Battling Spiritually and Clashing with the Unseen part 9  Eph. 6:10-12

Enlighten Us to Manage Our Adornment v.10

Enlighten Us to Measure Our Adversary v.11-12

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

    Satan Is a Defeated Foe 

In a chapter called prayer and the unseen enemy, H.A. Ironside writes on the challenges of seeking the Lord, through the privileges and responsibilities of prayer, in his book Praying in the Spirit.

He states: In our attempts to express ourselves to God, we’ll find we’re constantly conscious of incessantly repetitive invisible hindrances.

Satan, and his army of evil spirits, who are profane principalities and powers in heavenly places, are perpetually attempting to hinder our prayer-life.  Our unseen enemy works overtime to stop us from prayer, when the opposition fails in cutting us off from prayer, they’ll then use all their diabolic ingenuity to delay the answer.

In Ephesians 6:10–20, we have the cover pushed aside on these mysterious battles, and we attempt to discern the nature of the conflict in the sphere of spiritual activity.

Ephesians parallels the Book of Joshua.  Canaan the promised territory is the place of privilege, as God’s children are taking possession of their new territory, in Joshua.

In Ephesians it’s our heavenly territory that the Spirit of Christ is exposing, where we have every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Paul says “All things are ours,” but what is now needed is appropriating faith.

God gave all Canaan to Israel, but energy was needed to enter into and enjoy it.  We need to appropriate our blessings in Christ, to “possess our possessions.”

The seven nations of Canaan, greater and mightier than Israel, typify the unseen spiritual foes with which we have now to cope.

The call is:  “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

We are to depend on God in this conflict as Israel was in the wars over the Promised Land.  In His strength and power we overcome as we listen, respect and obey His Word.

The Defeated Foe, Satan, and his demonic followers, were created with a free will.  They’ve exploited their freedom choosing to oppose God’s will.

Their gain was a twisted nature; their loss was a fall from paradise, perfection, and a future fall into everlasting perdition, the lake of fire.

In his present wait, for eternal punishment, the Devil infiltrates on every level as a megalomaniac. He is a despotic tyrant who controls by deception and duopolistic wiles.

He’s a horrific antagonist; but a defeated foe.

His doom is defined in the beginning of creation, Gen. 3:15;

His fate and defeat was achieved at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14.

His destruction will be realized in the future where he’ll be thrown into the lake of fire Rev. 20:10.

Our first defense is to see Satan and the countless, demonic forces, as dangerous, but defeated.  Our triumph is to rest by faith in our position in the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, and resist Satan, by faith in the finished work.

Our biblical directions are to be clear-headed.  We’re to be attentive and alert to the mobility of our adversary.

The devil is compared to a roaring lion walking everywhere, seeking those he can chew up; we’re to resist in the stability of steadfast faith.

Ephesians 4:27 states, we’re not to give place to the devil.  That means to not allow him a ledge of operations or to in anyway allow him to mislead by deception.

I took a break from writing this early today.  I needed to cook dinner, so I put some lamb chops on the grill. After cooking I sat and ate, waiting for another, I had cooked for who had left to go down the hall for a few moments.  When I could hear some movement as to this persons return, I took one of the steaks, I had prepared, and cut it in small pieces, for this other person, who has a broken arm.  I had turned for only a minute, not realizing I had left my chair to the table pulled out, where I had left my plate of food.

It was a ledge of operation for an opportunistic dog that snatched my steak in a flash.  The loss was quick and complete as I failed to be alert.

We have to “Submit ourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” 1 Peter 5:8, 9; Eph. 4:27; James 4:7.

I let down my alert guard, my resistance was late and yes, the dog fled, but I lost my unguarded piece of tasty nutritious meat.  I had failed for just a moment to resist a roaming dog.

Our Lord Jesus is our invincible armor against the tricks and charms of the Enemy.

Colossians 2:9-10 (Phillips NT)

Yet it is in him that God gives a full and complete expression of himself (within the physical limits that he set himself in Christ). Moreover, our own completeness is only realized in him, who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all powers.

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And we are complete in Him, who is the Head of allprincipality and power.” “Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Col. 2:9, 10; Rom. 13:12 KJV).

Satan can’t create a thing, his freedom to propagate any evil, is only allowed by God’s consent.  In saying that, it wasn’t God’s will or purpose that the dog got my steak.  I permitted him the possibility and opened the door to it.

Satan is a defeated foe.  The gates of hell can’t prevail; demonic powers can’t predominate and succeed against us.  We are only defeated when we fail in our armor and leave the door unguarded and open.

Samuel Ridout writes: Not a hair of the child of God can fall without the Father’s permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish the Father’s will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between them and us. They will but work for us His own purposes of love.

We’re to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). We’re not told to overcome him, but when he meets the Lord Jesus Christ in us, he cannot stand that; he must flee.  That’s being strong in the Lord.

    Satan Is a Destructive Force

Keep us from drooping to the disparaging pummeling of the evil one

 He’s a Twisted & Devious Schemer      the wiles

Give us discretionary shrewdness to isolate every cunning trick

He’s a Tricky Diabolical Slanderer      of the devil

Develop our discernment in the evasive deceptions of all that is around us

     Satan Is a Decided Fact

For our fight is not against any physical enemy:

         He Tussles

In this vigorous struggle guide our every move to productivity

         He’s Temperamental

In the face of a variety of mood changes in others train us to be correct & compelling