Torch, Summer 1990

Fourth, we need to take up the shield of faith. The Roman shield was four feet long and two and one-half feet wide and looked like a door. If a Roman soldier on the front line placed his shield upright on the ground in front of him, he could protect his body from the arrows of the enemy. Paul says we should take up "the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one" (Ephesians 6: 16). Satan likes to get us to doubt God's Word. In the Garden, he threw his dart of doubt at Eve, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shal I not eat. .. ' " (Genesis 3: 1). Eve had her armor down and disobeyed God. To defeat Satan we must take God at His Word and obey Him. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (I John 5:4). Fifth, we need to "take the helmet of salvation" (Ephesians 6:17). The helmet protected the head in battle. We are involved today in a battle for the minds of people. Satan attacks new converts and tries to get them to doubt their conversion. New believers must realize that they cannot lose their salvation (John 10:27-29) and that all their sins have been forgiven for His name's sake (I John 2:12). We Chris– tians need to have renewed minds (Romans 12:2). We must bring every thought into obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Only then will we see life from His perspective. Finally, we need to know how to use "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Ephesians 6:17b). The sword was the Roman soldier' s offensive weapon. We need to know how to use our Bibles to defeat Satan. When Christ was confronted by Satan in the wilderness, He quoted from the Word of God three times. Scripture memorization is essential to fight spiritual warfare. When Satan tempts us to be immoral, we need to quote and obey I Corinthians 6: 18-20. When Satan tempts us to grumble and com– plain, we need to remember and obey Philippians 2:14-15. We can defeat Satan by watching, praying, and witnessing (Ephesians 6:18-20). The Christian soldier fights the good fight of faith on his knees. Paul writes, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaim– ing it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak " (Ephesians 6: 18-20). Someone has said that a Christian is only as strong as his/her prayer life. Paul says we need to pray at all times. I Thessalonians 5: 17 states, "Pray without ceasing. " We need to pray every day and not just on Sunday. We need to pray our way through the day. We also need to pray with all prayer and petition. If we study Paul 's prayer requests in his epistles, we discover that his main concern was for the believer' s spiritual growth and development. We need to pray for spiritual strength to do God 's will. We need to pray in the Spirit. That doesn ' t mean to pray in tongues. It means to pray in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit prompts us to pray and enables us to pray (Romans 8:26). We need to pray, so to speak, with our eyes open. Paul says, "Be on the alert" in Ephesians 6: 18. Peter writes in I Peter 5:8, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. " Satan is a lion on the loose. That is why we need to be on the alert. In Mark 14:38 Jesus told His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." The disciples didn ' t listen. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, they were surprised and fled in panic. Later Peter denied that he knew Christ. We must keep watching and praying. We never know when Satan will attack next. We need to pray with all persever– ance. We can ' t quit. We should never give up. If we keep on asking, seeking, and knocking even when Heaven seems silent, God will answer in His time and in His way. We need to pray for all the saints, and we ourselves need to be upheld in prayer. We all have our times of struggle in the Christian life. We need to pray for boldness to witness to others. Paul asked the Ephesians to pray that he might be bold to share his faith while in prison. They prayed, Paul witnessed, and God answered. Many Roman soldiers came to faith (Philippians 4:22). In his book, The Fight, John White wrote, "Hell 's legions are terrified of prayer. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees." Prayer is the communication line between our Commander in Chief and His troops. We need to make sure we keep the lines open. Conclusion The historian Edward Gibbon stated that one of the reasons for the fall of Rome was the lack of discipline in the ranks of Rome 's soldiers. Many soldiers complained of the weight of the armor and stopped wearing all of it. As a result many were injured or killed in battle. We need to make sure we put on the whole armor of God so Satan will not make us a casualty. Christians, arm yourselves! Quotations are from the New American Standard Version. Pastor Gary Gromacki is a gradu– ate of Cedarville College and Dallas Theological Seminary. He pastors Grace Bible Church in Canal Winchester, Ohio, and is an adjunct instructor at Cedarville.