EPHESIANS 6:10-12 – Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

THEME OF THE DAY. THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE WE FIGHT. There are two verses found in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation, that are “armor verses” for spiritual battle. Every Christian must put them to memory and use them daily in the spiritual warfare to which God calls us. They are in the twelfth chapter – And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:10-11). As we read these “battle verses” there are two reasons why they are so important for successful Christian living.

First, this truth in God’s Word describes our spiritual foe and his primary work against God’s people – for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Of the many names given to Satan, “accuser” is one we must think of often. Why? His activity of accusing us before God is constant. He never rests. And what are his accusations? Many but here are some – worldliness, selfishness, feeding the lusts of our flesh, indifference toward God, spiritual apathy, willful disobedience, spiritual neglect . . . the list continues. And here is an important truth we must realize. Though the devil is a liar and the father of lies, when he accuses us of failing to measure up to God’s standards, he is right. We do fail. We do fall short. This is the area where many Christians are defeated and live their Christian lives in discouragement. They listen to the correct accusations of the devil and begin to think God deals with them based on them. Since we always fall short, we begin to doubt God’s love because we are basing it on our performance as Christians, not His grace. All the while, the devil wins the battle, not the war, but the battle. He has successfully taken our eyes off Christ’s perfect performance for us and put them on our always imperfect performance. His fiery darts of accusations have scored a direct hit on our hearts and we are defeated. Remember, the accusations of the devil may be true, but they are not how God deals with us. He deals with us through His Son, not our spiritual performance or lack of.

Another reason why we must put these “battle verses” to daily memory and recall is they provide the only way to silence the accuser. The Apostle John writes – And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. In today’s scripture, we are told not to attack the devil but stand against him. That is not an offensive strategy but defensive. Run away from any author, preacher or teacher who tells us to “go after the devil, rebuke the devil.” We are never told in scripture to run to battle against him, but to stand against him. And we do so behind the cross of Christ; behind His atoning death; behind His cleansing blood. When accusations fly to our conscience, send them to Christ. Rest in His sacrifice and shed blood. There is no word from the devil more powerful than Christ’s substitutionary death for us.

Learn spiritual warfare and who our spiritual foe is from the scripture, particularly, the scriptures in today’s nugget. In doing so we will fight successfully and victoriously for the glory of the Captain of our salvation who always leads us to victory.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to arm my mind with Your truth that I might wage successful warfare against the devil.”

QUOTE: “You cannot reason yourself to spiritual victory over the devil. Only truth known and used will win the battles.”