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Together in Christ: 'Stand Your Ground!' — Ephesians 6:13-15 Tuesday, October 29, 2024 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. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. — Ephesians 6:13-15 NLT Key Thought... Notice the last three words in our reading today: "be fully prepared." We don't want to be in denial about the war going on with Satan and his demonic forces against God and the people of God. [1] Paul and the Ephesian followers of Jesus had faced this war, head on, from the earliest days of the Good News of Jesus confronting the powers of darkness. When the early believers came to Christ, they burned their books of dark magic and demonstrated their change in loyalties. [2] Part of standing our ground against the evil one is recognizing that we live in a "time of evil" where Satan is the prince of this dark world and aided by those who oppose Jesus and His followers. [3] Paul will list a range of tools, our spiritual armor, to help us win our battles and stand our ground. Some will be in our verses for tomorrow. In our verses for today, he emphasizes these: The belt of truth that helps us distinguish what is from God and what are the lies of Satan. The armor of righteousness, a life focused on honoring God's holy character by our righteous living that pushes Satan's influence out of our lives. The shoes of peace, the recognition that we are not at war because we are violent or hostile, but because we love the peace that only Jesus can bring. We are determined to bring peace to everyone through the Good News about Jesus. Dear brother, dear sister, let's encourage each other to stand our ground in faith, to love those trapped by the evil one, to try to influence them for good, and to do all we can to bring the peace of Christ to all people. Yes, we rouse ourselves to oppose evil, Satan, and the demonic influences in our world. Our goal, however, is not to destroy those enslaved by these forces but to liberate them and bring them peace. For that to happen, we must "be fully prepared" ... "to resist the enemy in the time of evil" and stand our ground! [1] Ephesians 6:10, 12. [2] Acts 19:13-20. [3] 1 John 2:15-17; Ephesians 5:16. Today's Prayer Almighty God, thank You for being all-powerful and yet tender, for sharing life in our broken world, absorbing the evil of the crucifixion, and triumphing over Satan in the cross, [A] in your descent to liberate from his evil grasp "those who disobeyed [You] long ago", and in rising victoriously from the dead to liberate us from the fear of death. [C] Jesus, we confess with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" [D] Thank You! We praise You! We trust in You for our victory. Amen.

[A] Colossians 2:15.

1 Peter 3:13-22; Ephesians 4:7-10.

[C] Hebrews 2:14-18.

[D] John 20:26-28.

Related Scripture Readings

Ephesians 6:10-20

Acts 19:1-41, 20:1