Our
Protection in Spiritual Warfare.
.
by Michael Harper
Every Christian needs protection from enemy
attacks, especially those engaged in violent
spiritual warfare. The history of how man has
gone to war down the centuries is largely a
story of weapons improving in their potency, and
armour increasing in its protectiveness. And
Christians are vulnerable to attacks from the
enemy, and need the means to protect themselves.
There are places and situations which Christians
should not enter into recklessly or without the
proper safeguards. In cases where exorcism is
necessary, it is best to work with a partner. It
is significant that Jesus always sent His
disciples out in pairs, and the apostles mostly
had a partner with them on their missionary
journeys.
The armour of God
The classic chapter on protection is Ephesians
6. Paul uses the armour that the Roman
legionaries used to illustrate the means of
protection that God has provided for the
Christian. It is very important at the outset to
grasp the fact that this is not our armour,
but God's, given to us to protect us. It
is not our righteousness, or our
faith, or our gospel which can stand in
the evil day. It is God's provision alone which
will give us adequate protection. If we see this
simple but profound fact it could well make all
the difference between victory and defeat. And
in a sense all the pieces of armour, when
combined together, are Christ Himself. Elsewhere
Paul does urge his readers to "put on Christ"
(Galatians 3: 27). He is our Protector.
Notice too that we need to put on this armour
before the battle. A fairly elementary
point, but sometimes overlooked. It is no good
waiting until the dart is on its way before
holding up the shield of faith.
One of the best ways of considering the pieces
of armour is to see them as protecting us from
various points of attack, thus enabling the
enemy's blows to glance off us and not
penetrate. So with each piece we shall list the
particular form of attack, from which the armour
protects us.
The girdle of truth
Form of
attack - lies and errors. Satan
has been a liar from the beginning and is the
father of lies, Jesus tells us (John 8: 44). The
first attack he made on man took the form of a
lie" you shall not die", Satan said, in defiance
of the fact that God had clearly said they would
if they took the forbidden fruit. Someone has
helpfully summarised the truth as-"God is what
He says He is; I am what God says I am; God does
what He says He will do; I can do what God says
I can do." Satan is always causing us to doubt
these statements. "God can't be a God of love";
"God can't really be in control of the
universe"; "I'm too sinful to be a child of
God"; "My old nature can't possibly be dead";
"God can't save me from this predicament I'm
in"; "I can't do it", and so on. And Satan has
always twisted and perverted the word of God.
One of the favourite forms of attacks on
Christians is false accusation. He is called in
Revelation "the accuser of the brethren", and he
accuses us continuously before God (Rev 12: 10).
He will never get God to believe these lies
about us, but it is surprising how many of God's
children are taken in. One of the most common
complaints amongst Christians is self-despair,
and far too often it comes from believing what
Satan says about us rather than God. The armour
to meet this attack is "the girdle of truth".
When falsely condemned we declare the truth -
"there is therefore now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8: I). But
we need to discern between the pricks of
conscience, given to us by the Holy Spirit, and
the nagging accusations of Satan. Here a "good
and honest heart" is needed. Whilst we should
always be open to correction by the Holy Spirit,
let us not hold the door open so wide that we
let Satan's accusations in too.
Equally powerful these days seems to be the
maligning of God's character by Satan. How many
Christians one meets who do not believe that God
really loves them! As Job won through, when all
the circumstances pointed in the opposite
direction, and was able to say "blessed be the
name of the Lord", so we too will be helped to
see disasters when they come as "blessings",
rather than listen to the slander of the devil.
In a very subtle way the serpent in the garden
of Eden represented God to Eve as One who did
not really care for her or her husband. As Satan
continuously works against us so we must put on
"the girdle of God's truth".
The breast-plate of
righteousness
Form
of attack - evil and sinful desires. If
Satan cannot pierce our armour by lies, he will
try evil. He will bombard our minds with evil
thoughts; he will try to influence our motives
and sway our wills. The answer to this is -
God's righteousness, not our own! How many have
tried to ward off these blows with the flimsy
armour of their own goodness. Satan's arrows
pierce it immediately. But, if we are
Christians, we have God's righteousness to
defend ourselves with. Then let us wear it like
a piece of armour. Evil thoughts are not sin
until they are entertained. They are like
gate-crashers at a party; we can accept them and
let them stay, or firmly show them where the
door is. That is what we must do when Satan
attacks us with evil - show Satan the door. That
is enough. Satan cannot pierce the armour of
God's righteousness. He may bruise us, but he
cannot wound us.
The sandals of the gospel of
peace
Form of attack an
easy and lazy life. If
Satan cannot disturb us, then he will try to
make us as comfortable and cosy as possible so
that we won't disturb him I He will stop his
attacks and sue for peace, but on completely
unacceptable terms for a Christian. "Leave me
alone," he will say, "and I will leave you
alone." We dare not parley with Satan. The early
Christians would not have been persecuted had
they stopped their evangelism. But they suffered
at the hands of the Jewish authorities because
they refused to do so.
