practice, we will become more like Jesus and reflect His
image.
Be strong in the Lord
Everyone who is “in the Lord” has by faith received the
Holy Spirit. If you are “in the Lord” the Spirit of Jesus
Christ lives inside of you, but the paradox is that you are
also
“seated in Christ in the heavenly places.”
(Eph 2:6)
In Him you are strong, much stronger than you think —
not because of who you are but because of where you
sit, in Christ, in heavenly places, far above the strongest
forces of this world.
Do you feel condemned and ashamed because of your
past? In the Lord it cannot hold you.
“Therefore, there is
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans 8:1-2)
People may continue to hold your past over your head,
but they have no power because,
“It is God who justifies.
Who is he that condemns?”
(Romans 8:33-34) To be
strong in the Lord is a command, not a feeling. Do you
feel weak in Christ? That is a good place to be. Bring
your weakness to Him, and He will exchange it for His
strength. The good news is that anyone can be strong in
the Lord by recognizing how weak he is in himself and
humbly turning to Him. The message of the world is to
be strong in yourself, but that is not God’s way.
Be strong in the strength of His power
Why settle for the limits of human power when you can
have God’s power? His power is inexhaustible. We say
that God is omnipotent — all powerful. He doesn’t need
or want to keep His power to himself. The truth is that the
Lord is willing and ready to give us the strength that we
need at the time we need it. It is the power to live by
faith, to give glory to God in every nook and cranny of
our lives, to be a light and a testimony to the people
around us, to overcome the mountains that stand in our
way. Have you been fighting your battles in your own
strength? You need His power. How specifically can we
get His strength for the struggles we face?
Put on God’s armor
It is the complete set of armor. Everything that we need
in our struggle is provided for us. If we put on God’s
armor we are fully geared up and ready for whatever
comes our way. We put on His armor because we are in
spiritual battle. If we think that the struggle we face is
not a “spiritual” one, then we may think that we don’t
need spiritual armor. The truth is that we should put on
His armor and never take it off. If we fight using the
weapons of the world we can be sure that we will lose.
Even when we think we have won a battle, if we fight
using the weapons of this world, we are the losers.
God’s armor is more than enough to defend us in any
conflict we face. His assignment is for us to stand our
spiritual ground. Our weapons of spiritual warfare are
powerful enough
“to demolish strongholds.”
(2 Cor 10:4)
A stronghold is a fortress of either truth or lies. As we put
on God’s armor and engage in our struggles according
to His ways, we have more than enough power to pull
down those strongholds of lies from the evil one. Instead
of retreat, in the Lord we will be able to stand our
ground.
We need wisdom because the evil one has devised
wicked strategies against us. The schemes of the devil
are designed to drag us back into spiritual darkness.
We’ve been watching the Star Wars movies at my house.
Just as the evil dark lord tries to continually seduce Luke
Skywalker to the dark side, so also the evil one, Satan,
the deceiver, tries to lure us from the light of Christ back
into the darkness. The darkness is anything that keeps
us from reflecting the image of Jesus.
His lies, his schemes are described by the classic Chris-
tian writer John Bunyan in his book “Holy War.” He says
that “the tactics of intimidation and insinuation” are the
devil’s “twofold infernal policy.” In other words, he works
by “force and fraud.” He is a “bully and beguiler.” The
devil fights dirty — but not only is God’s armor enough
to defeat these lies, it is more than enough. So then what
is the nature of our struggle?
We are in spiritual hand-to-hand combat
It is like the struggle between two wrestlers who grapple
for control or like two soldiers whose guns have been
tossed aside and are fighting for their lives in hand-to-
hand combat. The spiritual warfare that we face is not
fought from a distance with drones. It is up close and
personal.
One of the first rules of warfare is to know who your
enemy is. Our spiritual hand-to-hand combat is not
against people. Even though they may be under the
influence of the evil one, they are not the enemy. They
are captives who need to be set free. Rather than spend
our time and energy fighting against people, we must
learn how to pray for others. When we celebrate the
“wins” against others, it is the devil who ultimately wins.
Instead our fight is against evil spirits. Christian writers
and preachers have always understood that the rulers,
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