God's Battle, Not Ours - Ephesians 6:10

BY D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

‘Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’ Ephesians 6:10

In our last study we considered something of the content of the expression ‘the power of his might’. The next question that arises is: How exactly are we related to all this power and might? It is one thing to remind ourselves of our Lord’s almightiness, of the glorious power that resides in Him, and that He has triumphed over all; but how is that related to me, how does that help me, how does that avail me in my own personal problem and conflict and wrestling with these powers and forces that are set against me? This is what we must now proceed to consider.

The first thing we must ever remember is that the Lord Jesus Christ is what the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls ‘the Captain of our Salvation’. In the second chapter of that Epistle verse 10 we read, ‘For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings’. We meet the same idea in the second verse of the twelfth chapter also, where we find, ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith’. He is a kind of File-Leader, the Originator, the One who continues to lead - ‘the author and the finisher of our faith’.

That is the first thing we have to realize. In other words, we must have a true conception of this salvation which we are enjoying. The danger, always, is to look at it in a purely personal and subjective manner. That, of course, is essential. There are some people who never realize the personal side, and they are equally wrong. But it is wrong to go to either of these extremes. The danger, so often, is that we think of the Christian life as something that we have to do. I am about to emphasize that we have a great deal to do; but before we come to that we must never lose sight of the fact that salvation is primarily of God. It is God’s great plan, it is God’s scheme. It is something that God is doing. It is something that God has planned and originated. He has initiated the movement and He is carrying it on. This is a fundamental principle of our faith. God is involved in this question of our salvation much more than we are ourselves. We so often tend to think of it as primarily something which we have to do, and that we only turn to God for help occasionally. But that is to put things the wrong way round. Salvation is God’s plan and we are simply brought into it. We are never to forget that we are individual units in a great army. We are not fighting some personal, private war. That is not the position at all. We are simply individual soldiers in a great army which is fighting a great campaign. In other words, the real, the ultimate issue is not so much my fight with the devil, as God’s fight with the devil. That is the way to look at it.

To look at the matter in this way immediately gives you great strength. Take the obvious analogy. The private soldier in the ranks or in the trenches during a great battle in a great war is not fighting a private battle, he is not there because he has some personal quarrel. He is just a unit in a great campaign. He does not decide the strategy, he does not even decide the tactics. All that is in other hands. He is in it, he has been called into it, he has been put into his position; but it is not his battle. It is the battle of the King or the Queen or the country, and there is a General commanding and controlling the activities of the army and directing the fight. Now that is the idea that is taught everywhere in the New Testament; and I know of nothing that is more comforting and solacing, more encouraging and uplifting, than the inward realization of it. If I may borrow a phrase that is used in the Old Testament in connection with King Jehoshaphat: ‘The battle is not yours, but the Lord’s’. This did not mean that he, Jehoshaphat, had nothing to do; but he was being reminded that what he was involved in was not some purely personal matter, but rather God’s. All the battles of Israel, if they could have seen it, were not their battles, they were the battles of the Lord. They were involved because they were His people. Their main trouble was that they always tended to forget the Lord and to regard matters as their own battle and their own problem. So they indulged in their politics and in their alliances with Egypt and so on, and found themselves in trouble. If they had only realized that they were fighting the battle of the Lord the entire position would have been transformed. That is the first principle which we must always grasp - ‘The Captain of your salvation’; ‘the battle is the Lord’s’. Or look at that other astounding phrase used in the tenth verse of the second chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘It became him’ - that is, God–‘in leading many sons unto glory’. It is He who is doing the leading. You and I are not fighting an individual battle trying to get salvation. It is God who is bringing us to glory. It is His scheme, it is His plan. It is something that He is doing. It is not ours primarily. ‘It became him in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation’ - He was appointed a Leader, a Captain - ‘perfect through sufferings’. Take note of the expression, ‘It became God’. In other words, this is God’s method, this is God’s plan. The moment we realize this truth, the whole position becomes immediately transformed.

