“Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.”—Ephesians
6:14
Encouraging his fellow
Christians at Ephesus, Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to them the key to
staying victorious in Christ was to take a position of one of standing.
Paul’s final admonition reminded the believer that we are to, “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of
his might. Put on the whole armour of
God, you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil” (6:10-11 emphasis added). The word “wiles” means the plots, plans, schemes and tools that the enemy
uses to deceive, entrap, enslave and rule the souls of people (remember the
soul is the will, mind and emotions).
If you are like me when you
read the word stand, you have the tendency
to think of a person or object of being in an upright position. While this is true, I believe that what Paul is
referring to is a believer’s stance in their thinking. Have you ever heard of the phrase, “I think I can, or I do not think that
I can?” Too many times, people are
defeated because they do not think that they can do something. Some years ago, I heard a testimony of a
woman who wanted to learn how to drive a motorcycle. She got a manual and read how to get on and
off, start and stop it, change gears and everything it took to ride and drive a
motorcycle. As she went through the manual,
she would imagine herself doing the things necessary to operate the motorcycle. The time came when she was able to buy a
motorcycle and she was not intimidated or frighten because she had mentally
prepared herself to operate the motorcycle.
This same principle applies to standing against the wiles of the enemy.
When the believer’s thinking
is aligned with God’s thoughts and Christ’s vicarious death, burial and
resurrection it will be one of an upright position. Thoughts will not be of defeat, giving up or
failure. We stand because Christ is
victorious. We read the manual (the
Bible) and know what God thinks and in our hearts we agree and say with our
mouths that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loved us and
gave Himself for us. Nothing can
separate us from the love of Christ. Not
even tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness or peril or
sword. We are persuaded that neither
death, nor life, or angels or principalities, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).
Keep your thinking in a standing position, one of trusting in
God’s promises and enforcing Satan’s defeat.
Speak the Word, meditate on it— ponder how it applies to you. Take one think that concerns you or a friend
today and ponder God’s Word over the concern.
See, in your mind’s eye, the concern, the problem or difficulty resolved
because of God’s Word. This spiritual
exercise will increase your faith, strengthen your belief system and defeat the
enemy.
Prayer—Heavenly Father thank You for Your Word. I repent for the times of having an attitude
of defeat in my thinking when Jesus has already defeated my enemy, and I ask
You to forgive me. Help me to develop my
faith to consistently stand in my position with Christ as more than conqueror
in Jesus’ name. Amen.
