Know Your Foe - Part 2

 

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

—Ephesians 6:11

If we truly want to know our foe, we need to recognize the tools, or the weapons, our foe uses against us. In various places, the Bible speaks of the enemies of the faithful: those who carry the traits of the evil one himself and use his weaponry.

In Psalm 141:9 David prays for the Lord to:

…keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers.

Psalm 91:3 mentions the “fowler’s snare.” Knowing us as he does, the enemy lures us through our own nature into the places where he has set these traps.

Over time, the enemy sometimes builds footholds into our lives. Largely, he invades and sets up these footholds into our lives without our even realizing what he has done.

Imagine a steep hill, impossible to climb, and compare it to a strong Christian. Then, imagine that a strong Christian allows the evil one to step again and again up that hill. At first, the evil one only sets toeholds. Then, he deepens those toeholds until they become footholds. Next, he refines those footholds until he has built a stairway that gives him all too ready an access to us.

In Ephesians 4:27, the Apostle Paul gives us this warning:

Do not give the devil a foothold.

Paul’s advice rings very true. For once the footholds have been formed, we will have a very difficult time tearing them down.

The evil one also has a collection of masks that he uses to trick us. 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that:

Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

Imagine the trickery Satan can pull off by pretending to speak and act as God’s true ambassador. In order to fight against this weapon, we must discern the false from the true. Do you know your Lord well enough to tell His voice from that of the enemy? Like the wolf in the story of “Red Riding Hood,” Satan would swallow chalk and wear a disguise to trick us.

Finally, we read in Ephesians 6:16:

Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

This weapon, the forerunner of modern ammunition, carries not only the sharp wounding power, but it also carries the destructive force of fire to consume and utterly destroy. What do we have to do to remain safe from this devastation? God provides us with a shield of faith that will allow us to trust Him for our protection.

Several times in the New Testament, we are given instruction to “be alert.” We can only stand against all the traps, footholds, disguises, and flaming arrows of the enemy by staying conscious of his designs against us and by continually employing the weapons with which God provides us.

I love to pray the text of the hymn, “Soldiers of Christ, Arise”: ¹

Soldiers of Christ, arise,
and put your armor on,
Strong in the strength which God supplies
through his eternal Son.
Strong in the Lord of Hosts,
and in his mighty pow’r,
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts
is more than conqueror.

Stand then in his great might,
with all his strength endued;
But take, to arm you for the fight,
the panoply of god.
Leave no unguarded place,
no weakness of the soul;
Take ev’ry virtue, ev’ry grace,
and fortify the whole.

To keep your armor bright,
attend with constant care;
Still walking in your Captain’s sight,
and watching unto prayer.
From strength to strength go on;
wrestle and fight and pray;
Tread all the pow’rs of darkness down,
and win the well-fought day.

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1 Wesley, Charles. “Soldiers of Christ, Arise.” Hymn in the Public Domain.