Stand Firm and Fight!

Do you feel like you’re being attacked? Rise up and put on your armor! Do you feel like you’re in a battle? Rise up and put on your armor! Have you been moving forward with God only to find you’re being hit from every side? Rise up and put on your armor! This is a call for you to rise up and become the mighty warrior that God intends for you to be! Don’t sit idly by and watch the enemy take the things that God has given to you, but instead, stand and fight! Because greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world! (1 Jn 4:4)

In Ephesians 6:14-18 we learn about the armor of God:
[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. [18] And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

This is how to be strong and powerful in the Lord. First, you are going to put on the full armor of God. Don’t just put parts of it on because you will be exposed. With the full armor on, you can stand and fight. Verse 12 tells us that we aren’t struggling with people, but we are struggling against the evil one. So we start by putting on the belt of truth. There are two ways to look at the belt of truth. Ephesians 1:13 says that the word of truth is the gospel of your salvation, so the word of truth is the good news of Jesus. You must believe the good news of Jesus in order to put on spiritual armor. John 17:17 also says that Jesus’ word is truth, so the word of God is truth. We need to know the Word of God and be ready. The Scripture talks about having the belt of truth “buckled”. This “buckling” is actually a “readiness”. It referred to the way, in that time, one would wrap his garment around his waist and tie it up so that he would be ready to move in the battle, free and unhindered. We must be ready as well. What does the breastplate of righteousness represent? Righteousness is walking and living according to what is right before God. It means lining up your beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and behaviors with God’s word. Choose every day to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Put on your feet the good news of peace. Jesus gave us His peace (that’s more good news), now we must choose to walk in it. To “put on” peace means that you determine that you are going to walk in peace each day, and then every time you are tempted not to be peaceful, you remind yourself again that you are going to stay in peace. And don’t go into battle with fear in your heart. Set your heart to respond in peace. Next, take up your shield of faith. Your faith is your covering, and will keep the fiery darts of the enemy at bay. We need to trust God for everything and trust Him in every circumstance. Faith is believing God to act out of His infinite power on our behalf. As believers in Christ we also need to put on the helmet of salvation. Cover your mind with the knowledge that you are saved and no one and nothing can take that away from you. The enemy will always attack your mind. That’s why you must continually renew your mind with the truth of God’s Word. Choose what thoughts you will dwell on. Some thoughts that come to your mind need to be dismissed immediately, while the word of God should be meditated on continually. That’s how you renew your mind. The sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon in your armor, and is your most powerful weapon in defeating the enemy. Use Scriptures that support your stance and speak them out loud over your circumstances. This is the same thing Jesus did when he was tempted by Satan in the desert. We are to stand and resist the devil, not turn and run. There is no armor for our backside, so we must stand and fight. When we put on the armor of God, we are putting on Christ and His identity, His authority, His power and His truth. No enemy can stand up under the mighty power of God. We know that God has already won the battle, so stand, mighty warrior of God... Stand firm and fight!

Ps 20:7-8 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.  They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm."