Throughout the New Testament, various passages describe a spiritual battle in which we are engaged. In writing to the church in Corinth, Paul said, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Timothy was told, “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). Jude admonished Christians to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).
This war is going on all around us. It is not something we can ignore or escape. So how do we prepare for battle? Notice what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 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. 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” (Ephesians 6:10-13).
In this passage, Paul mentioned three things we need to do in order to prepare to fight the good fight.
- We must put our trust in God – We have a powerful enemy against us [more on this in the next point]. Because of this, we cannot merely rely on ourselves in order to overcome the opposition. We need to put our full faith in God. Paul said that “we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Even though these powerful forces will “wage war against the Lamb,” the Lord will be victorious (Revelation 17:14). We need to trust in Christ and follow His instructions so we can share in His victory.
- We must know our enemy – The enemy of God and His people is the devil. We cannot afford to be “ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). In addition to how he may try to deceive us into giving in to temptation or turning away from the Lord, he also has allies – those who have been deceived by him. These include “powers” (civil authorities who refuse to accept the role God has given them and want to be “gods” over the people instead), “world forces” (others who have been deceived by the devil and oppose those who strive to do what is right), and “spiritual forces” (those who are religiously motivated, although misguided, and zealous in their opposition to the truth).
- We must arm ourselves – Paul said we are to put on “the full armor of God.” He then described the pieces of this armor (Ephesians 6:14-17). Each of these represents something that either describes the word of God (truth, the gospel, the word of God) or is derived from the word of God (righteousness, faith, salvation). In other words, if we want to be sufficiently armed for this conflict, we need to know God’s word, use it, and allow it to protect us.
We cannot escape this spiritual war that is being waged all around us. Yet God has provided everything we need to be equipped for this fight. And through Him, we can be fully assured of victory in the end.
