READY FOR BATTLE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so His own arm achieved salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him. He put on righteousness as His breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.

According to what they have done, so will He repay wrath to His enemies and retribution to His foes; He will repay the islands their due. From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere His glory. For He will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.

Isaiah 59:15b-20

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Sometimes life can seem like a battle. Have you ever felt like that?

I know I have.

So many things can come against us and challenge us, whether it’s hardship or problems in relationship or health difficulties or just simply sinfulness and its associated temptations to get us living in a way that is displeasing to God.

Yes, we often feel we are under siege. And as we will see in this devotion today, it’s as good a reason as any to ensure we are properly ready for battle.

As we see in today’s passage from Isaiah 59, even the Lord prepared Himself to go to war against His enemies. Look again at how He did just that:

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so His own arm achieved salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him. He put on righteousness as His breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.

According to what they have done, so will He repay wrath to His enemies and retribution to His foes; He will repay the islands their due. From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere His glory. For He will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.  Isaiah 59:15b-20

First of all, note what led God to take up arms on His own. For He had hoped that one of His people would come to His defense but unfortunately found no one who would intervene and stand up for justice. Appalled at this lack of motivation for His cause, the Lord took things into His own hands but before He went to war against His enemies to repay them according to the wickedness they had doled out, He first ensured He was dressed out properly.

He put on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation before donning the garments of vengeance and cloak of zeal.

Then the Lord got to work raining down His retribution and wrath on His enemies. They had failed to respect and honor Him by their actions and attitudes. After His attack, the Lord looked to lead them to fear His name and revere His glory. In other words, the Lord would have the victory. No one can stand when He chooses to come against them.

So where does this leave us today? What is God’s word seeking to teach us?

I believe it’s three things:

First, don’t become an enemy of the Lord. It’s just crazy to me that anyone would knowingly sin against Him and ask for His power of judgment to be unleashed against them.

Secondly, the Lord donned His battle items to show us that we need to do likewise before we come up against our enemies. He even tells us to do so in the scriptures. Look at these words:

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.  Ephesians 6:10-17

All believers are under attack each and every day by Satan who the Bible tells us is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). The only way we can stand against His schemes is by putting on the full armor of God, and the operative word here is full. Leave off a piece and you open up a point of vulnerability. You’re only fully protected and armed to fight back when you have all your armor on, armor which includes:

1. The belt of truth buckled around your waist.

2. The breastplate of righteousness in place.

3. The readiness of the gospel of peace fitted on your feet.

4. The helmet of salvation on your head.

5. The shield of faith in one hand and the sword of the Spirit (the word of God) in the other.

The Lord donned these and never failed to find victory. Through His power, we too will never be defeated by Satan.

Finally, Jesus showed us how to use our full armor to ward off the enemy. Look at these words from Matthew 4:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry.

During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took Him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.  Matthew 4:1-11

Three separate attacks from Satan. Three times Jesus successfully defended Himself by using His sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Jesus was equipped with His full armor of God, even in a very vulnerable point. Through the power that came from that special divine armor, He overcame temptation and triumphed in the end and He did this to show us how to do likewise.

We would be well served to learn from this as Satan is not going to stop waging war against us until we draw our last breath here in this earthly existence. Through Jesus and the study of God’s word, we can become mighty warriors that consistently find victory when under attack.

Are you ready for battle?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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