Alert....

Ephes. 6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [11] Put on the full armour 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 armour 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 round 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 saints.

Be alert.

It’s almost Paul’s last thought to us in this passage, the idea that we have to stay ready, to be prepared for action at a moments notice, because the devil is such a wily opponent. He’s constantly scheming, always looking for little openings within our churches and faith communities that he can look to exploit to drive wedges between us, to cause dissension and anger and malice. It’s quite simple. When these attitudes are present the devil wins, because all the energy of the people of God is focussed on getting one over each other rather than seeing the kingdom advance. So we need to be alert, notice the cracks that appear in our communities as soon as they do, and then fill them – not with conflict, but with submission, love and humility. So praying for the people in your church or your cell group, or ministry team is important. It opens your heart to them when you lift them to heaven.

Sometimes when reading this passage we can get carried away with the imagery of the soldier going into battle. It may seem like Paul is encouraging us to saddle up and storm the gates of hell. But the imagery may be more subtle than that. Yes it is of a soldier, but only one weapon is mentioned, the sword of the Spirit and we do not wield the Spirit, but we follow his lead. Most of the imagery is of armour, of protection, and we must see this as an image of God telling us that we must protect our relationship with him and with others.

But we should note this – none of the bits of armour protect our backs – they all face forward. And this is a crucial part of Paul’s image – we must never turn our back on the devil, never leave him an unprotected opening for him to exploit. When we get lazy, when we drop our defences, by not worshipping, by not praying in our devotions or with others, by not serving, then we turn our backs on him – and he’ll pounce. Have you noticed that times of spiritual ‘down-ness’ often are preceded by spiritual laziness?

Stand your post. Be alert.