If only we knew when the earthquake was coming, the burglar would arrive, the accident would happen, the financial crisis would begin, or the heart attack would strike, we could be so much better prepared. We could gather in our supplies, buy the right kind of insurance, avoid going to certain places, keep our money under the mattress, or eat more wisely and exercise more. However, that is simply not the way life works, is it? In the physical and material realm of life, we never know what a day will bring and so we do our best to be wise and to be prepared for emergencies, knowing that there is a balance between caution and passivity, imagination and reality. We can work at “staying calm and carrying on.”
In the arena of spiritual battles, it is a very different story. We know that the devil and his spiritual cohorts are eager to find ways to make life difficult, to discourage, or to bring disaster on those who follow the Lord. From Genesis to Revelation God helps us to understand the reality of the “enemy” as well as some of his varied tactics and unpredictable ways of attacking God’s people. Perhaps that is why Paul, at the end of his letter to the Ephesians, once again reminded his dear friends that there was a way to stay strong, to keep on winning the skirmishes as well as the battles that were bound to come to each of them in unpredictable ways throughout life. There is a way to be prepared to meet temptation and to even help our friends be successful in their battles.
It might be a very good idea for you to check your “armor” right now! Is it readily available? Is there a piece that is missing or broken? And finally, are you really alert and listening to your “commander”?