The Christian life is not ten days on a Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas. It is not a skiing vacation in the Colorado Rockies. The Christian life is not even a weekend retreat of several power-packed days at an old fashioned camp meeting. Paul describes it in Ephesians 6:10-24 as warfare – Spiritual warfare.
Now if you’ve never experience a spiritual attack – never felt under siege by your spiritual “Adversary,” the Devil – something is wrong! The Christian life is a battle. If you don’t have a sense of being in a battle, it doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It may mean you just haven’t shown up for duty – you are spiritually AWOL!
Satan is a spiritual Osama Ben Laden – a spiritual terrorist. The Bible calls him “the Adversary” (1 Peter 5:8). He is out to rob, kill, and destroy every believer that he can as well as neutralize the Church of Jesus Christ.
Paul is writing to 1stCentury Christians who were living in Asia Minor located in and around Ephesus. They had been delivered from the dark spiritual forces that had once bound them. They were under attack from the Devil for trying to accomplish something for the Lord. Often they experienced ridicule and were belittled by their old pagan friends. For them, persecution was not imaginary. Temptation to compromise and return to idolatry and their old sinful lifestyle was real. They were sometimes bewildered by the multitude of religious and philosophical options clamoring for attention in their day. Even fellow believers, who saw themselves as some kind of “super-saints” because of the unusual experiences they had, were trying to make them feel inferior (read Colossians 2:12 23, the “sister epistle to Ephesians). Living the Christian life in Ephesus was a battle and it’s a battle in our world today!
So what does this great “Spiritual field commander,” Apostle Paul tell his fellow warriors (including us) in this passage? Fundamentally four things:
1. Come to grips with the fact that you’re involved in a real battle with real enemy! (vs. 12)
2. Strengthen yourself for “Spiritual guerrilla warfare” and take your stand! (vss. 10-14)
3. For “heaven’s sake” put on all your Spiritual armor! (vss. 11, 13-17)
4. And PRAY in the Spirit, all the time, with all kinds of prayer for yourself, fellow Christians and your Spiritual leaders! (vss. 18-20)
Listen, let me tell you NEVER HAS THIS BEEN MORE IMPORTANT!
Coffee With The Lord 