Think of soldiers in an army fighting in their little sector. They are being hard-pressed and things are going against them. If they think that it is just their own private fight they will soon be defeated. But when they remember that they are only a part of a great and mighty army, and that at the back of it all, and directing it, is the Captain, their Leader, immediately the situation is entirely transformed. In other words we have got to realize as we fight this fight of faith and wrestle with these principalities and powers and face the assaults of the world and the flesh and the devil, that God is involved in it with us. We would never have been in it but for that. The ultimate battle is the battle between God and the devil, between heaven and hell, between light and darkness. That in turn should make us realize a further truth, that this campaign cannot fail, because God’s honour is involved in it. Lift up your minds and your hearts in the thick of the battle and call this to mind. You see the might and the power of the enemy and you are conscious of your own weakness. But say to yourselves, ‘This is God’s battle, we are given the privilege of being in it and of fighting as individual soldiers, but God’s honour is involved in it all. He cannot allow this to fail because His character, His glory, and His honour are involved at every point.’ ‘Be strong in the Lord’; remember that He is there, and that it is His battle. This cannot be emphasized too much. It is the theme of the Bible from the beginning of Genesis. God made a perfect world. The devil comes in, the woman and the man listen to him, and fall, and the devil becomes ‘the god of this world’. But it is not left at that. God did not turn to the man and to the woman and say, ‘Very well, because of your rebellion and your folly and your sin you have brought all this on yourselves. Now get on with it. You have brought it on yourselves, so you will have to fight for the rest of your lives against this evil power that has mastered you’. That is not what He said. He did say that there would be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That is the wrestling, the conflict. But He did not stop at that, He gave a promise–‘the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head’. He is involved because it is His world and they are His people. He is not going to allow the devil to defeat Him. God cannot allow the Evil One to mar His great work finally. Of course not! So God gives His promise about the seed of the woman that is going to bruise the serpent’s head. God is involving Himself in the conflict. The whole movement of salvation is for God’s glory; not simply for our deliverance, but for God’s glory primarily. Our deliverance is only one expression of this glory and honour for the great Name of God. That is one of the reasons why Paul says, ‘Be strong in the Lord’. Let us realize this! Get rid of the notion that it is just a little private battle that you are waging on your own: ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might’.

But we must go further. That is the starting point, and I am loath to leave it for the reason that I know how ready we are to forget it. We are so subjective, and we live in this unhealthy ‘psychological’ gener- ation that starts with man and ends with man. Most of our troubles are due to that. We are always looking inwards and pitying ourselves and being sorry for ourselves, and looking for something to help us. Get rid of that outlook, forget yourself for a moment; the battle is the Lord’s! Salvation is His. It is for the honour of His great and holy Name. But go further and realize that because it is God’s battle this almighty power is being exercised on our behalf even when we do not realize it. Things are being done in this great campaign of which we are not aware. We may perhaps be half-asleep at our post, and we do not realize that the great Captain is planning something with respect to us. We are unconscious of it. But that does not matter. Thank God that He does it though we are unconscious of it. We would all be lost were it not for that. He, I say, is exercising this power on our behalf. The Scriptures are full of this teaching; and what we really need is to know our Scriptures. Later on we shall be reminded that ‘The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God’. Exactly! Take Psalm 34, verse 7: ‘The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them’. You think that you are doing it all yourself; but ‘the angel of the Lord’ is encamping round about you. He is a very powerful angel. He has great might and power, and he is encamping round about them that fear him. Even when we are asleep he is there, he is always on guard. He is watching because we are God’s people, and God’s honour is involved in what happens to us.

Listen to Psalm 91: ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty’ (v. 1). What a place to be in! Have you seen little chicks at the approach of danger rushing to the hen? She just spreads her wings and under they go. ‘Under the shadow of the Almighty’! That is true of all who are Christians. ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might’. Do not forget those wings! You shall ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty’. I am simply selecting certain great words. Note how our Lord states the matter in John 10: ‘No man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand’ (v. 29). What a comfort! What a consolation! No man shall be able to pluck them, God’s people, Christ’s people, out of God’s hand. It is strong, it is almighty. Let man, let the devil and hell do what they will, it is impossible. Again, the Apostle Paul says in writing to the Romans, that he is ‘persuaded’ - he is absolutely certain, there is no doubt about it– ‘that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’. Our foes will try, they will do their utmost, and there will be times when we, in our folly, will begin to think that we have been separated, that we are cut off, and that there is no way of release and no way of escape. But it will never happen. ‘Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’. Why? For the reason that, if anything could separate us, God would be defeated, and the devil would be triumphant. Such a calamity cannot happen! To believe in the possibility of ‘falling from grace’ is to believe in the possible defeat of God by the devil. That is unthinkable and utterly impossible. The final perseverance of the saints is of necessity true in view of the glory and the character and the honour of God Himself. ‘Ah but’, you say, ‘this leads to danger; for a person will say, “I can do what I like”.’ No! the more you realize this great truth the more careful you will be. This is the truth that makes people keep to the narrow path - the realization that the honour of God is involved, and that I am not fighting my own battle, that if I fail the Name of God Himself is involved in it.

