Ephesians 6:10-17 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We find in Deuteronomy at the end of Moses’ life that Joshua is told by Moses to be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) After Moses the great prophet of God has passed away, the Lord reminds Joshua now in Canaan to be strong and courageous, for I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:9) God’s promise to Joshua is the same promise that He makes with all Christians as they move through their lives. We who are vessels of new life, people who are moving through this wilderness, are to be strong and courageous under the Spirit of God’s protection. He will never leave us or abandon us. Of course, we read about the children of Israel being kept in God’s hands as they journeyed through the wilderness, escaping from the bondage of slavery that they experienced in Egypt. We too as children of God have escaped our past lives, bound by the works of the evil one, Satan. We know the children of Israel faced many difficulties as they journeyed through the wilderness. They feared for their physical existence and complained bitterly to Moses and Aaron for leading them to a place that had little food and water. The Israelites now without shelter would experience the heat of the desert wind, sand whirling around them, getting into all their clothing and belongings. They would experience the exhaustion of traversing the wilderness, the never-ending mornings, eating the same thing, doing the same things, never resting their heads in a permanent place. They were passing through, but where were they headed and why did not Moses lead them directly to the promised land? Why was he taking this circuitous route, allowing them to spend so much time in this alien land? We who are Christians, are no longer bound by the tenets of sin; yet we are on a difficult journey to the promised land: heaven. We also experience all the vicissitudes of life and often question this wilderness life and ask why our circumstances are so difficult. But God promised Moses that He would be with him, and to verify his presence, He gave a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The cloud and the fire represented the abiding Spirit of God in the wilderness. Because of the blood of Jesus, we who are Christians also have that continuous presence of God. We do not merely have an awareness of God’s presence with us: we have his voice inside of us, a voice that says to us, I will never leave you or abandon you. Be strong and courageous, for I am Enduring Love. In the above focus, Paul tells the Ephesians to be comforted with the truth that God is with them, and to understand they are a select people, a people who have been freed from sin and death, but they must wear the right clothing to defeat the devil and to endure the journey successfully. In his letter to the Romans Paul writes, put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. (Romans 13:12-14) Yes, the Spirit of God is with you, in you, but you must be single in heart, living an emblematic life of the God who is inside you.
The children of Israel often grumbled about their situation in the wilderness. They rebelled and sought to live their lives as they had in the past under the control of Pharaoh, Satan. Their hearts were not singularly focused on the living God; instead, they had idols in their satchels, and when circumstances seemed dire in the wilderness, they turned to their idols, forsaking the leadership of Moses and ignoring the cloud by day and the pillar by night. They chose an awful place to be in, for it was blasphemous of the Holy Spirit’s presence, the abiding Spirit of protection. Amazingly, they rejected the God who took care of them by giving them manna and meat every day in the wilderness. Even their clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on their feet. (See Deuteronomy 29) God did that so they might know that He was the one who rescued them from their former lives of slavery. But their hearts were rebellious. Even in Canaan, an unparalleled gift to them, they sought other gods and played the harlot in God’s presence. Similarly, Jesus said of the leaders of Israel in his time, You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) The devil lied to the Israelites all through their existence. Finally God dispersed them into different countries, for they never did solely serve the God of Abraham, Moses, Joshua and the godly prophets. Paul understood well the history of his people and their journey through the wilderness. He knew how easy it is for people to be tricked by the devil and search some other remedy for their lives than serving God with their whole hearts, souls, minds, and strength. He knew if they fell back into their old patterns, they would become targets for the devil. Therefore, Paul wanted them to clothe themselves with the belt of truth, and the breastplate of righteousness, with feet fitted for readiness of peace. He wanted them to have the shield of faith with the helmet of salvation on their heads. He wanted the word of God to be their sword. With that kind of clothing and armament, they would not be deceived by the evil one and neither would they be accepting his lies. They would stand firm in the faith if they were prepared to fight the wickedness in the world. When Peter talks about the persecution and hand-to-hand struggle with the devil, he tells his Christian brethren to Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9) Do not back down in your struggle with this world and all of its troubles and persecution. Do not be fearful of this sparse, alien land, but know that God is with you. Therefore, clothe yourself with the fruit of the Spirit and yield yourself to righteous living, and you will be more than overcomers throughout life.
On Paul’s last missionary journey, he warns the leaders of the church in Ephesus to be aware of divisive and cultish beliefs that some will introduce. These ideas come from wolves who desire for their own reasons to lead some away from the foundational truths of the good news. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:28-31) If not clothed properly, Christians will believe a lie from the father of all lies. The devil wants to separate believers from the flock. He wants them in a land that is unprofitable for their souls. If he can separate some, he will then find them alone, unable to defend themselves. Paul addresses this kind of deception when he addresses a sorcerer who is preventing the governor of Pathos from accepting the good news.
Elymas, you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? (Acts 13:9-10) The devil will pervert the gospel, championing another way to be right with God. Many young Christians are caught in this net of deception. Cults pick off these young, immature believers, using deceit, trickery, and half truths to carry these babies in Christ to another land. And some of them are lost forever because they become so indoctrinated in these cults that they cannot find their way out unless God gives them divine revelation of the truth. To be clothed correctly and quickly are necessary requirements for all those who follow Christ. Elders and leaders in the church should speak the truth in love to the believers, letting them know they need to keep the helmet of salvation in their minds by reading the Bible daily, feeding on the manna God wants them to have for their salvation. Without that they will become as a sheep out of the fold. But the good news is that Jesus will leave the ninety-nine who are safe in the pen and go out to search for the wayward, the lonely, the disaffirmed.
If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:12-14) God will pursue his little ones and are we not thankful for that! When we wander, when we fail, when we question, God is there through the Spirit’s work in us saying, I am here, come back my little one, and I will restore you to my Kingdom and place of safety. Amen! Rest in God’s unfailing love today, and reach out to any who might wander.
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