The combatant from the church militant is admonished by the Apostle to grow strong in the Lord. One can only do this if he has a strong spiritual life. His life should be filled with both corporal and spiritual works of mercy and a prayerful life. For he can only be strong with His power, He being our Model. His life was the fulfillment of ora et labore, and His cross though naturally abhorrent a man born of iniquity is source of Power. If one leads a devout life, he automatically puts on God’s armour and the enemy finds no place to inflict a fatal wound on his person. As such he is able to resist the devil’s tactics in any angle it deems possible to harm him.
The devil as a military tactician plans strategically how to defeat the man of God but as his life is filled with prayer and good works, God’s Divine Mercy fills in any possible gap through which the devil can inflict a mortal strike. Hence, his resistance is triumphant.
St. Paul reminds in this letter that it is not mere humans that we are engaging in this great spiritual war. Yet, we worry so much on mere humans as our nemesis. Worst, some of us find delight in making our own brothers, our co-operators, the target of our strikes. And yet, the Apostle to the Gentiles speaks about spirits, particularly sovereignties and powers who bring about darkness into our world. That Enochian account of the fallen angels aptly describes how this darkness came into the world. One could even be surprised that they are identified as the “spiritual army of evil in the heavens”. But nay, it was very clear that these same rebellious and disobedient angels, instead of watching over mankind, lusted over the women, and from this lust took upon themselves to teach mankind alchemy, astrology, cosmetology and even the art of warfare. It was indeed, the likes of Samael and Samyaza that mankind was fired up to be more disobedient and rebellious against God.
This is the reason why there is a need to put on God’s armour which includes wisdom along with other gifts of the Holy Spirit. For it is indeed confusing when something comes down from the heavens, for mankind will easily take it to mean as a blessing. Hence, even demons that allegedly come from outer space, but simply all from inner space, are considered beneficial to the human race. Given to such sovereign power which is enticingly awesome for mankind he will not be able to put up any resistance nor have any resources to hold onto his ground. This is why, as the Apostle said, humankind should rely on God’s protection,
To stand his ground against such onslaught, St. Paul advises God’s warrior to put on a full battle gear. He enumerates what the warrior should wear as follows: truth buckled round his waist, integrity for his breastplate, the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace for his shoes and to carry the shield of faith. He must accept salvation from God as his helmet and the Word of God from the Spirit as his sword. (6:14-17)
It is clear from the above that God’s warrior must always have the Truth. His lorica should be a life of integrity such that what he says is what he does and that his heart and mind are singular. For his combat boots, he should travel bringing forth the tidings of peace and his singular mind and heart becomes his shield of faith which can put out the burning arrows of the devil. He should keep in his mind his redemption for this is the helmet of salvation that will protect his head. But the Apostle specifies the Word of God from the Spirit as the weapon to use. This is because in this modern world, the Word of God had been subjected to so many interpretations such that even the original meaning is perverted. It is therefore necessary that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete that teaches the complete truth, be the one to give its meaning. It is only then that it becomes a sharp sword to use against the enemy.
And as I have mentioned earlier, it is vital that we “pray all the time, asking for what (we) need, praying in the spirit on every possible occasion.” (6:18)
Only then should we really be ready to engage in Spiritual Combat.
