Any good boxing fan will tell you, you need a good combination to produce a knock out. Its all very well having power but you need to position yourself for a good connection. A powerful lunge at your opponent that is mistimed can lead to you being seriously off your guard and (or) off your balance. This could leave you open to a well placed attack from your counterpart, if they are reading you and ready for it.
I once decided that I would avenge my brother against his attacker in the school playground. My brother was in the year below me and his assailant had been in his year, was a little smaller than I was and, I thought, not much of a challenge to me. He did have a reputation as a hard lad but I was sure that when he was faced with a bigger, older and way more aggressive opponent, he wouldn't stand a chance. I was all of those things. I should have been warned when he did not recoil in the least at my challenge to meet him outside the school gates. In fact a cruel and amused smile crept over his rather cocky features.
We met at the allotted place and time and I did not wait for a second. I went wading in with a barrage of punches and banshee like screams, a tactic that had produced mixed results in the past. None of the punches connected. The boy seemed to be like the rubber man swerving around, hardly moving his feet, as he kept well out of the way of my wild swings. Then BANG, out of nowhere he landed a full on right (or at least I think it was) onto my jaw. I reeled from the blow but managed to stay on my feet, which proved to be a bad move because, now I was stunned, he placed many more punches in the general area of my face. Sensing I was at somewhat of a stalemate, I decided I had to stop those blows. So I clung onto his body, as much for support than for tactical reasons. He then wrestled me into a headlock where he proceeded to near suffocate me. Again, being a determined young blighter, I somehow stayed on my feet, though bent double. When he released me I made another "stand" and pathetically attempted a few more swings but I was dazed and staggered about sluggishly.
He tired of hitting me after some minutes. It was too easy. Disgusted he walked away from me whilst I shouted after him "So its a draw then!". In my my view at the time I had not given up, and that was not a defeat. Anyhow, I'm not sure he could hear what I was saying through my swollen and bloodied lips.
I found out that day that his dad was a semi professional boxer and the lad had been going to a boxing gym since he was six years old. Talk about picking the wrong fight.
So why am I sharing this rather humiliating story with you? Because we can all learn something from these two approaches.
- I had aggression but no discipline.
- He had aggression but controlled it and channelled it through tried and tested methods, combining defencive tactics with offensive technique to maximum effect.
- I had misplaced confidence in my own strength.
- He had well placed confidence in his training and method.
- I used my size and strength to intimidate but was no real threat.
- He used my size and strength against me and was a very real threat.
- I used attack first, lost my advantage and ended up being defeated.
- He used defence first, to asses the risk and position himself well, gained the advantage and ended up victorious.
I bring this up because I want to address the three things mentioned in this verse in one sitting. Why? Precisely because they are to be used in combination. Now we are talking about the most war like elements of our armoury. Now it gets serious. Defence is a form of offence. It is tactical. It gains you an advantage, it buys you time to react and deliver killer blows to the enemy. You might wear a belt or sandals in everyday life but there is only one purpose in wearing a helmet while holding a sword and a shield. This is the stuff we need for hand to hand combat.
I have to be honest with you all. I have been involved in spiritual warfare a fair bit, and when I say that, I mean prayer warfare, intercession. Rebuking territorial spirits binding strong men and all that kind of thing. I am not saying I have no belief in that. Not at all. But I am not a gifted prayer warrior. I don't posess gifts and knowledge that lay open to me the workings of the heavenlies. I leave that to the few who can. And to the angels.
But the bloody bits of the battle I am concerned with are those when the enemy gets into our homes, drags our family into bondage, undermines our service of Jesus, questions our standing with God, lays guilt at our feet to prohibit further service (because he's scared). These things make me angry. But I've learnt that anger without discipline can lead you into worse messes than those you are already in. So we must know what these three things are and how they work.
1. The Shield of faith.
So the answer to this is obvious. The shield is our faith. It extinguishes the flaming arrows of the enemy. What is faith? Hmmm. Now this is slightly different. If I want to know what tree I am looking at I look for signs of its fruit. If I see apples its an apple tree. When I see faithfulness I know that the tree it comes from is faith. It is an active belief that rises up in a moment but it sustains you for a life time. The writer to the Hebrews describes faith as being "sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". Faith is a bold belief but not an unfounded one. Another translation has it as the "substance of things hoped for". Being in faith we are truly (and not yet) in possession of it. Faith is as good as its object. If I have faith in this aeroplane to get me where I want to go but this aeroplane has a fuel leak I could be in big trouble. Our faith, however is in Jesus and in our Father. Is there a better reason for a sure and certain hope? I think not.
