Stand



Ephesians 6:10-13
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Every single day of our lives we face three enemies; the world, our flesh, and Satan. The world has the ability to draw us away from the Lord, enticing us to try things that are not of God. Because of the vastly technological culture we live in, those enticements are loud in our ear. We are all familiar with the enticements of our flesh. We are born to sin. With the fall of Adam and Eve, sin is woven into our DNA and our own bodies entice us to seek things that are not of God. Finally, Satan has proven that he is the enemy of our hearts since he slithered up to Eve in the Garden of Eden.

We first meet Satan right after God has completed the creation of the universe. In his very brief conversation with Eve, he presents three thoughts for Eve to grapple with, all meant to drag her away from God.

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

First he plants the seeds of doubt with, “Did God say . . .?” (Actually does not appear in the Hebrew. It is added to many of the English translations.) These three words pack a powerful punch. Not only do they serve to place doubt in Eve’s mind about her relationship with God, they call God’s motives into question. After Eve tells him what she believes God said about the Tree (and she gets that wrong – God did not say “don’t even touch it”) Satan utters his second attack. “You will not surely die.” Again he casts doubt about the possible outcome of disobedience. Certainly the consequences couldn’t be as dire as death. God must have misspoken. Then he lobs his final assessment. If you eat of the Tree, you will be like God. In that moment, our biggest sin problem is born in the hearts of Adam and Eve – pride springs forth.

Now back to Ephesians. Satan is presented as a schemer. His methodology has not changed one single bit since that first epic conversation. He still presents us with the same three temptations – and why shouldn’t he continue to use them – they work! If he can move us in the direction of doubt and pride, we are in trouble. Here in Ephesians, Paul tells us to beware of the movements of Satan in our lives. And we are told to stand. This is important. We are not told to rush out onto the battlefield and engage in battle with this enemy for to do so is folly. No, we are told to stand. God has already won the ground upon which we take that stand with the blood of Jesus. The victory is already won. We just stand our ground and watch as He fights all the battle for us. All of this happens “in the strength of HIS might.”

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