January 26
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BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND WEAR GOD’S ARMOR
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 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. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Ephesians 6:10-17
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According to this letter of Paul, he gives all believers the training in order to combat and defeat darkness and Satan’s army. Paul has two requirements to win the battle against evil forces stated in verses 10 & 11: First, we must be strong in the Lord and lean on His strength and power; second, we must put on the full armor of God to stand firm against all tactics or strategies of the devil. Many Christians fail to do the first instruction for the training for the battlefield. In high school, I trained to be a cadet officer and I was a platoon leader. It took many months of mental and physical strength training to see if we are capable to lead our subordinates and win competitions. It wasn’t a real battlefield but we were trained to be disciplined for possible invasion in my country of origin. All soldiers and officers undergo certain training to strengthen their bodies and mind and senses so they can all be watchful of the enemy’s attacks. Paul explains that spiritual warfare is something we do not see, so our equipping and training must also be geared to focus on how we are attacked in the supernatural realm like rulers, powers and principalities of darkness. So, our weapons are not physical ones, but are spiritual armaments such as truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the word of God. Paul uses a clear picture of how we are to use these spiritual weapons to fight the evil surrounding us constantly by illustrating the armor that a soldier uses in the battlefield. We need to focus on being strong in the Lord, meaning we need to know our God’s power and might so we can lean on Him before we can actually wear His armor.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important to know our God before we can actually combat darkness?