WMD’s

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (II Corinthians 10:4)

Thoughts… What is your biggest battle right now? What are the little skirmishes that are preventing your peace of mind? What is the wrestling match that you never seem to gain a complete victory?

Whatever you are facing in your life, remember that the real enemy is neither flesh and blood nor difficult circumstances. Your real enemy is not a troublesome spouse or a rebellious child or an overbearing boss. It is not a crippling disease or a shaky economy or an uncooperative job market. Rather, you are facing an unseen spiritual enemy that masks as real human beings and challenging circumstances.

So Paul says if you are going to fight—and fight you must or you will be taking it on the proverbial chin early and often—then you’d better learn to employ the spiritual weapons at that God has put at your disposal. Those weapons are powerful, Paul says, because they pack a divine punch that will destroy the demonic strongholds that are behind the challenging relationships and difficult circumstances you are facing.

What are those weapons? First and foremost is the weapon of prayer. It is through prayer that we access the power of God to overcome all the attacks of the enemy. Samuel Chadwick preached, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

Second is the Word of God—Divine truth to annihilate the deception that Satan uses as his chief weapon.  When Jesus was facing the onslaught of the enemy in the wilderness, an onslaught, by the way, that was made up primary of twisted Scripture, he used the Word of Truth, correctly handling it to set the devil back on his heels.  One thing the devil doesn’t fear in the Christian’s arsenal, however, is a dusty Bible.

Third is the authority of the name of Jesus — all the demons of hell tremble at that name.

Fourth is the righteousness of Christ that we wear as a breastplate — righteousness by which we live a holy and pure life of integrity that keeps us from being vulnerable to an enemy looking for any chink in our armor.

We were made to win. God has given us every weapon that we need to live the victorious Christian life. These are our WMD’s. Now we’ve got to make sure we use them.

Prayer… Lord, in you I am completely victorious. You are my shield and my strength. Through you I will overcome. You have provided every weapon to destroy the enemy’s efforts to destroy me. By your Spirit, through your Word, and by the blood of Jesus, I am more than a conqueror. Thank you for guaranteeing and securing my victory.

One More Thing… “Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign in sabotage.” —C.S. Lewis