Cheap Gimmicks Will Not Work in Spiritual Warfare

Can we please take the Christian life a little more seriously than this?

Faith is not a breath spray. It is a piece of spiritual armor! When Satan and his angels press their spiritual attack, I need more than minty-fresh breath. I need a shield.

“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” (Eph. 6:12).

When those spiritual forces presses their attacks, my faith—my trust and total reliance upon Jesus Christ—serves to protect me as a shield. I am protected by my confidence in the power and victory Christ has secured for me.  When I take up the shield of faith, I am able to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (v. 16), because I am holding up my unshakable belief in the truth of Christ and who I am in Christ.

Satan and the spiritual forces of evil will attack—and they will attack subtly by diminishing the reality of the battle and the power of biblical faith. He does it with things like “Believe in God” breath spray. The folks behind this may be well-meaning, but I see nothing more than a financial play for the money of gullible believers or the spiritually minded.

They may be after our dollars, but Satan is after our faith. He wants to reduce confidence in God to nothing more than confidence that our breath smells good. Confidence in God has been reduced to confidence in our breath—which simply translates into confidence in ourselves. And that’s dangerous.

Faith is part of the spiritual armor we need, but even the armor has been reduced to a gimmick to secure our money. Parents can even buy a plastic spiritual armor playset.

Oh, sure, it’s meant to teach junior about the spiritual armor, but kids are concrete thinkers. They take things literally, and they will equate the helmet of salvation with something you literally put on your head! And, parents, how do you teach them the armor is symbolic of what God gives us to battle the spiritual forces of darkness? C’mon, we know what kids are going to do with this: they’re going to fight each other!

Maybe this is the modern-day version of playing Cowboys and Indians. “It’s your turn to be Satan! I was Satan last time. It’s my turn to smite you with the sword of the Spirit!”

Yeah, you’re right. I have issues with products like these. We have taken the incredible gifts God has given us—righteousness, truth, the gospel, salvation, faith, His Word—and reduced them to cheap imitations for a buck.

In light of the battle believers are in, I’m sure Satan is quite happy with the way faith has been reduced to a gimmick. I can’t help but wonder what God thinks.

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This post supports the study “Battle Armor” in Bible Studies for Life.