PUT ON GOD'S ARMOR!
We are not told particulars about Jesus' childhood. He had to grow up and learn from infancy. We do know that He studied the Word, because at age 12 He confounded the scribes in the Jerusalem temple with His words. It was there His mother and father found Him.
We do know that He did not begin fighting the devil and his attempts to derail God's plan of man's redemption until He was 30 years old, a mature man. The first onslaught by the devil occurred in the Wilderness and continued during the last three and a half years of Jesus' life on earth. He won the victory over the devil, dying a sinless Man and rising in triumph over death, the condemnation the devil had inflicted on humankind through deception.
We do know that Jesus never sinned, no matter what temptation or situation confronted Him. We see His humility, we see His healing power, we hear His defiance against demons that controlled children and adults, alike. We watch His attempt to find partnership in prayer when waging war in Gethsemane, though His disciples miserably failed Him.
We are amazed at His mastery over false teaching and distortion of the Word by which He created the worlds as the Pharisees contaminated what He said in their desire to control. Oh, we are overwhelmed by all that Jesus is and was in His earthly ministry. And, yet, we are called to wage war against the enemy of our souls just as He did.
How is that possible, you ask. Or is it even possible at all? Before Jesus ascended to heaven following His resurrection from death and the grave, He instructed His followers to go to the Upper Room and wait for the promise of the Father. There, on the day of Pentecost, tongues of fire hovered above their heads, the sound of wind filled the room, and they began speaking in other languages.
A crowd down on the street, men from every nation, had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost. Not all spoke Hebrew, but God prepared His followers to declare the Gospel found in Jesus by giving them languages they had never studied or learned.
Those who heard the disciples preach evidenced their understanding by believing...3000 converts on Pentecost! More followed every day. But satan was not about to give them free rein. Persecution set in. Defection within the camp by Ananias and Sapphira tried to pollute the young church. God moved on those who were against Him with sudden and swift death. It put the fear of God in those who observed.
God did not leave His Church helpless and hopeless. He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower her to wage war and battle against sin. He expects more than just surviving and holding one's head above water. He looks for victory in the supernatural realm. Paul's last instruction to the believers at Ephesus constrained them to put on the whole armor of God. Putting on the armor in Ephesians 6 is another way of saying "be conformed to the image of Christ." We do not fight the devil in our own strength by our own means and reasoning. We're not wrestling against other people, though battles appear to be just that. Behind every battle is a demon determined to undermine the soldier, the believer, who wars for and with God no matter how intense the warfare is.
To be a mature soldier in God's kingdom should be the objective and hunger toward which every believer strives. Children do not fight wars; men do. Men do not hold lollipops; they wield swords. They wear weighty armor. They train for battle through rigorous tests and drills. They leave worldly things behind in their one desire: Win the war. Advance the Kingdom. Rescue lost souls! Bring glory to Jesus!
It is a spiritual warfare not fought after earthly methods and with man-devised strategies. No, our battles are fought in the heavenlies, in prayer and in holy living that distinguishes between righteousness and evil, that obeys the Commander with every move, that denies self-comfort and ease, and suffers deprivation, if necessary, to gain a foothold against the enemy.
"Fight the good fight of faith! Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called..." Paul admonished younger Timothy.
It is of faith and by faith that soldiers of Jesus Christ wage their warfare.
Throughout the Bible, God gives us names and accounts of men and women "who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, received back their dead by resurrection; and others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment...were stoned, sawn in two, tempted, put to death with the sword, went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground." Only men and women of God wearing the armor of God endured such treatment with grace and victory.
God calls us today to put on the whole armor of God which is Christ Jesus. Be clothed in Him. Pledge your allegiance to Him. Take up arms and fight the good fight of faith! It is your privilege! It is your calling!