Spiritual warfare (podcast) (Ephesians 6:10–17)

What is spiritual warfare? What are we fighting? How does God fight evil?

What is God’s armour? When did God use armour? How does that train us to use God’s armour?

This podcast (29 minutes) was recorded at Riverview Church (Burswood, Western Australia) 2023-02-12.  It’s also on Youtube.

https://allenbrowneblog.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/spiritualwarefare_eph6__allenbrowne.mp3

Texts

Isaiah 59:15–17 (NIV)
¹⁵ Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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.

Ephesians 6:10–17 (NIV)
¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² 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. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armour 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. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Matthew 3 – 4 (NIV)
3 ¹ In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord. ’” …
¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
4 ¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. …
⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Related posts

• The armour of God (Eph 6:10-17)
• When did God wear armour? (Eph 6:11)
• Using God’s armour (Eph 6:13-17)
• The gospel of peace (Eph 6:15)
• Sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17)
• No place for the devil (Eph 4:27)

Alternative: For all of those combined, download the PDF commentary on Ephesians from this link.