“Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.” Ephesians 6: 10-11
You do realize we are in a battle, right?
Every day, at every moment, Satan and his legion of demons seek to
tempt us, scare us, distract us, harm us, fool us, confuse us, dull us and destroy
us. At every moment we are confronted with the choice to live for God or to
live for ourselves. At every moment we are free to choose to follow the Lord’s
commands and plans or to sin. At every moment we can choose to live a life of
greatness or a life of mediocrity. The biggest battle of our lives takes place
almost silently, invisibly, in and around us every day and our enemy is pure
evil with the powers of an angel. He is the master of disguises and the father
of lies.
So we stand there like a sand castle against a wave, with a
history of defeats to remind us of what to expect and yet we still think that this time we will win. We look insane as
we try to fight this battle the same way over and over expecting different results.
Because the reality is that if it comes down to me or you versus Satan, we are
going to lose every time. Satan has no need for sleep, or food. He does not
tire or grow weary. He has the powers of an angel, fallen as he may be. And he
relentlessly pursues us.
But God stands there offering us His strength, His mighty power
and His armor. Why do we not use it? Pride, laziness, ignorance? How can Satan
defeat God? He can’t. And when you and I use the Lord’s strength, the power of
God the Father and the armor provided by Him, we can stand firm against the
attacks of the Evil One. What is the armor of God? Truth. Righteousness. The
Gospel of Peace. Faith. Salvation. The Word of God.
We need to stop fighting with our own power. We need to stop
fighting with our own armor. We need to immerse ourselves in the Word of God.
We need to learn and accept the Truth that comes to us from the Lord through
the Church. We need to think, speak and act with peace. We need to live a life
of virtue and righteousness. We need to believe in the things unseen. And we
need to claim our salvation, not in pride or presumption, but in the mercy of a
God who loves us beyond compare. When we do this, the perfect, loving armor of
God will cast out the fearful tactics of Satan every time.
Praise God that we are not called to go into this battle
ill-equipped or unprepared!! The same power that created the universe from
nothing, the same power that calmed the raging sea, the same power that heals,
the same power that defeated Satan at the cross is available to us. If we would
only draw upon it.
