Ephesians 6:10-12 NLT
[10] “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [11] Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. [12] For we are not fighting 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.”

How often we quote this Scripture without really understanding what Paul meant. Paul often used everyday word pictures to illustrate spiritual truth. The importance is always the spiritual truth behind the picture that should give us greater understanding of its application when we need help.

Even before we examine each piece of the Roman soldier’s armour and how to apply it to spiritual warfare, we must first understand what “spiritual warfare” is.

Unfortunately, some streams of the church have become muddied through misinterpreting where the battles take place and who is engaged in this war. The scene of the struggle has shifted from the heart and mind of the individual to the physical and circumstantial battles we face. So, Satan gets the blame for everything that goes wrong in our lives. Sickness is his fault, troubles are his doing, loss is his work etc. We disregard God’s absolute sovereignty in our circumstances, ignore His good work in us IN ALL THINGS, and fail to recognise that the devil is not God’s equal but God’s tool to refine and mature our faith in Him, in His love, and His goodness.

So, Satan gets more attention than God. We spent more time and effort foolishly trying to take him on instead of learning to trust God as He tests us and teaches us to walk with Him.

What is the war we are fighting and where do the battles take place? Again, it’s Paul who clearly answers our questions.

Galatians 5:16-18 NLT
[16] “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. [17] The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. [18] But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.”

The war and the war zone are inside us, not in our circumstances. Satan only steals our stuff to trick us into mistrusting our Father and His ways.

We have two opposing natures inside, slugging it out for control. The flesh…our old sinful nature before it was reined in by the Holy Spirit’s power in us when we came under His control at our “new birth”, fights against our new, divine nature, God’s gift to us through Jesus.

Two opposing sets of desires battle it out to be satisfied, the desires of our sinful nature which are selfish, pressing, and insistent, and the godly desires prompted by the Spirit which draw us towards our new nature of love and peace.

Since both natures cannot tell us the truth, the nature we choose to satisfy is the one we believe. Now we get to the crux of the battle. Satan uses lies to convince us that he is to be trusted rather than God, that he is our master, not Jesus, that his way, the way of self, is the way to satisfy our desires, not God’s way. He does this by subtly discrediting what God has done in our hearts. He tells us that God is lying and His Word us not to be trusted.

God’s “modus operandi” is to provide us with the truth. We need truth to protect our minds and to neutralise the lies the devil and his minions fire at us to throw us off balance.

Lies have no substance. They have no meaning or influence unless we believe them. Truth, on the other hand, is objective, infallible and indestructible because truth is rooted in God, expressed in His Word, and truth is a person, Jesus. Truth is reliable; lies are not because the liar invents lies to obscure the truth. Everything God is, says, and does is true.

By contrast, Jesus stated categorically, to His opponents,

John 8:44 NLT
[44] “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Verse 4 from the old hymn,
“All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice…”

says it all….

“Because the LORD our God is good;
His mercy is forever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall from age to age endure.”

We shall examine, step by step, the truths Satan attacks by explaining the truth which is our “spiritual armour” that protects us.

To be continued…