Clothes are a big deal. If you’ve been to the beach lately, you were reminded that clothes make everyone look better.
But a fashion wardrobe provides little benefit for the real battle we face. Our enemy, the devil, schemes against us. And the battle is not in plain sight. We may think the struggle is in our circumstances, or in our relationships, or in our station in life. But the battle is not against “flesh and blood.”
Instead the war is waged on the battlefield of the unseen. It’s a battle “against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”—Ephesians 6:12. We are literally fighting in the dark.
So Paul said to suit up with the “full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm”—verse 13. We may fight in the dark, but we don’t have to fight naked. In Ephesians 6, Paul offers a war-time wardrobe to help us win this fight:
Truth
Just as a belt keeps everything together, the truth of our identity in Christ and His life in us provides security and confidence when we are under attack.
Righteousness
We have been made righteous in Christ. And our position in Him protects our heart and prepares us to stand against the lure of compromise.
Peace
In Christ we are called to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers. And the Gospel gives us a firm foundation from which to advance the cause of Christ under difficult circumstances.
Faith
Just because the attack is unseen, does not mean it’s not real. But spiritual attacks are only “extinguished” by spiritual faith in the God of the Bible. We do not win by personal strength or human strategies. The enemy falls when we fully rely on God.
Salvation
Satan takes a lot of heads shots. He attempts to create doubt and discouragement. He lies to us about our past, present, and future. But our salvation in Christ protects our thinking by telling us the truth.
The Word of God
This is our only offense. The enemy backs down to no other plot. So there is no spiritual victory apart from the Spirit-led instruction and application of the self-revelation of God, the Bible.
Stop for a moment and suit up. Pray through this wardrobe and put on one item at a time. Ask God’s Spirit to fill you and give you eyes to see beyond what is visible because the ability to stand under this attack is found only “in the Lord and in the strength of His might”—Ephesians 6:10.
I’d love to hear how God has used this wardrobe to give you spiritual victory. Click the Comment button below.
