Immeasurable oceans of ink have been spilled over the topic of spiritual warfare. And much of it, if not the majority of it, has been drawn from Ephesians 6:13-18 “Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.”

When we take one snippet of Scripture and use it as though it is the whole story – we can atomize it. For instance, we read Mal. 2:16 (in most translations) recording “I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Israel.” And indeed He does! But is that ALL He says about divorce? Far from it. In Jer. 3:8 God Himself sends faithless Israel away with “a decree of divorce.” So did God sin? Of course not. But what we do learn from this is that we need to examine more of Scripture on any given topic than plucking out just one verse and making it bear the weight of all interpretation. We cannot atomize verses in the Bible. Reducing them to little independent droplets of truth.

So it is, many have sought to tease out the implications of a passage like this one in Ephesians , without framing it in the context in which it was written. At the risk of being accused of simplemindedness, let me note that chapter 6 comes after chapters 1-5.

I know. Remarkable observation isn’t it?

In all seriousness, if we are to rightly understand why we need the armor of God, and what it is we are being challenged about by the Enemy of our souls – we cannot take advantage of these armaments rightly.

The armor portion must be understood especially in light of the section that began in 4:1.

Here is the essential concept: The Enemy will use every tactic to keep us from living out the kind of life and relationships we read about from 4:1 until here. It is in this context above all that we need this armor in order to wage a goodly war, to walk with Christ and with one another.

The Enemy’s chief aim is: To keep us from living out a Christlike life with our spouses, children, parents, employers, employees, the government, the world and the Church in the power of The Spirit – so that Christ is hidden from view. To hinder us from growing up into Christ (Eph. 4:15) To keep us from living out the life of Christ which has been implanted in us by the indwelling of The Spirit. To misrepresent Him to the world through us. To obscure His glory by deceiving and distracting us as Christ’s representatives from walking in love (5:2), walking in the light of His revealed truth (5:8), and walking in wisdom (5:15). To live like those still unregenerate and in darkness.

In practical terms, one of the key realities of the Christian life is that sinful and troubling thoughts and impulses must be fought against, not merely lamented or relief sought for.

‎It does us no good to simply complain of the woe, nor to seek an emotional anesthetic.

‎It is under these circumstances that the Believer must begin to tackle the offensives launched against us. Panic, doubt, unbelief, fear, gloom, discouragement, despair, lust, greed, sloth, suspicion of God and man, etc. – these are enemies to be fought, not conditions to be treated or corrected.

‎If we do not appropriate the fitting response, we will remain under the influence of these things – in effect running from them rather than gaining victory over them. But make no mistake, they can attack again at any time. And attacks may be shorter or more sustained, weaker or more violent.

Heavenly Father, give us courage, wisdom and insight.

‎The remaining inhabitants of Canaan (the remnants of indwelling sin) have to be challenged, not hidden from, nor plugging our ears to their taunts nor closing our eyes to pretend they are not there. We must gird ourselves like men and fight.

So, knowing what the demonic forces are after – we come to: How to fight a Demon.

1 – Be as conversant with the truth of God’s Word as you can – in all of its facets and in all it addresses. Know reality as God has revealed it in His Word.

2 – Pursue and walk in righteousness, forsaking sin. Only walking in righteousness will protect the heart. When we compromise, we sear our own consciences, and become sitting ducks for the enemy’s temptations.

3 – Be as clear as possible on the Gospel. Don’t budge from it. Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice as your only means of reconciliation to the Father. Christ’s righteousness imputed to you by faith. Saved by grace alone through alone, in and by Christ alone. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

4 – Trusting the Character and Word of God. That in Him is no darkness, nor any shadow of turning. That He can be trusted at all times and in all places and under all circumstances, and that all of His promises will be fulfilled without fail.

5 – Learn to think with a Christian, a Biblical worldview, sifting everything through it. Where we came from. How we got where we are. Why we are here. Where everything is going. Why suffering and death are a part of our reality – and what Christ has done in response.

6 – Know and employ the Word of God skillfully. Read it. Pray over it. Understand it. Study it with all the helps you can find. Obey it.

7 – Look to God in everything in prayer. Leave nothing else. Face nothing in your own strength. Pray. Pray. Pray. Stay alert to the things your brothers and sisters face, and petition God on their behalf. In your prayers for them, you will find intercession meted out to you as well. Pray for the success of the Gospel and for His ministers.

This is how we protect and keep the ground Christ has already won for us in His defeat of the demonic forces at Calvary. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col. 2:15)

He’s already won this victory for us. Now we just need to stand our ground.