The Bible discloses to us we are in a war, and our foe, Satan the fallen angel, is set on wrecking us. The messenger Paul cautions us to be careful with Satan’s gadgets and strategies (2 Corinthians 2:11). How might we safeguard ourselves from his stealthy and fatal assaults?
Paul tended to this in Ephesians 6:10-20 where he discusses putting in a general protective layer of God. Ephesians was one of Paul’s letters composed from jail. Amid Paul’s opportunity in jail he clearly turned out to be all around familiar with the shield worn and conveyed by his captors in the Roman armed force. Following Isaiah’s lead (Isaiah 59:17), Paul drew a great examination between an officer’s reinforcement and the otherworldly covering of God.
Paul expressed: “At long last, my brethren, be solid in the Lord and in the intensity of His strength” (verse 10).
We don’t need to be demoralized by Satan’s gadgets or by his capacity and stealth. We aren’t in this fight alone. We approach the best power in the universe!
Verse 11 proceeds with: “Put in general protection of God, that you might have the capacity to remain against the wiles of the fallen angel.”
This is a complete safeguard procedure, and we need to focus on all parts of this covering God offers. In any case, in the event that we do, we will have the capacity to withstand Satan’s assaults.
“For we don’t wrestle against fragile living creature and blood, yet against realms, against powers, against the leaders of the murkiness of this age, against otherworldly has of mischievousness in the magnificent spots” (verse 12).
The Bible depicts inconspicuous profound fights, for example, the titanic fight toward the finish of the age that the messenger John saw: “And war broke out in paradise: Michael and his blessed messengers battled with the winged serpent; and the mythical serpent and his holy messengers battled, however, they didn’t win, nor was wherever found for them in paradise anymore. So the considerable mythical serpent was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who cheats the entire world” (Revelation 12:7-9).
This is going on in the background in the otherworldly world, however, it has an extraordinary impact over the physical world. Satan and the evil spirits are imperceptible, and he is an ace of disguise. He can persuade individuals that he doesn’t exist, and he can influence society and recommend wrong contemplations to us without our notwithstanding acknowledging he is there.
Paul proceeded in Ephesians 6:13: “Along these lines take up the entire reinforcement of God, that you might have the capacity to withstand in the insidious day, and having done all, to stand.”
What does he signify, “to stand”? He was accentuating that with God’s assistance, we will have the capacity to hold the line, to not withdraw, to not surrender up a the slightest bit of God’s region.
Presently Paul begins to list the individual components of this profound reinforcement.
A belt was the main bit of gear put on, and it anchors the various bits of our reinforcement. Wearing the belt demonstrated that the warrior was good to go since he would just release his belt when he went enjoying some downtime.
Truth should encompass us as a belt. Knowing God’s reality is the surefire antitoxin to Satan’s falsehoods and misleading. What’s more, to be genuinely prepared for the fight, we should be totally honest ourselves in our internal being, similar to our Creator.
Next, Paul instructs us to “put on the breastplate of honorableness.”
Without nobility, we abandon ourselves open to Satan’s assaults. To be noble is above all else to apologize and be excused of our wrongdoings, and afterward to make the right decision in God’s eyes. Hymn 119:172 reveals to us that God’s edicts are nobility. So to be exemplary is to comply with God’s laws of adoration.
Isaiah 59:17 says that God Himself puts on nobility as a breastplate! This might be a piece of what roused Paul to utilize this similarity. Isaiah 59 begins by clarifying that “your injustices have isolated you from your God” (verse 2). Evildoing is the inverse of honorableness, so when we yield to sin without atoning, we are expelling our breastplate and abandoning ourselves open to a greater amount of Satan’s assaults.
Shoes probably won’t be the most energizing bit of covering, yet the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary features their significance:
“The military victories both of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar were expected in vast measure to their armed forces being admirably shod and therefore ready to attempt long walks at unimaginable speed over the unpleasant landscape.”
“Preparation,” meaning status, advises us that we are to be anxious to lecture the good news of peace. The Church of God is sent to declare the uplifting news of God’s Kingdom, which will spread His method for peace around the entire world. Having our profound shoes on, we will be prepared to spread the news to others.
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible reveals to us that the shoes of the Roman officer “frequently were fitted with nails, or furnished with spikes, to make the holding firm in the ground.” God’s uplifting news and our main goal—our walking orders—to lecture it fill in as our firm establishment.
At the point when our confidence in God’s capacity and love is solid, it is outlandish for Satan to get through our shield and land a blow. Confidence implies something beyond trusting that God exists, obviously. It incorporates a firm conviction that everything God does is genuinely for our great. Likewise, confidence is the total conviction that God will dependably do what He has guaranteed (Romans 4:18-21).
Confidence secures us from multiple points of view. Consider Daniel in the lion’s nook. Confidence resembled a power field to shield Daniel from those awful teeth! What’s more, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were shielded from the red-hot heater! Confidence is intense and shields us from those physical risks, as well as from the otherworldly allurements and perils.
The shield of confidence isn’t only for individual insurance. The Roman troopers had a technique of consolidating their shields. In the event that we join our shields—that is, fortify each other with our confidence, developing and filling in as we are capable—we will have the capacity to go up against any test.
We can get huge expectation and solace by concentrating on the mind-blowing penance Jesus Christ provided for spare us and the great Kingdom that is the objective of our salvation. This expectation shields our psyches from the demoralization and hopelessness in this world.
The sword of the Spirit, similar to the Roman gladius, can likewise assist us with conquering every one of our foes, including that most troublesome one, our dug in human shortcomings. Jews 4:12 clarifies: “For the expression of God is living and great, and more keen than any two-edged sword, penetrating even to the division of soul and soul, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the considerations and purposes of the heart.”
Keep in mind how Jesus utilized the Word of God to crush Satan (Matthew 4:1-10)? Christ utilized sacred writing cites three times. He inferred the sacred texts that managed the circumstance, that demonstrated what He ought to do and that fortified His determination. Thus should we.
Our sword won’t remain sharp without anyone else. We should ceaselessly hone it with customary and centered Bible investigation.
Paul closes this area urging us to supplicate intensely for ourselves, for each other and for crafted by the Church.
“Imploring dependably with all petition and supplication in the Spirit, being careful to this end with all tirelessness and supplication for every one of the holy people—and for me, that expression might be given to me, that I may open my mouth intensely to make known the puzzle of the gospel, for which I am a diplomat in chains; that in it I may talk strikingly, as I should speak” (Ephesians 6:18-20).
The Church, and every one of us independently, pushes ahead on our knees. Asking helps us to remember the fight, helps us to remember the wellspring of our quality and resistance, and reminds God that we are completely dedicated to tailing Him as respectful and unwavering warriors. Supplication and Bible examination are the most ground-breaking apparatuses for fighting Satan’s weapons.
When we put on this entire protection of God, we will be set up for Satan’s endeavors to assault us with satisfaction, begrudge, desire for illegal joys, tingling ears, frustration, demoralization, uncertainty or division—or some other traps he may utilize.
There is quite a lot more we can gain from this ground-breaking rundown of barriers God makes accessible to us. Ideally, this article has whetted your craving to consider this essential subject in more detail. Make it an objective to think about the defensive layer of God in more prominent profundity.
Keep in mind that, we’re at war. We should be aware of Satan’s gadgets, and we should put all in all protective layer of God!