So there is no danger of Antinomianism when you truly understand the doctrine. It is the scriptural doctrine. All this means in practice, of course, that God cares for us, and that His care for us is greater than we will ever realize in this world. Scripture is full of this teaching. Our Lord Himself was constantly teaching it. He said that God cares for the sparrows: ‘Are not two sparro ws sold for a farthing? Yet not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father.’ Oh how much greater is His concern for you! If God so clothes the lilies, if God is so concerned about the birds of the air, ‘how much more’ . . . There is no need to go any further. ‘How much more’ - of course! He has brought us into His plan, He is concerned about us, He is interested in us–‘the very hairs of our head are all numbered’. That shows His care. It is He who is really doing it; and we must never lose sight of this. Similarly the same Apostle is able to say in the Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6, ‘Being confident of this very thing’. Do not forget the context of that statement. Here was the Apostle in prison, and he does not know how much longer he has to live. He is in the hands of the capricious emperor Nero who may suddenly decide, on a whim, to put him to death. He does not know; he may be killed at any moment. He knows, furthermore, that there were troubles in the churches, even trouble in the church at Philippi. Yet he says, ‘Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ’. Old, ill, in prison, on the verge of death, leaving everything, is he troubled? Not at all; he is confident. Because ‘He [God] which hath begun a good work in you will perform it [He will go on with it] until [the end, the consummation] the day of Jesus Christ’.

But this truth is not confined to the teaching of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Peter says exactly the same thing in his first Epistle chapter 1, verse 5. Referring to the Christians he says: ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’. What could be stronger? We are kept by the power of God! ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might’. Such is the power that is keeping us. Then one other word, which we so sadly neglect as Christian people - the ministry of the angels! Again go back to the Epistle to the Hebrews. What are these angels? Christ is greater than the angels, ‘but what are the angels? The answer is, ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?’ That is, for Christian people. We are ‘the heirs of salvation’. And the teaching is that God uses these mighty angels whom He has created, in order that they might minister unto us. We are ignorant of this ministry, we forget it; but thank God that makes no difference. He has appointed them to their tasks and they perform them. They do His will, they are ministering spirits; and their work is to minister to us, because we are the heirs of salvation. Our position is this: we are comparable to the children of some great squire, some lord who has a great estate. He has a son and heir who one day is going to inherit all. But the son is now a babe or but a boy. What does this great man do? He appoints servants who look after this child; he pays them to do so and tells them what to do to pro tect the child from harm, to prevent his doing things that would injure him, to instruct him and to guide him.

That is what the angels do. They are round and about us, though we do not see them. How foolish it is of us to neglect this teaching that is given in the Scriptures! ‘In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven’, says our Lord Himself about little children (Matthew 18:10). It is exactly the same teaching. The reason why we are so often in trouble, and why we become despondent, and why the devil defeats us, is that we forget these things. We forget that we are being ‘ministered unto’ by these angelic powers, these good angels created by God largely for this purpose. Such then are some of the ways in which we must realize that this almighty power is working for us. All this, so far, is outside us, round and about us - the angel of the Lord ‘encamping’, the angels ministering, God exercising this care and this power for our welfare. This is a part of being ‘strong in the Lord’. We must realize that this is the way to be strong, to know always what is taking place. We must have confidence in the Author of our salvation, confidence in the One who has initiated the whole campaign and whose Son is involved in it all. But we can go even further. This power is also working, not only round and about us, but in us. And this makes it still more wonderful. This aspect of the matter has already been given a good deal of attention by the Apostle, but it can never be repeated too frequently. Some of the most glorious things in the whole of Scripture are said with res- pect to this matter. To start with, we would never have been in the Christian life at all were it not that this power of God had begun to work in us. That is stated clearly at the beginning of the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians: ‘You hath he quickened, who weredead’ - dead!–‘in trespasses and sins’. And in order to impress it upon them he repeats it again in verse 5: ‘Even when we were dead in sins, hath [he] quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)’. That is the origin of it all. No-one ever becomes a Christian except as the result of the working of the almighty power of God within him.