It is all too easy to fall for this subtle
attack of the enemy, and go along with "carpet
slipper Christianity". Some today are "at ease
in Zion", journeying to heaven in first-class
comfort. Satan has seen to it that such
Christians have laid down their arms, and are no
longer concerned to attack and invade enemy-held
territory.
The answer to this form of temptation is to get
our shoes on, leave the comforts of home, and go
out after those who are Satan's captives. This
is probably what Paul means here. Ronald Knox
translates these words, "in readiness to publish
the gospel". And it is the gospel of peace for the only real
peace that can be found in this world is through
surrender to Christ, who is the Prince of Peace.
And this is what the devil will do all in his
power to stop. We need to remember that Jesus
showed us that God's love is so great that He
will always leave 99 per cent of the flock to
rescue the 1 per cent. Should we not leave the 1
per cent to rescue the 99 per cent?
The shield of faith
Form
of attack unbelief. Paul
himself wants his readers to be especially
careful to have this protection. "Above all",
he writes. For unbelief in its various guises is
the most formidable kind of attack, and the
shield of faith is the most important part of
the gospel armour. The tense of the verb implies
a constant and unflinching attitude of faith.
Martin Luther knew this vicious form of attack
on many occasions, and knew that the only
protection was through faith in the promises of
God. He writes somewhere out of deep conviction:
The soul that clings to the promises of God
with a firm faith is so united with them,
altogether taken up into them, that it not
only shares in all their power, but is
saturated and made drunk with it ... If a
touch of Christ healed, how much more will
this tender touch of the Spirit, this
absorbing of the word, communicate to the soul
all things that are the word's.
This is where
our faith needs to be placed firmly in the
promises of God. In the epistle to the Hebrews
the writer refers to the sin which "clings so
closely". It is very likely from the context
that the writer has in mind the sin of unbelief,
for the previous chapter is taken up with the
theme of faith, and the great men and women who
so truly exemplified it. Christians are to "lay
aside" this besetting sin. No wonder Paul
describes these attacks as "flaming darts". We
all know what it is to be wounded by these
fearful weapons of Satan. We know the doubts
that assail us, and the fear of failure that
cripples action.
"Is God really hearing me?" "Has He forgotten
me?" "Has it worked?" "Will it last?" and so on.
Easy isn't it to have 90 per cent faith and only
10 per cent doubt!
An excellent example of the word of God being
spoken aloud, and so bringing someone to faith,
may be seen in the life of Barclay Buxton.
During his missionary work in Japan he was
attacked by fear in this way. So he said
repeatedly aloud the words from Hebrews 13:5-6,
"he has said, 'I will never fail you nor forsake
you'. Hence we can confidently say, 'The Lord is
my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do
to me?'" He said these words until by faith he
had made them his own, and so can we.
The only answer is the shield of faith. And
remember this is not our puny faith, but God's
strong faith. Paul calls it "the faith of the
son of God" in Galatians 2:20. We are holding up
the faith of Christ between ourselves and those
fiery darts. Such faith is inpenetrable armour.
The shield that Paul is probably thinking of
here was the one the Roman legions carried into
battle. It covered them from head to foot-but
not their backs. There was no allowance made for
deserters, says Corrie ten Boom.
The helmet of salvation
Form of attack
calamity and accident. The
word salvation (soteria) is used in the
New Testament to describe physical as well as
spiritual well-being. For instance, it is used
to describe the strength gained from eating in
Acts 27: 34, when Paul urged the sailors to have
a meal before their ship came ashore on the
island of Malta. In Hebrews 11:7 it is used to
describe how Noah and his family were saved from
drowning in the flood. According to Souter it
was commonly used of "deliverance from every
calamity, and victory over enemies".
Satan will not stop at anything to destroy the
work of God. He will make Christians ill. How
often we read in the Journals of John Wesley how
nausea and faintness came upon that great man
before he was to preach. But he would carry on,
sometimes barely able to climb the steps of the
pulpit. But the moment he began to speak, the
sickness would pass away. The enemy was defeated
in his attempt to prevent the gospel from being
preached. How often Christians languish ill in
bed, when they should be resisting the devil's
attacks and about their Master's business!
Satan will sometimes try to kill God's servants.
Jesus said of him, "he was a murderer from the
beginning" (John 8: 44). He tried to kill Jesus
on several occasions before the divinely
appointed time for that death. Once He was
miraculously saved from mob violence, and on
another occasion from drowning in the lake of
Galilee. But Jesus survived in order to finish
the work that the Father had sent Him to do. And
we should expect the same protection until the
moment comes when we can echo the words of
Jesus, "I have finished the work which you gave
me to do."
Of course there will be times when God allows
death by violence. There was the case of
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, whose
career seemed to be so full of promise. Satan
must have been glad to see him removed so
quickly from the scene of his triumphs. But
little did he realise that standing by was Saul
of Tarsus, who was so obviously deeply affected
by what he saw of the sufferings of Stephen, and
who was before long to become an even more
effective evangelist. But we need to beware of
the attacks of Satan. The roads, for instance,
are becoming increasingly dangerous. We should
always pray before setting out, claiming the
protection of the name of Jesus - and also that
our driving will be skilful and unselfish. So
let us put on the "crash-helmet" of salvation as
well as our seat-belts.
