Don't Leave Home Without Your Spiritual Armor!

“You are living in a war zone.” – Os Hillman

Imagine, if you will, living in Ukraine, where the war with Russia has been going on for 12 long years, dating back to February 2014 when Russia invaded the autonomous Ukrainian republic of Crimea. Two months later, the Russian army and its proxy troops seized territory in Ukraine’s Donbas region, setting off fighting that claimed more than 14,000 lives over the next seven years.

Then, in February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has resulted in an estimated 1.2 million Russian causalities and 400,000 Ukrainian dead and wounded. The war now appears deadlocked with peace talks stalled and ceasefires failing to hold.

Meanwhile, the Middle East has been ablaze since the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28th to rid Iran of its nuclear weapon capabilities. After weeks of bombing, a tentative ceasefire went into effect on April 7th, but no peace accord has been reached. The same goes for Israel and its ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Then there is the multi-year civil war in Sudan that has killed at least 150,000 people and displaced more than 15 million others… and the mindless slaughter of an estimated 60,000 Christians by Muslims in Nigeria over the past four years.

Yes, indeed, this world is full of warfare from Africa to Asia and most everywhere in between. And yet, those conflagrations pale in comparison to the spiritual battles taking place in the heavenlies. The only difference is we cannot see them. But trust me, they are there… and they are far more deadly than all the wars described in the first four paragraphs combined.

That is why the Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 6, counseled his readers to “Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Paul went on to write “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Sound serious, doesn’t it? Well, it is… far more than you or I can begin to imagine.

That is why Paul warned us yet again to “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” He then went on to list the various parts of our spiritual armor, five of which are defensive in nature and one – the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God – that is offensive.

Remember the old American Express ad that said, “Don’t leave home without it”? Well, my friend, that goes double for your spiritual armor!

“For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President