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 fight 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. …
Paul uses the word “fight,” and he uses the word “schemes” in describing the spiritual battle that believers face every day.
The enemy of our souls does not celebrate our redemption in Christ, and having not been able to keep us from saying yes to the gift of grace offered to us at our new birth, the enemy does everything that he can to fight our discovering, and manifesting the fullness of Christ in this fallen world. Toward the end of verse 12 Paul refers to this world as “this darkness,” because the Holy Spirit wants us to understand clearly that when we were Born Again, we were plunged into a winner take all cosmic conflict. Here is the good news; the winner has already been declared openly 2000 years ago when Jesus cried out from the Cross “It is finished.” The bad news is, most Christians don’t understand that, and the devil who is a deceiver, wants to do anything he can to keep us from discovering the truth about his defeat, and the victory of Christ that we are in union with.
Paul tells us four different times that we are to stand firm, because the way we deal with the schemes of the devil is by fighting the good fight of faith, in a victory already won. We aren’t fighting for faith; instead, we are fighting from faith, because we are fighting from victory. This will all make more sense as we continue in our study on the armor of God, but it is imperative that we understand that Satan has already been defeated, and as a trespasser he is simply trying to take ground that he knows does not belong to him. He just hopes we don’t know that. As I have said before, I believe there is a devil; I just don’t believe in the devil. In other words, when the enemy unleashes his schemes, and that word “schemes” could be better translated “tailor-made assaults,” I stand firm in the victory of Christ, knowing that his schemes being hurled at me are a deception, coming from the father of lies, whose defeat has already been displayed publicly according to Colossians 2. Sadly, most Christians live their Christian life fighting for a place of victory for which they can finally live; instead of realizing they were born into a place of victory from which they now by faith can simply, and restfully, not frettfully, fight the good fight. When we stand firm by faith in the victory that Christ has already won, we are simply enforcing an already done victory in Christ. Remember in Joshua chapter 1:3, where the Lord told Joshua that every place they put their foot, it had already been given to them. The land of Canaan was already theirs before they ever set foot on the promised soil, but their job was to simply step-by-step stand in a victory already won, dispossessing an enemy who knew he was already defeated.