Enemy Resistance

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. (6:11)

God doesn’t leave us defenseless in this series of attacks from the Enemy and his minions. He provides the armor, or the protection, that we need. And we are instructed to put it on. It’s not going to do us any good unless we use it.

We use the armor in order to resist the Enemy. That’s a key word describing the purpose of our engagement: resist. I’m interested that the verb of warfare engagement is ‘resist’, which is a stand-your-ground sort of term. We are note engaging the Enemy so that you will “stomp on the his head and make him run for the hills.” Or, put on this armor so that you will “blow him off the planet so he will never be heard from again.” I remember that the Enemy has been taken down. While it is a bit of a mystery how the one who has been taken down is still roaming and working against God’s people, the fact remains that he is. I’m encouraged that his interference is only for a season longer.

We are clothed in order to resist. This tells me we are in more of a defensive, than offensive posture. It seems to be more like someone trying to get us to do something wrong. We aren’t obliterating them, or taking them completely out of commission. We are resisting them in their efforts to take us to a bad place, or to participate with them in some kind of evil. We are standing firm in our commitment to do right. We are resisting their encouragement to go the wrong way. Resisting their attempts to make us lose hope.

In a simple encounter with someone urging us to go bad, we could rely on our common sense in response (“That’s not a good idea”), or our interest (“Sorry, not interested; try someone else”), or our life motivations (“No, I don’t do those kinds of things.”)

In this spiritual battle, we use a different set of resistance responses, built on the armor of God. We refuse to go the wrong way, give in to the wrong thoughts, and participate in inappropriate behavior because we have God’s protection of righteousness, truth, peace, and the other pieces of armor.

The resistance that we demonstrate means that the Enemy will not overcome us. He will not inflict a permanent setback. He will not advance against us and cause us to retreat and lose our place in the position that is ours with Jesus.

I experience great joy and a thankful heart that God has provided what we need to resist the Enemy. We aren’t told, “Resist him! I don’t have any tools or weapons for you, so just figure it out! I’m sure you can do it.” No, God has provided what we need, and it is our job to intentionally resist the Evil One and his strategies.

“Father, we are grateful that you haven’t left us on our own in this battle against the Evil One, but you have equipped us to resist. Alert us when we are trying to resist on our own strength or with our own tools, reminding us that our fleshly efforts at resistance will not bear fruit.”