Spiritual Warfare - The Armor of God

This blog is about the fourth chapter in the Bible study, Spiritual Warfare, written by Jack Kuhatschek.

Ephesians 6:10-20

1. “As you read this passage, what battlefield images come to mind?” I know it may seem odd, but an image of a weak person, like me, surrounded by almost a force field comes to mind. This person in standing in the middle of a huge battle and all of these forces are against her, but she is protected. In a lot of ways, that is what is going on. Satan is using all of his resources to attack me, but I am protected by God. Even though I am weak, He isn’t.
2. “Why must we rely on God’s power if we are to be victorious against our spiritual enemies (vv. 10-11)?” We can’t do it alone. Satan is a lot stronger than us when we rely on our own power. He can easily beat any one of us. But with God on our side, Satan is completely powerless. He will always lose, but only when we rely on God’s power.
3. “Throughout Paul’s life he was opposed, flogged, stoned and imprisoned by various human enemies. Why then does he claim that our struggle is ‘not against flesh and blood’ (v. 12)?” Although a lot of physical things happen to us as believers, the real fight isn’t about the physical things. There are spiritual things behind these physical events. The real fight is for our souls, but we are still in the flesh, and so although things are happening physically, the struggle isn’t against flesh and blood. It is against Satan. The flesh and blood is just the battleground, in a way.
4. “Paul identifies our true enemies as ‘the devil’ (v. 11) and the demonic rulers, authorities, powers and spiritual forces of this dark age (v. 12). What evidence do you see of these hostile forces in your life or the lives of Christians you know?” I have personally been attacked by demons before. I know that there are dark forces out there and that the devil was real. When I was fifteen, a dark “shadow” used to come into my room and watch me. The feel of the air was so dark and I would get scared and cry. But when I prayed to God to make it go away, it always went away. That’s why I know it wasn’t just a shadow cast on the wall (Besides, how does a shadow get on the ceiling when there is NO light in the room?) or my imagination. I’ve also known someone who claimed to be possessed by a demon, and I honestly believe that they were. There is no other way to explain some of the things they did and said. I know that there are dark forces in this world and they are so real.
5. “Why do you think Paul states three times that we must stand our ground, do everything to stand and stand firm (vv. 13-14)?” Back then when people were in battle, if they were not standing, they were dead or dying. Either way, they were losing or had already lost the fight. If we stand our ground, Satan can’t make any progress. If we back down, he will use that to beat us. If we don’t stand our ground, it shows a lack of faith in our God, Who is stronger than Satan.
6. “Why are both truth and righteousness essential components of our armor (v. 14; see also Isaiah 11:5 and 59:17)?” Truth is described as the belt. Back in the day this was written, the belt secured the breastplate and back piece, and held the scabbard and sword. In the same sort of way, the truth holds together everything in our spiritual armor. If we didn’t know that all of this was based on truth, we wouldn’t be able to trust our armor, and it would be useless. We need the truth in order to protect ourselves from Satan’s attacks. Righteousness is described as a breastplate. This really stood out to me because a breastplate covers and protects your heart. If you live righteously, and accept the righteousness God gives you to cover your past sins, then there is no guilt that Satan can use to attack your heart. I know in my life that when I feel guilty about something I’ve done and it consumes me, Satan uses that to attack me. We need the righteousness God gives us in order to protect our hearts.
7. “How can the gospel message that you have peace with God (v. 15) give you strength to stand against spiritual opponents?” The stakes in this spiritual battle are our souls. If we know we have peace with God, then Satan has nothing to use against us. He wants to convince us that God doesn’t accept us, and that we shouldn’t follow and obey Him, but when we know that we have peace with God, that all falls apart.
8. “Faith (v. 16) refers to both what we believe and who we believe in. How can our faith act like a shield against all of the evil one’s flaming arrows?” When we have faith in God and what we know He does and will do for us, we are shielded from all of Satan’s attacks.
9. “What flaming arrows has the devil aimed at you recently?” I made a huge mistake back in May. Satan has used that and tried to use that many times to get to me. He has tried to convince me that I am worthless. I know that I am not, because God has made me clean. Also, he has been aiming arrows of doubt at me, but I know that God’s will for my life is already written, and that what God wants to happen will happen. I will not be left out or thrown away. God loves me and will take care of me as He always has. Lastly, the devil has been aiming arrows of bad health at me. He has attacked my body so much lately and some days I can hardly handle the pain. As I sat down and decided to do this blog instead of knit some more, my body (which was fine all day) was filled with so much pain that I had to lie down for a minute and pray to God to take away the pain. I believed that God would take away that pain, and He did. “In what ways do you need to exercise faith in God’s protection and promises?” Sometimes I focus so much on just getting by that I forget that God intends for us to have life and to have it abundantly. I know He protects me, but sometimes I forget about His other promises. I need to remember and have faith in His promises in my day to day life.
10. “The ‘sword of the Spirit’ (v. 17) is our only offensive weapon. Why do we need both the Spirit of God and the Word of God to defeat that devil?” We need the Spirit of God because words alone are not enough to defeat the devil. Knowledge of God’s Word does not impress the devil, because he himself knows God’s Word. What he doesn’t have, however, is the Spirit of God. We have that Spirit in us, and the Spirit is stronger than the devil will ever be. However, we cannot just have the Spirit of God, because we would know nothing about the Spirit of God without the Word of God, which guides us and tells us what we need to know about Him. That is why both are essential to build our “sword of the Spirit.”
11. “Although prayer (vv. 18-20) isn’t listed as one of the pieces of our armor, how is prayer a vital component of your spiritual warfare?” Without prayer, none of the armor would be possible. We cannot say that we are depending on God for our protection if we are not even talking to Him! Prayer is our connection with God, and without it, we are just setting ourselves up to get defeated by the enemy. You wouldn’t go into battle without asking the commander in chief what the plan was! In the same way, we shouldn’t go into a spiritual battle without asking God for guidance and protection.

This blog has been intense to write for me. There has been a lot of spiritual warfare in this room, and even in my body. Satan did not want me to do this study. But I will not let his wishes stop me from doing what God wants me to do. I will not let his wishes stop me from learning what God wants me to learn.