What Position Are You Taking?
From the Armor Series
“He exercised this power in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He subjected everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church.” Ephesians 1:20-22 CSB
Hey friend!
These last few weeks have really encouraged my heart as we have dug deeper into the armor of God and all that He has equipped us with to fight well in our daily life. I don’t know if you sometimes struggle with this but it’s easy for me to gloss over fundamental truths because I have heard them my whole life. When we dig in deeper, God opens our eyes to be able to see His truth in a whole new light and I absolutely love it!
Let’s go back to the beginning of our series for a minute. I want to share something that I had missed before. Paul starts off telling us in Ephesians 6:10-11, “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.”
Before Paul even starts describing each piece of armor or speaks in detail about why we even need it in the first place, He begins by telling us what position we need to take as believers in Jesus Christ. The position we are to take is a position of strength. But here is where sometimes we get it wrong – or at least I have.
It’s not my strength or your strength that we are relying on to defeat the enemy. There is no amount of physical strength or trying to live our best moral life that will send the enemy running. Friend, the enemy isn’t scared or worried about what we as humans can do to him. That is the reason we can’t rely on our strength. We must rely only on God’s vast strength. The definition of vast is of very great extent or quantity; immense. We don’t need to worry about if God’s strength will be enough – His supply will never run out!
After laying the foundation of what position to fight from and before he goes into detail over each piece of armor, Paul then explains who our battle is NOT against as well as spells out who our battle is really against in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” Tony Evans says, “We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. The people are real. The problems are real. They are just not the root problem.”
When we begin to see our struggles through a spiritual lens rather than a carnal or fleshly lens, it really allows all the pieces of the puzzle to fall right into place.
Now, I must tell you how God reminded me of something I already knew but had just glossed over. God didn’t just save us from hell only to allow us to walk a defeated Christian life day in and day out. He purchased our eternal victory as well as our earthly victory when Jesus died on Calvary’s cross, was buried for three days, and rose again. Because of what Jesus did on the cross and the empty grave that couldn’t hold Him, you and I can have the complete confidence to take our position of strength, strap on our armor, and walk in victory! How do I know this?
Ephesians 1:20-22 tells us, “He (God) exercised this power in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He subjected everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church.”
Ephesians 6:12 tells us that our struggle isn’t against what we see but against what we don’t see. It tells us that we struggle and wrestle against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of darkness, against evil, spiritual forces – this is who our battle is against.
It’s hard to fight something that we can’t see with our physical eyes. And the enemy knows that. That is why he tries to get us to focus on what we can see. The family member that hurt us. The coworker that rubs us the wrong way. The rebellious child, the marriage that isn’t what we had hoped it to be, the financial crisis, the health scare, the list could go on and on.
It’s easy to go right to the passage on the armor in Ephesians 6 and only focus on what we are supposed to wear and never understand the full context of the power behind each piece of armor. God showed me in my own quiet time with Him how I had missed the important part. Sweet friend, it was never about what we can do within our own strength. It was always about what Jesus did when He won the victory once and for all when He died, was buried, rose again, and is seated at the right hand of His Father.
See, Ephesians 1:20-22 tells us that Jesus is seated far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He subjected everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church.”
Because of Jesus, we have the confidence to fight well against the enemy. Jesus is far above everything that we battle against in this life and in the one to come. Everything is under His feet. We can be confident in our position because our strength is not our own. It comes from the One who defeated the enemy for good!
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus and what He was willing to do in my place. Because of Him, I can walk in victory. Help me to look at my struggles through a spiritual lens instead of the flesh. Thank you for showing me that the enemy can’t defeat me. I have the power of Jesus living inside of me and that is enough. In Jesus name, Amen.
Hope Words from Tony Evans:
Stop focusing on what you can’t do. Start focusing on what God can do.