Stand Firm

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground. (6:13-14a)

The goal in this mighty, spiritual tussle? That in the end, when the battle is over, we will be standing firm. We will not have given up our ground. That’s how the victory is measured, it seems: if at the end, we have stood firm.

Notice, it’s not just stand, but stand firm.  You aren’t going anywhere.

            You aren’t being blown over

            Blown back

            Blown down

            Blown away

You are standing firm, in the end.

After the battle, that’s your position: still standing firm—that’s the goal and purpose!

That’s a different purpose from an offensive attack. Paul doesn’t instruct us to chop off the Devil’s head. Nor does he say to flamboyantly ride in like some kind of spiritual cowboy, who is so pumped up and wild-eyed in a life-and-death-fight, confident that he could “attack hell with a water gun”, as the preacher used to say, trying to be clever and funny.

No. This is no laughing matter. And the word to us is Stand Firm.

Not be pushed back

rolled over

squashed down

moved out

running for the hills.

But standing firm.

Not even:

advancing mightily against the Enemy

taking him down

kicking his you know what.

But standing firm.

It’s probably easy for us to think that when we hear the term “spiritual warfare”, we believe that unless we are taking our Enemy captive,

or decapitating him,

or jumping on top of him and putting on spiritual handcuffs and handing him over to the Supreme Sheriff to take to eternal dungeons,

then perhaps we haven’t done anything useful.

In fact, it still feels like a loss (if all we are doing is “standing around”). But not true!

We aren’t “standing around”, but “standing firm”!

If we serve Jesus and walk with God, the battle will come. The Enemy rages against God’s people, and there are times of evil that we experience. Our response is NOT:

Panic

Worry

Retreat

Give in

Give up

Back up

Lay down

Ignore

But to put on every piece of armor that God provides. It is all necessary because that’s how the Enemy is resisted when he comes at us. And when the dust settles after what can be a horrific conflict, and no doubt an uncomfortable engagement, our goal is to stand firm. To stand our ground.

What ground are we standing on? The position that Christ has placed us in: the position of life and victory, assured for the people of God.

The goal here is not “to win”, as in to demonstrate spiritual prowess indicated by offensive might rather than defensive strength. Again, I can’t emphasize this enough. Jesus has done the winning. The victory is in hand. Check the scoreboard. The final score has been settled. The ultimate outcome is not in doubt. Even so, the Enemy keeps up his assault on God’s people, during this season of history.

The contemporary Christian music group MercyMe captures the gist of this message in a song:

What if I were the One to tell you
That the fight’s already been won
Well, I think your day’s about to get better
What if I were the One to tell you
That the work’s already been done
It’s now good news
It’s the best news ever

Our job is to continue to stand firm in God’s truth, life and light in the place he has put us. It’s not to put on his armor and shout like a band of crazed medieval warriors, or characters out of the movie Braveheart, “Charge!”

In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul references standing firm in another way, with the instruction for us to “…be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”

We are to stand firm. For us, that’s the win.

“Father, thank you for the clear instruction to stand firm. You have not told us to do this on our own, but you are the one equipping us to do so. I think of certain ones in my life who need to hear this word today. May it be so, for them, for myself!”