Stand firm therefore,
having girded your loins with truth,
and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet
with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Ephesians 6:14-15
Do you know Christ? Have you came to the cross and looked up into the beaten, plucked, swollen face of the Lamb of God who came and died to take away your sin? Your past sin, your present sin, and any future sin you ever commit. Have you partaken of Him?
I ask this because if you have, if you know Him, if He knows you, if He has sealed you with His Spirit… then do you know what that means?
Have the eyes of your heart been enlightened, so that you would know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe (Ephesians 1:18-19) ?
Do you know what the surpassing greatness of His power is that is yours simply because you are one with Christ?
Do you know that God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:4-6) ?
Do you know that when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against you, which was hostile to you; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Colossians 2:13-15) ?
Precious one if you know Him, do you know what that really means? Do you believe Him when He says you sit WITH Him in heavenly places far above all rule and authority?
Precious one, do you understand your position in Christ?
Let me show you…
GOD
Christ
Man (alive in Christ/filled with Holy Spirit)
Satan/Spiritual forces of darkness
Man (still dead in sins)
If you are alive in Christ and thus filled and sealed with the Holy Spirit at the moment of your salvation then you, precious one, have been raised from the dead with Christ and have been set with Christ far above all demonic rule and authority. Your flesh is no longer master over you, sin is no longer master over you, and Satan is no longer master over you. The power of God that raised Christ out of the grave has also raised you into a new life.
This power of God in this new life gives you the power to not only say no to things you once couldn’t help, but it also gives you the power to love those you once could never love…
Walking in the Spirit is walking in love and bearing fruit that tastes of love, gentleness, kindness, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.
As Satan watches our eyes open for the first time, when he sees us turn from his kingdom of darkness and to the kingdom of Light, when he sees us open our mouth in response to our open eyes and open heart and cry out to Jesus for His forgiveness in full unabashed repentance… he, Satan, knows he has lost us for eternity.
However, he is not through with us.
He now sicks his hounds of hell on us. He wants to cover the Light that is within you. He wants to wollar out the saltiness of this life of yours in Christ. He wants to knock your feet out from under you and pin your shoulders to the ground so that he might render you useless in this present world.
But our God tells us…
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Put on the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil.
Ephesians 6:10-11
God commands us to be strong in the strength of His might not ours…
Our chief enemy is the lie that says sin will make our future happier. Our chief weapon is the truth that says God will make our future happier. And faith is the victory that overcomes the lie, because faith is satisfied with God.
~ John Piper
Our victory over our enemies- Satan, our flesh, sin,- is not won through passive hand wringing “waiting on God” on to move it is won in our aggressive stance against sin and our faith in the Word of God.
If I’m going to stand I’m going to stand by knowing truth and by walking in truth and living according to the truth. I’m going to live and stand against the enemy in righteousness by keeping my life righteous because its sin that gives the devil an advantage over us, because sin is not to be in the child of God’s life. And that’s why we are to forsake sin and that’s why we’re to [“take our members and yield them as instruments of righteousness,”] as Romans 6 says, [“and not as instruments of sin.”] (PARAPHRASE, Romans 6:13)
~ Kay Arthur
Here’s the deal, my friend, God has supplied the armor… but it is your responsibility to put it on. It is your responsibility to stand in the authority that has been given you by God in and through Christ… no matter how many times the enemy comes against you.
My husband’s all time favorite movie is Lonesome Dove. Towards the very end of this movie is one of my favorite scenes.
Newt, played by Rick Schroder, has grown up in the home of Woodrow, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Newt never really knew his real father was, because his mother was a saloon girl. As the movie progresses it becomes more and more evident that this young Newt really is the son of Woodrow. Woodrow watches him all through out the movie and you see that he begins to see, that yes, Newt just might be his son. Newt, however, is wanting to hear exactly the words out of Woodrow’s mouth that let him know that he indeed is the accepted son of Woodrow. Woodrow gives Newt a watch that was his fathers and he gives him his horse. In this act, this bestowing of gifts that only passes through the family of Woodrow, he is showing Newt that he is claiming him as his son.
Then at the end of the movie, one of my favorite scenes, it comes time for Woodrow to head out on a journey and leaves the entire ranch under the authority of Newt. This does not sit well with the other hands, because in their eyes Newt is just a kid and no different than any of them. One of the smart mouthed ranch hands, Jasper, attacks Newt. Woodrow sits high on his horse as he watches the attack on his son. Newt fights back. He gets knocked down over and over but every time he gets back up on his feet… Woodrow does not get off his horse but he watches close by. Finally, Jasper sends a punch that sends Newt flying through the air and landing flat of his back. Newt his bleeding and out of breath, but here’s the awesome part. The other ranch hands help Newt to his feet and Newt walks up to Jasper in the authority that he knows is his given him by his father and he says, “Get on your horse, Jasper, we got cattle to drive.”
The look on Woodrow’s face is classic. It’s the look of a proud father.
You see Newt might have gotten knocked down by his attacker, but his character and his integrity led the other hands to respect him and they picked him up and looked at Jasper with contempt not Newt. It was in the authority that Newt knew he had been given by his father, that he walked up to Jasper and did not speak with hate, or bitterness, or wrath, but with firm conviction and he told him to get on his horse…
Friend, we have been given a gift by our Father. We have been given the right to call Him “Abba”
For you have not received a spirit of slavery
leading to fear again,
but you have received a spirit of adoption
as sons by which we cry out, “ Abba! Father!”
Romans 8:15
So precious one, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, get up! Stand! Stand firm!
Read though Ephesians 6:10-20 and underline every “you will“.
You will – be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil
You will– be able to resist in the evil day
You will– be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one
You will be able, my friend, you will if you will put that armor on by living in accordance with who you are in Christ. Hold your positon. Stand firm. Believe God.
The Gospel of Christ, it’s a messy, bloody thing and this is how God was born, bloody and bruised, and that’s how God chose to die, bloody and beaten. And our God, He knows the comings and goings of our blackest bloody battles, and this is exactly where He meets us.
The Gospel is good news in the eye of the worst news.
~ Ann Voskamp
How easy it is to forget that we are at war. This church thing is not a game. This life is not a game. It’s a real battle. A battle between good and evil, between God and Satan, between light and darkness, and whether you like it or not you are involved. The question is which side of the battle lines do you take your stand?
I am here in this world, 2012, a follower of Christ, the same Christ that came in the flesh as baby, allowing Himself to become dependent upon the hands of a first time mother and newlywed father, the same Christ that died on a Roman cross over 2000 years ago and rose from the grave 3 days later, the same Christ that ascended to the heavens and sent His Spirit down to indwell those who confess Him as Lord.
I follow that Jesus.
That Jesus that said the gates of hell could not prevail against His church.
That Jesus that said the world would hate me.
That Jesus that said I could overwhelmingly conquer in and through Him.
That Jesus that said I would receive power from high.
That Jesus that said I would be used by Him to set the prisoners free.
That Jesus that said nothing, absolutely NOTHING, could separate me from Him.
That Jesus that loved me while I was wollaring in my sin.
I follow that Jesus.
Are you with me?
Precious one, I ask you… who is crushing who?
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Romans 16:20
Notice precious one that in the armor of God you are to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace…
Are your feet getting ready to crush Satan under them?
Or does he have you on your back, pinned to the ground?
If he does my friend, the only way he can pin you is if you choose flesh over faith, lie over truth… So make war precious one, make war!
Remember the authority that is yours in Christ. Look to your fellow believers and let them help you to your feet and stand firm in the authority that has been given you by your Father… you’ve got cattle to drive.