” Stand Your Ground! ”
We should put on the full armor of God so that we can stand in the evil day. Ephesians 6:14 says, “So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart)” (AMP). There is great power in God’s Word. However, it does not stop the enemy and his fallen angels from devising plans of attack to knock us off our feet. We cannot fight if we are not (spiritually) standing. We may not always be in a standing position (physically), but we must maintain a firm footing, spiritually speaking, in the days we are living in. Our adversary is often subtle, but he also is like a roaring lion, seeking who he can devour.
The forms of warfare often used against us are cloaked in the chaos that are part of our everyday lives. These are: swarm, pursue, and humiliate. The enemy wants to keep us vacillating back and forth between shame and pride. When we focus on failures or situations beyond our control, we can quickly lose footing. This can lead to feelings of shame, inadequacy, and a need to justify our shortcomings, resulting in pride, which keeps us from moving forward and accomplishing the things that God wants us to. There is nothing the enemy wants more than to “humiliate” God’s people.
A second tactic used, which typically comes before humiliation, is to “pursue.” There are thoughts, which are not ours, that the enemy will try to to use that relate to things we are going through. This is when we must pull out the Sword of the Spirit, and swing at the adversary with truth. The truth of God’s Word will get the enemy off our backs and stop him from “pursuing us” with his foolish and worthless thoughts. When we have thoughts that make us say, “how could I even think that,” then it is likely that we didn’t. When the enemy comes, we must pray the Word, and “like a flood, the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” Remember what the Lord did for the children of Israel when He drowned the Egyptian Army in the sea? That same God will come to our defense. We must also bind together with our sisters and brothers, bearing one another’s burdens, resisting the devil, and he will flee from us. If one can chase a thousand, then two can put ten thousand to flight. If this be so, what can three do? What can the Church do when we pray focused prayers?
The first tactic mentioned, “swarm,” is used to cause confusion. It is accomplished through witchcraft, fear, and intimidation. Witchcraft, a work of the flesh, can come at us in many ways. But the most used tactic is fear. There is something innate in mankind called “the fight or flight response,” which is likely why this tactic is often successful. It is not only a demonic spirit we must overcome, but also our carnal nature. The enemy cannot be successful at any of these tactics when we exercise our God-given measure of faith through prayer and fasting. We must pray daily to see through the fog of war that is created by the enemy when he moves in for the kill, taking advantage of the chaos going on in this world. King David, a man of war, and a man after God’s heart, understood the warfare of the enemy. He said, “They swarmed around me like bees; They flare up and are extinguished like a fire of thorns; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off” (Psalms 118:12 AMP). It will take a firm resolve to stand, and stand some more, if we are going to overcome the adversary, for the sake of the lost, and our own souls.
Beth Marie Evans
Apostolic Author
Associate Minister
International Christian Fellowship Brookfield, Illinois
Info from: Prayer Connect – World Network of Prayer – floshaw@wnop-upci.ccsend.com