The name of Jesus
We have already seen in the chapter "Our
Weapons", how Christ's name is a real power in
spiritual warfare. We noticed that the name of a
person in the Bible means the entire person.
When, therefore, we talk about the protection of
the name of Jesus, we do not mean that there is
something magical about the word, and that it is
protective in itself. No, the name of Jesus
means the protective power of His presence and
all that He is today because of all that He did
on the Cross. As Proverbs expresses it, "the
name of the Lord is a strong tower; the
righteous man runs into it and is safe" (18:
10).
This form of protection was bequeathed to us by
our Lord, when He prayed for the Church before
He went into the garden of Gethsemane. "Holy
Father, protect by the power of thy name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one,
as we are one. When I was with them, I protected
by the power of thy name those whom thou hast
given me, and kept them safe" (John 17: 11-12
NEB). And our Lord still keeps us safe through
His powerful name.
There are some who regard the blood of Christ as
protective. But in the Bible the blood always
answers to the guilt of sin - that is why it is
always Godward. The two scriptures, which some
use as the basis for the protective nature of
the blood, also bear this out. In the story of
the escape from Egypt, the blood which was
daubed on the door-posts and lintels of the
Israelites was for God to see, not the devil! "I
will pass over you" says God (Exodus 12:13). The
other reference is Revelation 12:11. "They
conquered him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony." Here Satan
appears in the context as "the accuser of the
brethren". The blood, therefore, in this verse
is protective against guilt.
The value of the name of Jesus is that it
combines the efficacy of His death with His
resurrection life. It means "Saviour" and refers to One
who is alive for ever, and raised "far above
all". It is the living Christ who protects His
people standing
by them and working with them. But it is Christ
who shed His blood and died on the Cross.
Without the shedding of blood there would have
been no remission of sins or power over Satan.
In this sense, the blood of Christ is an
indispensable part of our salvation, and, therefore,
of our protection.
The angelic hosts
In the general scepticism within the Church
today, in which the supernatural has been
debunked, the presence and value of angels is
seldom if ever recognised. Like the servant of
the prophet Elisha, we need to have our eyes
opened to the protective ring of angels, which
is at all times around God's
people. As the Psalmist says, "the angel of the
Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and
delivers them" (34: 7).
In the Acts of the Apostles angels seem to be as
much in evidence as their satanic counterparts,
the evil spirits. They seem to be specialists in
jail-breaking, for twice they manage to get the
apostles and Peter out of prison. They also
helped in directing God's plans in evangelism.
It was an angel, for example,
who directed Philip to the desert of Gaza to
contact the Ethiopian eunuch. When Paul was in
danger of losing his life in a storm at sea, it
was an angel that reassured him. If the demonic
powers have not given up the struggle and
returned to hell since New Testament days, are
we to imagine that the angels are less
powerfully present than they were in the days of
the apostles of our Lord?
In the epistle to the Hebrews we are told about
people who have "entertained angels unawares"
(13:2). Much of our thinking about angels is
conditioned by artists' impressions of them. One
would not have thought there was much chance of
modem man entertaining such angels (wings and
all) without being aware of it I We may never
know whether or not we have actually seen such
angels, but the fact of their presence should be
comforting. We are not to attempt to communicate
with them, and should remember that Satan can
disguise himself as an angel of light.
With God's protection, and wielding His weapons,
we can enter confidently into warfare with
Satan.
[This excerpt is from Spiritual
Warfare: Defeating Satan in the Christian
Life, Chapter 8, © 1970, 1984 by
Michael Harper. The book was originally
published in 1970 by Hodder and Stoughton,
London, UK and by Logos International,
Plainfield, New Jersey, USA, and by Servant
Books, Ann Arbor, 1984. An online version of
the book is available from
the Harper Foundation at: http://www.harperfoundation.com/books.html]
 Archpriest
Father
Michael Harper (1931-2010) was a
world-renown leader in the charismatic
renewal movement. He was a minister in
the Anglican Church for 40 years. He
joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in
1995, and was appointed Archpriest of
the Antiochian Orthodox Deanery of the
UK and Ireland.
He and his wife Jeanne
formed the Fountain Trust in 1964,
which organized charismatic
conferences all over the world at
which he addressed thousands of
people. Jeanne co-edited the songbook,
Sound of Living Waters, which
is still used by many charismatic
churches today. Harper also founded
Soma (Sharing of Ministries Abroad),
which was committed to sharing
ministries between the developed and
developing world.
He was involved for many
years with the World Council of
Churches. He spoke at several Catholic
meetings. He met Popes Paul VI, John
Paul and John Paul II.
He also edited Renewal,
the longest-established charismatic
magazine in the world. He wrote 18
books, including the bestseller Equal
and Different, which set out his
views on womens ordination and the
gender debate. Colleagues remember him
as a man with the ability to build
friendships across the Christian
traditions. A gentle and humble man,
Harper was nevertheless a dynamic
speaker and networker, able to draw
people in, whatever their background
or differences from himself. He is
survived by his wife, Jeanne.
Some
of his books and articles are available
online at: http://www.harperfoundation.com/books.html.
|
