First, since I do recognize that much of what I am writing about weapons for warfare are different and not at all complete, I want to recommend a wonderful and more typical treatment of the subject of spiritual warfare by my friend, Susan Gaddis. See her discussion of weapons in a separate window by clicking here.
Second, in my opinion, no one should ever engage in any kind of "spiritual warfare" without reading John Paul Jackson's wisdom-filled book on the subject, Needless Casualties of War. In a nutshell, John Paul lays out a strong case for Christians not ever conducting war in the "second heaven" directly against the dark spiritual rulers who rule there (see Ephesians 6:12). He cites many instances where people have been harmed by doing otherwise and also makes a strong biblical case for keeping our direct warfare on the "terrestrial" level. Since I too am aware of needless casualties related to this, I highly recommend John Paul's book.
Third, I am fairly sure that you who read this blog have noticed that the "weapons" I am writing about are not by any means a complete treatment of how we resist our adversary. What I have tried to do instead is help folks not take up the spirit and character of our enemy but rather live out the character of God in the process of "doing battle." Thus when our adversary tries to bait us into a battle and tempt us to use "force against force," we defeat him through kindness, peace, generosity, etc. Notice that these are all traits that show up in our relationships with other people. This is, of course, in line with what Paul tells us about where our real battle lies (Ephesians 6:12 again) and with what Jesus said more than once (bless your enemy). Obviously, we are not talking here about being kind to demons or to the devil, but to their sometimes unwitting human pawns.
Having said the above, I plan to write only one more blog on this topic after today's brief look at the armor we wear when we go into battle, and that will be a discussion on the most fearsome weapon in our arsenal: love. And again, I highly recommend Susan's blog for a more extensive treatment of weapons such as prayer, praise, etc. But now, take a brief look with me at our armor.
Since so much has been written about spiritual armor (based on Ephesians 6:10-18), I will take a little different tack with my discussion of this topic (as usual). That means that I will look first and mostly at the other New Testament passage about spiritual armor, 1 Thessalonians 5:8: "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet."
This shorter version of spiritual armor from the Apostle Paul was written in a much earlier letter, but it has the same kind of power as Paul's later and more extensive list of armor in Ephesians. There are several things that make this list distinct from the Ephesians list, but I will mention here only its use of the Christian triad of faith, hope and love as the components of the armor (the "shield of faith" in Ephesians 6:16 is almost certainly "faithfulness," not "faith," and I wrote about that in an early blog entry which you can read by clicking here.)
In this list Paul tells us that faith and love can be used as a breastplate to protect our heart and other spiritual vital organs. Since faith is growing confidence in Father's love for us and in His good character, it's easy to see how this works. Our inner self is shielded as we experience, embrace and give away Father's love and rest and trust our way into the place of peace that enables us to sleep through and/or rebuke the storms of life.
Paul also tells us that it is "the hope of salvation" that is our helmet, protecting our mind from damaging defeat. I don't know about you, but the importance of this one just keeps growing on me. First, because Christian hope is a certainty, not just a wish about the future, this helmet is always available. Second, since this hope is for "salvation," which includes healing and deliverance it means that no matter what we are facing as an adversary, we can stand firm knowing that wholeness and rescue are in our future, guaranteed by the faithfulness of God Himself. "But wait," you say, "I have known cases where that didn't turn out to be the case." Do you really? I have known (too personally for my comfort) cases where that seemed to be the case, but I cannot see things from God's perspective nor from the all-seeing perch that eternity will afford us. And it's that eternal hope, unshakeable and basically barely understood by us in the present moment, plus the increasing unfolding of God's kindness to us in innumerable ways in the present age that enable us to ward off the vicious blows to our minds that the enemy directs our way.
I hope this makes sense. I close with these reminders. First, before Paul writes about this armor he reminds his readers that they are "children of the day," an amazing description of us that I can't take time now to unfold but which will unfold itself to you as you do. Second, Paul describes the putting on this armor as an exercise of a sober, self-controlled will--that is, a choice that grows out of clear-minded thinking and settled conviction. Think about that (pun intended). Finally, none of this armor thingy can be done alone. It is our life in community with others that enables us to keep faith, hope and love alive and our armor firmly in place.
Suiting up...
Tom, one of Papa's children
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