Ephesians 6.1-12 (6)
Pray Psalm 59.1-3.
Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
Defend me from those who rise up against me.
Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloodthirsty men.
For look, they lie in wait for my life;
The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O LORD.
Sing Psalm 59.1-3.
(Neumark: If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee)
Deliver me from all my foes, LORD; set me on high secure away.
From all who seek to work me woe, Lord, deliver me from day to day.
For, lo, they seek to take my life; fierce foes advance to bring me strife!
Read Ephesians 6.1-12; meditate on verse 12.
What is this like? When do you do this?
Preparation
1. Against what do we not wrestle?
2. Against what do we wrestle?
Meditation
Does this seem like an odd way of thinking about spiritual warfare? Wrestling? If so, then perhaps you’ve never watched a wrestling match.First, it’s full contact—hands-on, grabbing, holding, throwing down, flopping on top of, reaching for any advantage anywhere. Next, it’s exhausting. Because it’s constant. There is no let-up for as long as you’re on that mat. Finally, nothing but victory should be sought. A tie is only marginally better than a loss. Ties don’t make champions.
And that’s what our warfare is like, only worse. Look at those opponents: principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in high places. It’s a tag-team of evil adversaries who seek nothing less than to wear us out in our faith, defeat us spiritually, darken our vision, and throw us into sin. And it’s constant. Their best weapon in seeking to take us down is temptation—any consideration or inclination to disobey any of God’s Law. It always looks easy to handle, but then it grabs you, pulls you in, and begins to pin you to the mat. Resist, resist, resist! Use all the weapons at your disposal, which we will examine next.
These are real powers with real spiritual strength. But our God is stronger. Jesus is our tag-team partner, well, except that He’s always in the ring with us as we wrestle. The Spirit and Word of God are in our corner. We’ve got everything we need to beat our foe every time.
So wrestle well. It doesn’t get easier, but you get stronger each time you win.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
Winners train. Losers complain.
Pain is temporary, glory lasts forever!
Wrestle hard or go home.
Wrestling doesn’t build character, it reveals it.
Dominate from start to finish.
Wrestling is more than a sport; it is a commitment.
Wrestle to win.
And my personal favorite:
I wrestle because punching people is frowned upon.
(Which has zero spiritual application—it just made me laugh).
But for all the rest of the wrestling slogans, you can see why Paul chose this battling style to reveal the seriousness of our daily spiritual encounters with the enemy.
Wrestling is exhausting. So, to take up the work of prayer, for oneself and for other believers—to stand strong against principalities, powers, rulers of this darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness—is noble work indeed. For all are tempted, at any given moment, to be unfaithful to God’s Law and to His Word. As we well know, that is the definition of sin. As the catechism states: Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.
Paul praised the church at Colossae for their faith, hope, and love in Christ Jesus, and wrote these words to them: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you,
and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,
for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
in Whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1.9-14). To wrestle well.
They prayed for one another—for strength to stand strong in faith, against all odds—to know why they were wrestling against the devil and his minions; and to keep their eyes on The One for Whom they lived and with Whom they struggled against His enemy and ours.
When Jesus sent out the twelve two by two, to teach and preach about the Kingdom of God, He “gave them power over unclean spirits” (Mk. 6.7). I can only assume that we have the same power today.
Jesus would not be sending us out—to live, teach, and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom—without giving us these same powers. After all, we are filled with His Holy Spirit, and we have the mind of Christ.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1.8).
“The Helper…I will send Him to you…He will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16.7, 13).
“But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2.16).
We are set for wrestling. We are fully equipped.
We merely need to know that we are up to the encounter:
Then take down the opponent—without mercy.
The harder you train, the easier it is to win!
Reflection
1. How can you tell when you are being tempted to disobey God? What kind of wrestling should you do then?
2. How should you prepare each day for the wrestling you will do?
3. How can you help a fellow believer who is wrestling with temptation?
The combat is not against human enemies, nor against our own corrupt nature only; we have to do with an enemy who has a thousand ways of beguiling unstable souls. The devils assault us in the things that belong to our souls, and labor to deface the heavenly image in our hearts. We must resolve by God’s grace, not to yield to Satan. Resist him, and he will flee. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Ephesians 6.10-18
Pray Psalm 59.10-17.
In prayer, anticipate the “wrestling” you expect to face today. Call on the Lord for His strength to help you defeat your opponent each time.
Sing Psalm 59.10-17.
(Neumark: If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee)
My God in steadfast love will meet me, and let me look triumphantly
on all my foes, who would defeat me did not He shield and shelter me.
That men may know Your pow’r, O LORD, subdue and rule them by Your Word.
But as for me, Your strength I’m singing; with joy I sing Your grace, O LORD!
My trials and troubles I am bringing to know the shelter of Your Word.
O God, my strength, I sing Your praise; You are my stronghold all my days.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
