Light Saber Warfare

I lift my eyes toward the mountains, where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. – Psalm 121:1-2 (CSB)

My young granddaughter loved playing with toy light sabers. They were made of plastic and glowed a lovely shade of blue. I would stick mine out towards her and exclaim, “On guard!” She loved that part and giggled as she did the same. We would play-fight for a few minutes, then I had to say, “On guard,” again.

That was innocent child’s play, but real world spiritual warfare is definitely devoid of giggles. It’s serious and it’s all around us.

Every day, Christians encounter a fight for goodness versus evil, light against darkness. We are tempted by Satan in all the ways he knows we are weak. He is not omniscient as is our Lord, but we teach Satan our temptations through our actions. He loves to steal our joy, our time, our effectiveness, and our witness.

How do we fight the good fight and win? We have to choose our weapons carefully. We have to stay in God’s Word. In Ephesians 6:10-17, the apostle Paul writes about Christian warfare, telling us to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil. We should wear truth like a belt around our waist, righteousness to protect our chest, guarding our heart, and readiness for the Gospel of peace on our feet as our sandals. We should carry a shield of faith to extinguish flaming arrows from the evil one. He tells us to be sure to wear a helmet of salvation and carry a sword of the Spirit which Paul says is the Word of God. Then he tells us prayer is another weapon. We should pray when we are tempted and intercede for others (18). An attitude adjusting weapon is praise. Scripture tells us we need to praise the Lord in good times and when our lives are hard. Try singing or playing your favorite Christian song. It instantly lifts my spirit and redirects my attention. My heart follows even when it is focused in a dark place.

Scripture, prayer, and praise—is it really that simple? Fighting darkness isn’t simple like saying, “On guard,” and wielding plastic light sabers. But we have a God who loves to show us His strength when we are weak. He is more than capable, and we are more than conquerors when we have Him on our side. God never tempts us—that’s Satan. But God will give us a way out when we call on Him.

Question for Reflection:

Is taking the time to spend a few moments reading Scripture, praying, and praising God too difficult to do on a consistent basis? If so, please ask God to lead you to other areas of your life that you can either reduce or eliminate to free up more time spent with Him.