By In the Christian’s Manual on Spiritual Warfare of Ephesians 6:10-20, every believer is informed and equipped by God for spiritual warfare. But it is really the closing three verses that provide us with the most practical techniques of our battle against spiritual forces.
Ephesians 6:18 envelops the entire discussion up to know with “praying at all times in the Spirit”. You can claim full understanding of the full armour of God, but they are only useful to those dependent (to the point of “supplication”) on the Spirit’s enablement and ability. Such prayer must be continual (“at all times”) and hopeful (“perseverance”). Such prayer must be not only the way in which we use the weapons, but also the way in which we pray for other Christians to employ the same spiritual skills.
Ephesians 6:19 adds to prayer our need for clarity in the more precise details of what we believe. Since the Apostle Paul’s warfare was related to church planting and evangelism, his biggest spiritual battle seemed to be in terms of getting the Gospel right in all its details (“mystery”). The application for us then is to get the Truth right if we want to stand strong against the Devil. We must know what Scripture says, and we must be able to explain it in all its details. This calls for theological clarity that is both accurate and precise.
Ephesians 6:20 ends this section on spiritual warfare with a call to courageous obedience. As the Apostle Paul was commissioned to preach (“as I ought”), so every one of us Christians are called to obey the call of Jesus in our daily lives. This is a principle we can easily apply. We stand with spiritual strength during spiritual warfare when we obey God, confident in His command, and bold in our resolve. Bold obedience, simply because we know the commandments, is non- negotiable for success in spiritual warfare. We cannot think that we will stand firm, when we give in to temptations.
Every Christian is a spiritual warrior, dressed by God to be able to stand firm in the faith even in the face of the Devil. We do not boast of our spiritual strength, but plead the Lord for His Spirit to keep us all spiritually alert. We know what we believe, and we commit to obey the Lord in the Christian life that He has called us to. So we stand firm, and will continue to endure till He calls us home.