Ephesians 6:10-17 – Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
Ephesians 6:12 – For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Zechariah 4:6b – “…Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirt,” says the Lord Almighty.”
John 16:33 – I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Family, sometimes we need to defend ourselves. I remember a time when my eldest was about six years old. I was watching as he was playing with his good friend in the fenced front yard next door. A couple brothers were riding their bikes and stopped by to join my son and his friend. These two boys had recently moved onto the block. They had come from a rough neighborhood and their behavior too often showed it. They all had their bikes in the yard with them. They were all talking about something and my son took a step backward and accidently knocked over the younger brother’s bike onto the grass. My son apologized and started toward the bike to pick it. The older brother had instantly started instigating his brother to beat up my son for knocking the bike over. My son had started to lean over to pick up the bike but stopped when the younger brother, about my son’s age, took a step toward him. The younger brother began taking swings at my son. Each time the boy tried to hit my son he blocked the punch and pushed the boy away from him. The boy tried this several times and the result was always the same. My son did not try to strike the boy, but had just pushed him away. After several tries to hit my son, the boy seemed to stop. When my son thought the aggression was over, he turned to talk to the boy who lived next door. When my son was not looking the boy ran next to my son and swung a punch around him and hit him in the nose. I thought my son was now going to let this child “have it.” Instead he quickly put his hand over his hurt nose. The boy had stepped away. My son looked at him for a few moments and then just walked over to his bike and left to come home. All the other kids watched in silence as my son headed home holding his nose.
Once in our home he did not say anything to me. I sat him down and hugged him and told him that I had seen the boy hit him. I asked my son why he hadn’t hit the boy back. He responded that he didn’t want to hurt the boy. My son had been taught how to defend himself, how to block and how to throw punches. I said to him “I know you don’t want to hurt people. But sometimes we have to defend ourselves. I told him “It would not have been bad if you had defended yourself and hit that boy. After all, you gave him plenty of chances.” I then continued that “sometimes, if you don’t defend yourself, you are going to get hurt.” My son responded to me “I know Daddy, but I would rather get hurt than hurt someone else.” I was stopped. I told him that I love him and that he should remember to defend himself if he must. He said he would remember, told me he loved me, and went off to play. Wow! He taught me a lesson that I remember these thirty years later.
Family, with Jesus within, we want to, and should, think good of others. We want good and not bad for them. We pray for others and hurt when they hurt. Even if others hurt us, not physically, but emotionally. and even if they offend us but what they say or do, we forgive and pray for them. Our battle is not with them. It is with the evil that exists in our world. It surrounds us. It controls the actions of many people. They are caught up in it and controlled by it.
The devil is very real. His influence is pervasive and the bad we see around us does not come God, but from the devil. The devil has legions of demons that chose the evil of the devil rather than loving and serving God. The devil hates mankind because God loves mankind. The devil wants to steal away from us the eternal life of love and peace that God has offered to the world (John 3:16). He wants to kill with an eternal death that is an eternal separation from God. He wants to torture us and destroy us and to hurt God while doing it. He sneers at God while our hearts and souls cry out (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8). Family, the devil uses people to hurt us. But ultimately our fight is not with them, it is against the devil and his demons. No our fight is not with evil men, but our fight is for them. We pray that they would turn from evil in their lives and give their lives over to Jesus that they might be saved. And family, we cannot battle evil in our own strength. No man who ever lived, except Jesus, has even been able to defeat evil. If anyone, besides Jesus, had ever been able to defeat evil in his own strength then there would have been no reason for Jesus to come to suffer and die on our behalf. If just one other man had been able to earn his way to heaven, then there was a way to heaven that Jesus did not need to supply. But no man ever did. No man ever could. That why Jesus came to rescue us and it is only by faith in Him that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 Timothy 2:5).
My son was right not to hit the boy after the boy had hit him. The boy had not continued to hit him, but had sucker punched him and then stopped. My son hitting that boy at that point would have been revenge, not defense. Forgive me, but I had then really wanted him to pay that boy back. I was wrong, my son was right. Though we certainly are allowed to defend ourselves we must do that as a last resort. We need to battle the enemy. If we need someone to hate, hate the devil and his hordes that destroys the lives of those who would hurt us. We advance against our enemy most rapidly not when we attack what we see, but what we don’t see. Our victory is complete only through our faith in Jesus. He has given us our battle apparel and we are dressed for battle, spiritual battle. We advance against our enemy not by making our hands into fists, but by folding them in prayer and being on our knees and lovingly praying for those who hurt us, and who maybe even hate us. We are called by Jesus to love those who hurt us (Matthew 5:44). We love Jesus and want to honor Him. Let’s start by believing Him rather ourselves. That is how we praise God. Obedience is better than sacrifice (it is better to obey than repent)(1 Samuel 15:22). So let us obey God by loving and praying for each other and by praying against the devil. He is our enemy. But let’s not worry, Jesus has already defeated the devil. We who love and serve Jesus will eternally be loved by Him and will eternally be with Him. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.