's love, and the cross, to as many ears willing to listen, as we can find.
The fourth weapon is faith. Faith is confidence in what we cannot experience with our senses. If you have faith in God, his love, grace, and active involvement, you are confident in something you cannot see, hear, smell, or touch physically. We receive what God has said, and agree that it is true. Often, we must take action, based on what we have agreed with, whether we see immediate results or not. Prayer receives in faith, God's power, love and grace, as God said he would act. We may need to continually, and regularly remind, agree with, and affirm what God has proclaimed.
The fifth weapon is God's work in our lives. This is like the second weapon, in that it focuses on what God has done. But the second weapon focuses more on justification. God forgives sin, cancels our debt to him, and brings us into his family. This weapon focuses on all the work in our lives, and the world. The enemy will remind us of our progress. God will remind us of our progress. God does not promise us immediate perfection. It is this progress, which demonstrates God's continual focus on his children, his unrelenting attention to their good, and our reason for hope.
The sixth weapon is his revealed word. In his word, God reveals: who he is, what the world should be like, what it is really like, what people should be like, and what they are like. He reveals how we can move from the "are" to the "should." And, usually, the move is result of inviting his presence into the situation.
Lastly, there is prayer. Prayer becomes the way of connecting all the weapons to the situation. Prayer becomes the way of receiving, agreeing with, and applying God's weapons to the world.
NOTE: I recently read an encouragement to pray Scripture. Scripture is God's revealed truth, God's revealed will. Therefore, it is an expression of God's heart, and what he desires to act on. In Scripture, we know God's will, and there should be a way to reflect God's will back to him in prayer. Like all new things, it may involve a little work, and creativity at first. But, we can be confident we are praying in God's will. We may still not know the timing, or the methods.
We cannot dictate to God what he must do. We are agreeing with what God has already said he wants to do, and providing a way to release it.
