Revolutionary Leaders

War! What Is It Good For? P2

The following is a stanza from Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong's 1969 hit, War, What Is It Good For.

Peace Love and Understanding;
Tell me, is there no place for them today?
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way

Now, I'm not writing to debate the veitnam war or today current war on terror, but I must say, I don't agree with this song. Yes war brings unrest, destruction and casualties BUT it's purpose is to bring peace and freedom.

Sometimes war is necessary and unavoidable. There are still things worth fighting for.

However, allow me talk to you not about physical war, but spiritual war.

Spiritual war is absolutely necessary and absolutely unavoidable.

Paul writes to the church of Ephesus and is teaching them basic Christianity 101. He talks of the salvation of man, the church and it's mission, unity in the body of Christ, the Christian lifestyle ("Be imitators of God"), relationships between husbands & wives - parents & children - slaves & masters, and finally spiritual warfare.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Eph. 6:10-18).


According to Paul in Ephesians 2:1-3, we face three enemies:
1. The World - the system around us that is opposed to God
(1 John 2:15-17, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.")
2. The Flesh - the old nature, the sin nature that we inherited from Adam
3. The Devil - the accuser, Satan our adversary, and his demons

When we become Christians, these enemies don't just go away. They may have lost that particular battle, but they are not giving up the war. As we said before, Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy your new found life in Christ.

So Paul challenges his readers to "stand firm" with the armor of God.

Here is some basic information about the armor of God that you should know.

Truth: Our belt of truth protects our loins - our reproductive organs. Truth plants seeds. The belt of truth also holds our sword - the word of God, which is truth.

Righteousness: our breastplate. The breastplate protects our heart & keeps us in a rightstanding with God. It guards us against the power of sin and keeps His Word hiden in our hearts.

Feet Fitted with Readiness: our shoes. These shoes enable us to walk through the valley of death, because we are sure footed in the Word of God. When we are grounded we can stand firm!

Faith: our shield. Our shield of faith protects us from the fiery arrows of the Devil. His arrows are accusations and lies. Faith enables us to move forward to take new ground for our God without a scratch.

Salvation: our helmet. This helmet guards our minds that have been transformed and renewed. Our mind is where our senses are filtered and processed.

The Word: our sword. Without a sword, we can never take new ground for the Lord. We can't just stay on the defensive? The sword is our weapon of offense.

"For the word of God is living 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" (Hebrews 4:12).

We are in a War and we need these tools not just to survive, but to be victorious.
Paul also told the Corinthian church, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Cor. 10:3-4).