Equiped For Battle
Ephesians 1:3
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
All of us want to be useful for the Kingdom, yet many of us feel ineffective—not because God has withheld power, but because we misunderstand the nature of the battle and the weapons He has given us.
Though we seek those "mountain top" moments where it seems that we move fluidly, without resistance, through the woes of life, soaring above our problems as if on eagle wings, it is unrealistic to expect that our walk with God will always feel effortless. There is a methodology, however, provided through God's grace, which allows us to traverse life's battles victoriously. It is this methodology that enables us to "in all things, at all times, having all that we need, abound in every good work." Whether we are standing triumphantly on the peak of mountains or traversing, fearfully, the darkest valleys, we have access to a power that is not of this world. This power goes beyond positive thinking or practical philosophy. Beyond stoicism or breathing practices, we carry, through the grace of God, a quiver, fully stocked and inexhaustible, providing an abundance of ammunition, sufficient for any battle that comes our way.
God desires that every one of His children "defeats this evil world, achieving victory through faith." To this end, He has provided all necessary material, along with the full power and ability to wield them.
If we are to be victorious, our responsibility falls into three categories:
Identifying the threat
Understanding the tools at our disposal
Utilizing the tools properly
Identifying the threat:
From a human perspective, the trials we face appear purely carnal.
In our workplace, we witness negative attitudes expressed outwardly as grumbling and complaining. At home and amongst friends, we see worry and fear about the future. Our own hearts harbor a plethora of attitudes and behaviors that we know are not right. While the world diagnoses these issues as a feature of the human condition, the Word of God paints a different picture. Ephesians tells us that we do not wrestle against "flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
What appears as grumbling and complaining is actually a spirit of malcontent, the type of which fell on Saul, causing him torment. Fear and worry are, at their roots, pride, which says, "God is not in control; I must ascend to the throne of my life and call the shots." The various acts of rebellion we carry out each day, though expressed as anger, covetousness, lying, etc., all stem from the same infection, their outward expressions being varied symptoms of the same disease, which we received in Adam...
It is our miscalculation of the threat we face that causes us to deploy ineffective solutions.
Like a doctor treating symptoms rather than the disease, we find ourselves in an endless, unfruitful cycle. We encounter a spirit of malcontent and, addressing the symptom of complaint, try to interject a positive attitude or offer humor, meant to lighten the mood. We recognize our own sinful behaviors and strive to change habits, constantly pulling weeds from the garden of our heart, only to have them grow back the next morning, having left their roots intact.
We attempt to wage war with worldly weapons, rather than the weapons of God, and so fail to “knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
We face an enemy who is far more powerful than ourselves. He possesses a craftiness and intelligence surpassing our own. He has observed humans from their beginning, and his understanding of history and human behavior exceeds that of the greatest military minds. He does not grow weary in doing evil, and he possesses a malevolence which is inexhaustible. In your own power, you will be outmaneuvered and overcome before a single shot is even fired. He strikes from the shadows with perfect precision, moving with tactics tried and tested through countless battles. Yet for all his cunning and persistence, he is already a defeated enemy. His power is real—but when confronted with the True and Living God, it becomes less than nothing.
If you are to overcome him, it will not be by your own strength. Your own weapons will not avail, your tactics will be misdirected. It is only when you wield the power of Christ that you can trample satan underfoot, standing in the victorious authority that God imputed to you from the moment of your conversion.
Understanding the tools at our disposal
We have seen, through scripture, and even in our own communities, lives lived in victory.
Our armor stands, fully assembled, ready to be donned. Our weapons, sharpened and maintained in heavenly places, remain ready and accessible at all times.
It is not a lack of resources that causes our defeat, but rather a lack of understanding.
As David prepared to step onto the battlefield, Saul, in ignorance, offered armor made of iron and steel, and handed David a sword fashioned from earthly materials. David, with eyes fixed on the creator of Heaven and Earth, knowing where his power and help came from, rejected the instruments of the world. The object of his faith was not found in a sling or projectile. His confidence was not in a sword or the swiftness of human hands. He recognized that his sight, not his strength, would defeat Goliath. It was a heart posture, rather than a battle stance, that enabled him to overcome the enemies of Israel.
We must recognize that each morning we step onto the same battlefield as David. We must likewise reject instruments formed by human hands and minds and instead seek out ones fashioned on Calvary's cross, which were bought with the blood of Christ.
It is only those fruits of the Spirit that can effectively cut down the foes we face. It is His mighty hand, working through us, which shatters the weapons of the enemy.
It is when we stand as a conduit that God enters the battlefield, causing the earth to reel and rock. It is when we pray that He bows the heavens and comes down, with a devouring fire from His mouth. It is out of the brightness of our praises before Him that hailstones and coals of fire break through the clouds. It is in the name of Jesus that He sends out His arrows to scatter them and flashes forth lightning to rout them.
It is by wielding His word that we disperse a spirit of malcontent. It is in His answering our prayers that we discover the strength to say, "I will not fear." It is by taking every thought captive and forcing it under submission to Jesus that the strongholds in our lives are torn down.
Through Christ, “we are no longer strangers and aliens, but we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Why then would we draw from the armory of the world when we have been given access to weapons far more powerful?
Utilizing the tools properly
Jesus has given us a comprehensive summary of how we are to utilize our spiritual blessings:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
He laid out the parameters, not only in word, but in the everyday actions of His life. Every time His methodology was questioned, He gave the same answer:
“The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.”
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
“My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me.”
“…I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”
“I speak of what I have seen with my Father.”
“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.”
“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
“I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”
“Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”
“Not my will, but yours, be done.”
If you wish to be successful on the battlefield of life, it would be wise to take the same approach as the Commander of Heaven’s Armies. Therefore, have the same attitude that Christ had:
"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
This is not a call to human striving, but to holy dependence—the very truth captured in the words of the old hymn: