Devilish Tools

 July 20, 2024

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a circus, but back when they were popular, the act that really wowed the crowd was the lion tamer. Holding his chair and cracking his whip, he would make the lions paw the air and roar while sitting on a stool. He could make them jump through a hoop or sit meekly simply by skillfully using the tools of his trade.

That old lion the devil isn’t quite so meek. There’s no taming him at all, but we do have tools of the trade to deal with him. That being said, we’re going to take a bit of a detour to talk about those tools and how to use them. This detour takes us to Ephesians 6. It’s a long text, so bear with me. We’ll take it slowly.

“Finally, become strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Because of this, take up the full armor of God, in order that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand therefore, girding your waist with truth, and putting on the breastplate of righteousness, and binding shoes under your feet with the preparation of the good news of peace, in everything taking up the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and to this end being alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,” —Ephesians 6:10-18 

I like the way this version starts out: “Become strong in the Lord.” We don’t start there, but we can get there. If you aren’t feeling particularly strong against some temptation or problem, don’t give up. You’ll get there if you don’t quit. Tomorrow we’ll begin learning how.