So what are the flaming arrows and how does our faith extinguish them? We have established in previous blogs that the weapons the enemy has at his call are mainly accusations and lies. So for example when Jesus is being tempted in the desert he says "It is written", to the lie levelled at him. He does not take on board the lie but hold unswervingly to the promise of God. the lie is extinguished. this is how the shield works. At every turn the devil will seek to undermine Gods promise to you, both personal promises and promises from scripture. Faith holds on to God. Faith is faithful.
2. The helmet of salvation
Again the clue is in the name. The helmet is our salvation. What it does in terms of spiritual warfare is not immediately clear. I guess the most obvious thing our salvation does is IT SAVES US! I like this. I like it an awful lot. You put your helmet on at the start of the battle and, if you are wise, you don't take it off till the end. There is a scene in the film "saving private Ryan" where a young soldier is shot in the head and is protected by his helmet. In amazement he takes the helmet off and looks at the spot, right between his eyes, where the bullet has marked the helmet. Whilst he is looking he is shot a second time in his unprotected head. Horrid I know. The analogy doesn't hold in my opinion in a sense that we can "take off our salvation". If you are truly in the battle you don't question it, you just get on. Salvation is a constant. It is there. It does not depend on us wielding it to protect us. When you are in hand to hand combat you may not see one of those arrows raining down on you. The helmet is in place to protect you in the most important part of your body.
And of course the helmet speaks of the mind. A redeemed mind is a protection in itself. It does its own work in fending off attacks. It is its own defence system. That is why we seek to transform it all the more into Gods way of thinking.
3. The sword of the spirit
I don't have to define it to you, it is in the text. "Which is the word of God". If you've sat in a decent church for very long you will be aware that there are two Greek words for word. "Logos" is the first, "the written word" and also the eternal "word" (this is used in John 1, In the beginning was the word). "Rhema" is the second, the spoken word and the "now" word. The rhema word is used to describe prophecy, it has that immediate effect, to cut into a situation and transform it. The word Rhema is the one at use here, to describe the word of God. This is fascinating as one of the few examples we have of Jesus duelling Satan is of him using Scripture to refute Satan's claims and temptations. to hear that it is that charismatic and prophetic "word", the spoken word of God is quite profound.
The term sword of the spirit tells you a little of how the "Word" is to be used. It is that immediate sense of Gods speaking into a situation and of our being attentive to it that seems to be a sword in our hand against these attacks.
But if we look at Hebrews 4:12, where the word being used is "Logos" it says,
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.Amazing. We find that the sword image holds for both "Logos" and "Rhema". The word of God, the logos of God, the written word of God is ALIVE and ACTIVE. It is not sitting in between dusty book jackets. It has a life of its own. In other words, the Logos becomes Rhema to us. His scripture is a NOW word for us and, by walking in the spirit, it is available to us. He reminds us, he brings fresh relevance to us, he opens our eyes afresh to ancient truths that we are long familiar with. This is the sword of the spirit.,....and Oh boy, is it sharp!?
The sword should be in our hands at all time. We need to become experts at wielding it. Not just on our enemy but, at times, on ourselves. We need to lay bare the heart and its motives, to have it examine us. We need to meditate on it, to ingest it so we are not easily deceived by the devil or clever people. As Deuteronomy 30:14 says "the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart".
So we are to learn the craft of our sword and shield. And we should allow Salvation to do its work in us. I believe in a salvation that is not earned by human decision and therefore not lost by human action. It protects me. Peter advised us to make our calling and election sure. For this reason, once we are sure that, yes, Jesus Died and rose for me, for ME and yes I turn from my sins and seek to follow his word, we are free indeed. free to get on with the battle at hand. It makes a mockery of Satan's whispered "you don't really belong to him"s , it renders those attacks ineffective, like arrows bouncing off the helmet. The surety of our salvation frees us to concentrate on protecting ourselves with the sword and shield, it frees us to lunge forward with a scripture, knowing we are protected, knowing that we are safe.
If we were not saved, nor sure that we were saved, we would not have much place handling the word. We would be like those folk in acts who tried to cast out demons by the name of Jesus. They had no authority, no place using that name. If we are not under the authority of Gods word, if we have no respect for it then it has no power in our hands against a spiritual enemy. The relationship between the two is essential.
If we did not know the word and the promises it contains what use is faith? Faith in what?? We need faith for the word to do its work also. We cannot go into a battle with just a sword. If we slashed at the enemy with our weapon he would simply lunge at our unprotected side. They work in combination. We must believe the word we are wielding, have faith in it and the one who spoke it. We hereby protect ourselves as we go forward. Conversely we cannot have only a shield, that would be ludicrous. We have faith in God but have no clue what god says or what he is like or what he promises. We would be mincemeat.
But put the three together....then you are in business. Protected from above, protected on the ground and dangerously armed and poised, ready for anything.
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