EPHESIANS 6:11B-14A STANDING AGAINST THE SCHEMES OF THE DEVIL

First we have to have our strength in the Lord and secondly we have to have the armor on.

We need to be strong in the Lord so we can know who our enemy is and so we can stand against the schemes of the devil  1 Corinthians 15:58 – Be Steadfast, Immovable

Not only do we battle against Satan, but we battle against: demonic forces

         a. principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places

Our duty is not to attack Satan, or to defeat him, but rather to withstand his attacks

1Co 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

                You know when you are vulnerable? When you think you are not. When you think I have all the information - I've mastered the book of Ephesians, I'm alright, and I know what to do. I've got the principles. Or when you think you can handle Satan. I've got all the necessary equipment. But on the other hand, the point is this, when you think you can do it - you can't. But on the other hand, when you depend upon God there is nothing Satan can do, to you that needs to cause you to lose the victory.

                1Co 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

            Paul’s words about spiritual warfare in chapter 6 in the context of Ephesians, means we wage the spiritual war, not necessarily in terms of grand battles and heroic actions, but in terms of simple faith in the teachings of Paul in chapters 1-3 and in terms of our obedience to the commands of Paul as found in chapters 4-6.

Paul’s instructions concerning the spiritual war are similar, in that Paul is informing every Christian that they have been drafted, not to fight a physical war, but to fight a spiritual war. We are not encouraged to take up the “full armor of God,” we are commanded to do so. These verses are our marching orders, and we dare not ignore them, or fail to carry them out to the letter.

             When our life comes to an end, I pray that we will be able, like Paul, to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).