Ephesians 6:10-13 NASB
[10] Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. [11] Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. [12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
We are still looking at these introductory verses concerning the armor of God, so that we can lay a solid foundation of understanding what Paul is talking about before we start looking at the specific pieces of the armor of God.
It is imperative that you get down inside of you the revelation that living in victory does not mean that you don’t have battles to fight. Paul talks about fighting the good fight of faith, and every day of your walk with the Lord will involve having to stand firm at some level. Besides the fact, that there are daily battles to face, sometimes there are days that are particularly evil. Paul references this fact in verse 13. All of you know what I mean when I talk about the fact that every day there’s going to be some level of temptation, or testing, but also I believe that all of you have experienced some days that are especially difficult days. I have discovered, and I believe this section of Scripture confirms, that when you are under a especially severe assault from the enemy, it is because he knows that you are about to breakthrough into a new discovery and manifestation of Christ likeness, and in frightened rage he throws everything at you. Again, get this deep down inside of you because it is imperative that when the evil days come, instead of being discouraged, be filled with hopeful anticipation of a fresh breakthrough that is about to be yours. Something you’ve probably been praying into
Remember, that according to verse 12 the attacks are spiritual ones, regardless of the circumstances, or the people the enemy is using. It is always a spiritual battle, and the enemy is trying to get you off of your ground of victory in Christ, to respond to your situation, or the people involved in your situation, or just plain temptation, from the flesh. It is not about them, or that, or even about you, and the desires that are rising up in you; it is about Him and who you are in Him. What you believe in that moment of testing, or temptation, will totally determine defeat, or manifested victory. Christians don’t fail because of weakness, or the severity of the test. Christians fail because they forget who they are in Christ, or sadly never knew. They fail because of unbelief. It is that simple. The victory that Christ has called us to rest in isn’t dependent on people acting right, or circumstances turning out right, or temptation not being too severe. Any lost person can celebrate life when there are no stressors going on. There is nothing supernatural about that. The victory of a Christian is miraculous, because it’s the victory of ONE who already conquered death itself. We are in union with that ONE.