Most men love the imagery of battle! A group of brave brothers in battle uniforms, heading out to meet the enemy. There is something innately manly about fighting for a cause, risking everything for a belief, or defending those you love. Much is written in scripture about warriors doing battle and going to war. One of the most popular passages in the New Testament even details a warriors uniform. In Ephesians 6, Paul talks about the armor of God!
Pauls talks about the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, girding your loins with Truth, shodding your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and the one offensive weapon the sword… which is the Word of God! He paints this picture of a warrior putting on his battle uniform one piece at a time, you can almost hear the dramatic music build and the warrior prepares for war. And then he stands….. Wait, what?? Stands? That can’t be right, surely he rides off on a mighty horse or something, right? NO! Paul says he stands.
While this would make for a lame version of a manly movie, Paul is making a different yet profound point! The battle is not yours, it belongs to The Lord! Spiritual battles are an inevitable part of the Christian’s faith walk. Sometimes it seems like that’s all that keeps coming at us. And all too often, we fight them as we would any other kind of battle… and lose!! Spiritual battles are fought “…against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Even fighter jets and atomic bombs are useless against enemies like this!
So now we are all armored up and standing, now what? What does Paul mean by “Stand firm”? What does this look like? What are supposed to do? A great illustration to this is found in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 20. In this chapter, the sons of Moab and Ammon along with some of the Meunites have joined together to attack Judah. It was a superior army and Judah didn’t stand a chance. But they went to the Lord in prayer and fasting and pleaded their cause before him. They put on their spiritual armor. God responded through Jahaziel, a Levitical priest, the promise to fight the battle for them. In verse 17 God says to Judah “You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf..”
So they got up in the morning, got dressed for war and went out to face the enemy as God had directed them. Jehoshaphat the king spoke to the people telling them to put their trust in The Lord and they will succeed. He then gathered some singers to lead in worship! And as the people of Judah raised their voices in praise and worship…. “…The Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah…”(ver 22). God created confusion and the enemies of Judah attacked each other. In verse 24 it tells that none had escaped the ambush. The men of Judah never raised a bow or a sword, only their voices in praise. Afterwards, It then took the army of Judah 3 days to collect and haul off all the spoils of war!!!
If the battle belongs to The Lord, can’t join in a Zoom meeting, or catch the highlights on the news? Why does God even need me? The answer is he doesn’t!! But God does want us to fully know who he is, what he can do and to build our faith and trust in him. God wants us to trust in him for EVERYTHING, and sometimes he lets us watch him work to see how mighty he is. And other times, it all happens behind the scenes in the heavenly realms where we have to trust by faith that while we armor up, that he has the battle.
We have our orders!! Armor up and Stand Firm!
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Be on Alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all you do be done in Love.
Restoring Adam 