No man, as he is, can decide to accept Christ, for he is ‘dead’! spiritually dead! And in addition, and as a result of that, as the Apostle has reminded us in chapter 4, verses 17 and 18: ‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart’. These words describe man by nature. ‘The natural mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Romans 8:7). The natural man can do nothing, he is utterly helpless, spiritually dead. What makes us Christians? He hath ‘quickened us’. He has done it by His power, the power of the Spirit. What brings us into salvation is that the Spirit of God begins to work in us and to act upon us, to convict us of sin, to open our eyes. He does it all–‘by grace ye are saved’. It is ‘the power of God unto salvation’. And there would be no hope for anyone but for this. It starts in that way by the power of God working in us and bringing us to a knowledge of salvation.

But he does not merely start it, He goes on with the work. This is the ultimate comfort and consolation. Look at the way in which the Apostle puts it in his first chapter. He starts with this great truth in chapter 1. Then, as is so often his habit, he interrupts his line of tho- ught by working out some subsidiary point and then takes up again the original matter. That is exactly what he does in chapters 1 and 2 of this Epistle. Chapter 2 in many ways is a kind of digression to elaborate the point that he hinted at in the first chapter. The Apostle is writing to these Ephesians and he thanks God for them. He tells them that he is praying for them, ‘that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Fat her of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened’. What for? ‘That you may know what is the hope of his calling’ - what His ultimate purpose for you is–‘and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints’. Look ahead, he says, look forw- ard, see what His inheritance in the saints is, as well as your inher- itance. But more: ‘And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe’. He says in effect; I am praying that you may have understanding, that you may know the exceeding greatness of this power of God which is working to us-ward who believe - ‘according to the working of his mighty power’. Notice how he brings out his adjectives, how he piles one superlative upon another because there is no limit to the power and the might of God.

But he adds, What I am praying for, is that you may know that all this great power is working toward you, it is working in you, it is working for your good, if you could but realize it. Now this is what we need to pray for ourselves. We need this enlightenment, we need this understanding. If you only knew God’s purpose with respect to yourself, and that He is working in you to bring this to pass, and what His ultimate objective for you is, your whole outlook would be revolutionized. But the Apostle returns to it again in chapter 3. He is once more praying for them. Look at verse 13, which is an introduction: ‘Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory’. These Ephesians, like so many other early Christians, we- re in grave danger of depending too much upon the Apostle Paul. He had preached the Gospel to them, and they had been converted under his ministry. Now he is in prison and is ill, and is becoming old, and they say, What shall we do if Paul goes? To whom shall we be able to write? from whom shall we get advice and help? If Paul goes, we are undone. Such were their feelings. But he says, ‘I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man’. The power of the Spirit within the inner man! ‘The exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe!’ It works in the inner man and it strengthens the inner man. You need not faint, says Paul; it matters not what happens to me, the salvation goes on, because it is His power, not mine. I am a mere instrument, just a little servant running here and there to give a message along the trenches. But when I have gone He will carry on His work, He has other servants, He will produce other men. Go on! It is His power you need, and you have got it in the inner man, and I am praying that you may have it more and more. Then he comes back to his theme again in verse 20: ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.’ It is working in us, and it is a power which is measured in these terms - ‘exceeding abundantly’. Work out these words for yourselves! They imply that Paul has come to the limits of language. He was fond of superlatives. You must be when you are talking about God; nothing but superlatives will do. But even they are inadequate.

It is all entirely ‘above all that we ask or think’. Even imagination fails, everything fails. The theme is altogether above it all. ‘According to the power that worketh in us.’ It is not only working round and about you, it is working in you. In the believer! ‘According to the power that worketh in us.’ But consider also statements found elsewhere in Scripture in order that we may never fall into a fainting, hopeless condition again. I have already quoted from Philippians chapter 2, but let us go back to verses 12 and 13: ‘Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.’ It does not matter whether Paul is there or not. They thought it did; but it was not so–‘much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.’ His power is working in us. This is the power that, suddenly, when you are doing something quite different, turns your mind to the Lord; this is the power that works in us and makes us desire to pray. What made you feel that suddenly? You do not know. But the answer is - the Spirit! His is the power that is at work in you; it is there the whole time. Thank God it is! How hopeless we would be but for this!

