Fighting Spiritual Battles- Pt.2 🛡☝️🙏

Happy Thursday! 🙌🌸 I hope your week has been blessed & productive! Today, I’m finishing up with “Fighting Spiritual Battles.” The focus will be the Armor of God, as described in Ephesians 6: 10-18! 😀 Here is the verse: 

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 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. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I used to be really really scared of any kind of “Spiritual Battle” talk. Anything about demons really scared me, but that’s only because I didn’t fully comprehend the power of Jesus & what happened at the cross. As followers of Christ, we have certain responsibilities. One of them, is to actively take part in this very real spiritual battle that is happening. It may not be visible physically, but the bible clearly states that it is there.

We all know there is only going to be one outcome to this, & that is the enemy’s defeat. But, he’s not going down without a fight & without trying to ruin as many lives as he possibly can, which is why we must fight. We really have no power on our own however. It is only through Jesus that we can have any victory over the enemy. Our relationship with God, will be the determining factor between victory and defeat.

So it might seem obvious to mention (but I’ll say it anyway LOL), the first thing we need to do is cultivate our relationship with God. Ask God through prayer to help you see things in a spiritual way! I did this, and I feel like I understand a lot more than I used to. It’s not only helped me with everyday situations, but it’s taken away that fear & has allowed me to grow. Another thing that has really helped, and this also might seem way obvious lol, but it’s just remaining in obedience to the Lord and His word. This can get difficult when we don’t know what the word actually says. That’s another reason why it’s so important to study it and get to know God through His word. The consequence of sin is death, and death is a separation from God. So sin directly separates us from God and makes us fail in this battle. That is why the enemy wants us to fail so bad! He wants us separated from God’s love, & he knows our weak spots. But we just need to know how to use our armor. 🙌🛡

So the first piece of armor mentioned in these verses, is the belt of truth. The verse is pretty straightforward & doesn’t say much about it, but truth is basically one of the things God is. John 14:6 says:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

God is the TRUTH, so we should be always confident that we ARE on the side of the unequivocal Truth. Let no one, no enemy or his minions, convince you otherwise with lies or half truths. (Satan is the father of lies Lord rebuke him!). Like my church’s Pastor was discussing, many people nowadays do not believe in one truth anymore. They believe in people having their own “truths.” This however, is a lie. Jesus is the truth & this will never change!

The second piece mentioned is the breastplate of righteousness. What is righteousness? Gotquestions.org defines it as being right with God, & since none of us are perfect, none of us will be righteous 100% of the time. But as followers of Christ, our faith will make us pursue righteousness. I believe it is this pursuit of righteousness that also guards our heart from the enemy because although we are not perfect, we at least try to maintain a humble attitude before God & remain in obedience. ❤

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2: 8- 10 NIV

The 3rd piece is “feet fitted with READINESS that comes from the gospel of peace.” This to me was confusing because I was like, what does being ready have to do with peace?! Lol.

It says here that peace will give you this readiness, in other words. But readiness for what? The fact that its talking about shoes, it signifies to me that it’s talking about A. fighting a spiritual battle & gaining ground, and B. spreading the message of God, & that the Holy Spirit will be the one helping & leading us. ❤

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 18 NIV

Shield of Faith- I read this verse in a Spanish version, & the way it presented the shield, was like it was one of the most important pieces of armor. I think some things can get lost in translation, but it seems to me the shield of faith is important, & the above verse states that we will use it to “extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.” What are these arrows? Jealousy, feelings of anger, bitterness, rage, envy, disappointment, etc etc. Negative thoughts! About our relationships & how people treat us, anything. Yes, people WILL disappoint us & betray us. But with our shield of faith, we can guard our heart & spirit against the enemy’s arrows, which simply come to destroy our faith & corrupt our heart. We will be able to discern & understand what the enemy is trying to do, his evil schemes, because we know God’s promises & faithfully believe them. We can take actions based on God’s wisdom, not our own. This will lead us to victory. ❤

Helmet of salvation- I think this one is pretty straightforward as well. It just means that you are born again, have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord & Savior & have repented of your sins, & remain in an attitude of humility before the Lord (routinely confessing sins, etc). I think it’s the helmet because it goes above everything. ❤ 

Sword of the Spirit- Paul saved the best for last lol. This what we will use to actually strike the enemy: GOD’S WORD! So needless to say, it’s THAT important. We need to know it, & believe in the promises that are there for us. Everytime the enemy tries to attack or steal from you, this is our weapon to strike back & send him packing! Recite God’s word! Study it so you can tell him exactly why he’s wrong. The enemy is the father of lies. When we’re well versed on God’s truth, he needs to leave! He has no choice because we’ve unarmed him, uncovered his lies, & left him powerless! ❤☝️💪

Lastly, pray at all times, be alert! We cannot fall asleep on the battleground. LIFE is the battleground. I know it seems like its a lot. But let’s remember this promise:

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.– Isaiah 40: 30-31 NIV

Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord for discernment, wisdom, & strength always but especially if you feel defeated. I hope this has been as helpful to you as it has been to me! I really learned so much by writing this & studying the passages! I will be back tomorrow with my Friday music post, God willing! Xoxo💖💖