The Battleground
James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, AND to keep oneself unstained by the world.
So, here we are, in a spiritual battle against attacks from the deceiver and his minions. How are we to go into battle without being stained?
Ephesians 6 tells us about the armor of God but Paul also tells us about the battleground: 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.
Although we do wrestle with the evil one, we don’t attack, we don’t slay or stab or assault. We defend ourselves from being stained. You won’t find words like “attack, kill, stab” or other offensive moves in the Ephesians 6 passage. You WILL see that it’s a spiritual battle. It’s God’s battle.
A bit earlier, in Ephesians 5, Paul describes how Jesus cleanses us: 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
Challenge my thinking on this: For Satan to win, all he has to do is get a stain on us, making us unpresentable to the bridegroom. We win by remaining unstained in the attack. In the end, we’re brighter than the sun but in the meantime, we don’t want to give Satan any victory.
Here’s one more arsenal Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, . . . if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Father, we know the victory is YOURS! Strengthen our faith to live that way!
In Mrs. Forehand’s Sunday school class, we sang a little song about Ephesians 6:10
I may never march in the infantry,
Ride in the cavalry,
Shoot the artillery (my favorite line because we’d clap our hands and make a shooting motion).
I may never fly over the enemy (no, wait! This was my favorite line because we’d hold our arms out like we were a plane!)
But I’m in the Lord’s army.
I’m only just now realizing how sound the doctrine was in this song.