Ephesians 6:10-12 – Be Prepared for 2017

January 12, 2017

Be Prepared for 2017: 
Put On the Full Armor of God

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, and so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Ephesians 6:10-12

I love the humor in the story of King Saul clothing David for battle with Goliath. King Saul gave him what he knew to be helpful in battle – his mail, his shield, his sword. And since Saul was head and shoulders taller than everybody, David could hardly move under the weight of the armor. No, he decided that the armor would be far more cumbersome than helpful. So David wore his regular clothes and took what HE knew would help him defend his sheep – his slingshot, some stones, and God’s guiding hand. If you know the story then you know that Goliath mocked David who promptly whacked him in the head with a rock. Goliath went down with a thud and David chopped off his head with his own sword.

I tell you all of that to tell you this. David fought a flesh and blood enemy. You and I – not so much. We, instead, must be prepared to fight the Prince of Darkness. He and his minions come at us with all sorts of crafty weapons – things that will cut us to the quick emotionally and knock us off our feet. But we must remember three things:

(1) The Lord has already won the war – these are just little battles in the scheme of things. It always helps to fight when you know how it’s going to turn out in the end.

(2) God has made available to us all the things we need to fight effectively. They are perfect for the job. But they do us absolutely no good if they remain on the shelf. We must actively pick them up and put them on and learn how to use them. That’s right. We need to practice with them so that when the real battle occurs, we are confident and well-prepared.

(3) Like David, we MUST seek the Lord’s guiding hand. No matter how prepared we think we might be, if we go into battle without God, we will not do so very well. We MUST be in His will and totally dependent on Him in order to experience victory in 2017.

Lord, give us the right frame of mind to become good warriors for you. Help us to depend on You totally. Help us to be prepared so that we can honor you in our battles. And we give you the glory!