He brings us back, reminds us, calls us to the Word, calls us to prayer, calls us to service, calls us to some duty - ‘it is God that worketh in you’. This energy, this power, ‘the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe’! Another wonderful statement of it is found in Colossians 1:29. Here the Apostle is describing himself as a preacher. ‘Whereunto’ he says, ‘I also labour, striving according to his working.’ The Apostle is striving, but he is striving ‘according to his working’. You see, he does strive. I shall deal with this question of the balance later on, bec- ause so many go wrong there, but I am now emphasizing God’s pow- er. ‘Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily’, says the Apostle. What was Paul doing? ‘Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: wher- eunto [to this end] I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.’ He was aware of the power working within him. There is no higher or more glorious experience than that. You feel that you are just looking on. It is not you; you are being used. It is He who is doing it, and you are almost a spectator.

This is the language the Apostle always uses. In writing to the Thessalonians in his first Epistle, chapter 1, verse 5, he says. ‘Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.’ He knew it; he was conscious that the Spirit was working mightily and overwhelmingly in him. And it is the same power that is in us, that is working in us, and working mightily. The Apostle John has the same teaching in his first Epistle, chapter 4, verses 4-6: ‘Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them’ [the antichrists]: Why? ‘because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.’ Then in the last chapter of the First Epistle of John, in verses 18 and 19: ‘We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not’ - that is to say, he does not go on, he does not habitually sin–‘but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself’ - which the authorities tend to agree means that he is kept by God–‘and that wicked one toucheth him not’. The devil can shout at you, he can make you tremble, but he cannot touch you. ‘We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one’ - in his embrace and in his clutches. We are not there; we have been taken from him. We are ‘of God’, and that is why the devil cannot touch us. He can molest us and try to frighten us, but he will never get us back into his embrace again, for that is impossible. ‘We are of God’, we are ‘safe in the arms of Jesus’, we are in the arms of God, the everlasting arms are underneath and round about us. ‘We are of God, and that evil one toucheth us not.’ He will never touch us; he cannot do so. We have been taken out of his realm, ‘translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son’. Finally, let us look at it thus. This power works in us. But then it is put in another way, for the whole doctrine of the Church is involved in this matter. What is the Church? Let me remind you of the teaching in this Epistle. The Apostle gives us a hint in chapter 1. He talks about this ‘power that worketh in us’. It is the power ‘which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church - [that is where we come in] - which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all’.

The Church is the body of Christ, and the Head of the body is Christ Himself. But let us go to the elaboration of this truth in chapter 4, especially in verses 15 and 16: ‘But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.’ That means that Christ is the Head and we are the parts, individual parts and portions of the body. But every single part and portion of the body derives its strength and its nutriment from the Head. I am not an isolated unit, I am not just mechanically attached. The blood that supplies the head goes through the little finger, and all the nervous energy and the power comes from the head. We are ultimately related to the Head and to each other through these joints and ligaments and these means of communication. Paul is saying that the power that is in the Head is working also in all the members of the body. The energy in us is His energy. This is the power that worketh in us mightily. Work it out also in terms of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That is why in chapter 5, verse 18, Paul says this to us: ‘And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit’, with all the power of the blessed Holy Spirit Himself. In addition we have His companionship - ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship [the communion] of the Holy Spirit’. The Spirit is in us: ‘He shall be in you’, says Christ in John 14 to the disciples who had become disconsolate because of His departure. ‘I will send you ano ther Comforter. He will not only be with you, He will be in you.’ And so it is. He is with us and in us - the companionship, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit working as a power within us. Moreover, as Paul says in Romans 8, verses 25, 26 and 27: the Spirit even ‘maketh intercess- ion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered’. When we are so hard pressed that we know not what to pray for as we ought, ‘the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered’. He stimulates prayer, causing us to ejaculate some petition, not always understanding what we are saying. But it is He who is doing it, and working in us. This power of the Lord is not only round and about us, and not only caring for us and planning for us, but it is in us. ‘The exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward that believe.’ We are wrestling ‘not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’; we are fighting and having to stand against the devil. So let us ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might’. Remember the energy and the power that is working in us, and remember that it is invincible because it is His. Let the devil and all his powers come, we can ‘Stand in His great might, with all His strength endued’.