Stand

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour 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 armour 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, Ephesians 6: 10 – 14

One of the hardest yet most essential abilities for the Christian is to be able to stand especially in the face of the devil’s attacks.

It can be so hard to stand when things go wrong in our marriage, or with family, colleagues and especially in the church. The first desire is to run or to hide. How often do you know people who have left their church, their job, family or marriage when things have not gone well?

When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid. When Moses killed the Egyptian he ran and hid in the desert for 40 years.  King Saul hid in the baggage when God’s call came. Elijah ran away and hid in the desert after confronting King Ahab. Jonah did not want to be part of God’s plan for mercy on the Assyrians so he fled in the opposite direction.

Of course this is what the devil wants. Paul is wise to remind us where our struggle is because we so easily forget that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the devil and his cohorts. He doesn’t want us to stand.  He wants us to run away.

Too often we get bogged down in the politics of work or church and let personalities determine our words and actions. Instead it is helpful to try and see how the devil is manipulating people and circumstances and our response must be to stand firm and pray. James reminds us ‘to resist the devil’ and the promise that goes with it is most encouraging ‘and he will flee from you’ James 4: 7.

These verses from Peter are a great reassurance.

Resist him (the devil), standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5: 9 – 10

When circumstances are hard, when everything in you wants to run, to hide, to get away at all costs – stand. Stand firm. Resist the devil. Pray and let God bring triumph out of adversity.

Stand firm against the enemy

The following blog in no way condones the Anglo / Zulu war nor supports either side. It is merely used as an example of how we must fight our enemy.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world … Ephesians 6: 12

Therefore put on the full armour 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 Ephesians 6: 13

I have just visited the site of the battle of Rorke’s Drift fought in South Africa between the Zulus and British in 1879. It was made famous by the film Zulu starring Michael Caine. A small band of British soldiers fought against a large number of Zulus and won mainly because of two mistakes made by the inexperienced Zulus.  The British fought bravely and 11 Victorian Crosses, the highest military honour, were awarded that day. As the British started to face the Zulus, realising they were heavily outnumbered, the clergyman Reverend George Smith allegedly said to them, ‘Fire straight men and the Lord will do the rest.’

The well known verses above from Ephesians tell us how to fight our enemy. Paul first all reminds us who the enemy is and he exhorts us to put on our armour. Then three times he tells us to stand.  We know from James 4: 7 that we must resist the devil and he will flee from us. I Peter 5:9 tells us to resist the devil and stand firm in the faith. We cannot resist him by lying down and giving in nor by running away. Some men at Rorke’s Drift wanted to run away but were firmly told that way was a certain defeat. They must stand and fight – so must we.

The devil is a defeated enemy but he is not lying down yet. He will do all he can to drive division and discord between the brethren. We in turn must recognise his lies and deception, stand firm and fight back.  

Paul tells us we have both armour and weapons. The armour represents wearing both what Christ has done for us and our character and integrity.  The best way to fight darkness is with light. We are told to’ live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth)’ Ephesians 5: 8 – 9. Light always overcomes darkness. If we live in righteousness and truth bearing the fruit of the spirit the devil does not have a foothold into our lives.

We have a shield of faith which we can put up to extinguish the enemy’s lies and most important we have the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This is the most powerful weapon there is. By declaring the truth of God’s Word it exposes the lies. The light of truth overcomes the darkness of lies, discouragement, disappointment and depression.

Too often Christians let the devil walk all over them accepting his sickness, poverty, marriage and family difficulties instead of fighting back with the Word of God and standing in faith that what God says  is true.  We must wear our armour with confidence, put up our shields of faith and declare God’s word as a sharp sword over the works of the enemy in our lives, homes and families. Finally having done everything we must stand.

Stand firm, declare the Word and the Lord will do the rest.