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Text: Ephesian 6:10-20(NIV)

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For 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. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor 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. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Discussion Questions

-Review verses 10-13. When are the times when you feel “strongest” in the Lord? What is it about those times that make you feel able to “stand against the Devil’s schemes?”

-The key term in verses 13 and 14 is “stand.” Apparently, we are not to run away from the Devil, but we also don’t go out looking for a fight. What does this concept tell us about how we win our spiritual battles?

-Describe how each of the following pieces of armor help you to stand firm against what the Devil wants for you:

-Re-read verses 18-20. Prayer is not included as a part of the “armor”, but Paul clearly intends for it to be part of his discussion on spiritual warfare. What do you think this says about the role of prayer in our warfare?

-Given what we are to pray for, is there anything about our lives that the Devil wouldn’t want to get his claws into? How can you practice this kind of prayer in your life?

This lesson looks at the classic passage on spiritual warfare, attempting to help people get a sense of what it means to be spiritually protected in a world where we are constantly at risk of attack by a devious and powerful enemy.

-Review verses 10-13. When are the times when you feel “strongest” in the Lord? What is it about those times that make you feel able to “stand against the Devil’s schemes?”

Just a discussion question to get the ball rolling. You may want to take note of some of the things that make people feel strong in the Lord to take their stand against the evil one, so you can re-state and affirm them if they come up in the rest of the discussion.

This is one of the key concepts in this passage on spiritual warfare. The imagery is that of a soldier standing strong against the onslaught of the enemy. We don’t have to be afraid of anything he has to throw at us, in fact fear is one of his greatest weapons. On the other hand, this is not necessarily a picture of going on the offensive to engage the enemy, either. At a practical level, this is a good picture of what it means to be “in the world, but not of the world.” We don’t have to hide from the enemy, holing ourselves up in our “holy huddles”, afraid that if we hang around the wrong people we might be vulnerable. On the other hand, we don’t deliberately put ourselves at risk unnecessarily by putting ourselves in situations where we might be strongly tempted to do the wrong things, for instance. The real key, of course, is to have your armor on which is what the next series of questions is all about.

-Describe how each of the following pieces of armor help you to stand firm against what the Devil wants for you:
Many sermons have been preached on each of these, of course, and a community group study could be devised for each of them as well. This, however, is designed to get a big picture of what it means to be spiritually protected, so just look for a basic understanding of each of these with at least some ideas for practical application.

One of the enemies’ best devices is to convince us that the revelation God has given us is not quite right, or perhaps not the only answer as to how to get right with God. Certainly there are some things about the practice of the Christian faith that are subject to different interpretations, but the absolute nature of the gospel: salvation by grace through faith in Jesus’ finished work for us on the cross, is something we can never waffle on.

It isn’t just what we believe that protects us, but also how we behave. Righteousness as spiritual armor reminds us that in the age of grace, right behavior is not something that we do to gain good standing with God, but something we do because it is dangerous to do otherwise. The enemy uses sin to destroy us, destroy our witness, and destroy our relationships, hence making us of little use for God in his kingdom mission.

This is the only time in Scripture that this phrase occurs. It reminds us that the good news is not just about getting saved, it is about reconciliation: the reconciliation between people and God that allows them to be reconciled to each other. Conflict in relationships creates openings for Satan to attack. There are many ways that Satan uses these situations to distract us from our relationship to God and draw us away from Him. Remind your group that earlier in Ephesians, Paul notes that staying angry is akin to “giving the Devil a foothold.” (4:26,27) At the very least we must be willing to forgive absolutely and unconditionally if we want to remain spiritually protected.

This is a picture of a water soaked shield that would extinguish flaming arrows when they hit. If we don’t believe that God is capable of protecting us, that lack of certainty will itself make us vulnerable. Remind your group of the other lessons in Ephesians that speak of how we have already been raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly realms. (2:6) Although in this world we can be hurt or sidelined by the Devil, if we know Christ Paul also considers us spiritually invulnerable. This has particular application to anyone who feels as if they have given in to Satan and blown it so bad that they may as well give in all the way from this point. That is one of Satan’s best tricks, and we need to continue in our faith that he has saved us and will always forgive us and welcome us back into full fellowship with him.

Obviously, there is no spiritual protection for those who are outside of Christ. Make note that this is the helmet, the protection of the head where your thought processes reside. To be saved by grace through faith is a conscious decision, a choice we must make. If any of your group has yet to have done that, encourage them to understand that perhaps the reason is that there is a spiritual enemy who doesn’t want them to. If they die never having put on their helmet, the enemy will have won the battle for all of eternity.

The bible is what will come to people’s minds, of course, and rightfully so, although this term can refer to any legitimate revelation by God through his prophets or Jesus Christ, who is the Word. We affirm, however, that what we know as the bible was supernaturally created by God as his ultimate revelation to us and guide for faith and life. Listening to sermons and going to bible studies is fantastic, but if we do not read the word, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it with great devotion we make ourselves vulnerable. You may want to remind your group of how Christ won his own battle with the Devil during his 40 days in the wilderness: by quoting Scripture.

Prayer is at the top of most people’s understanding as a weapon of spiritual warfare. Although it is not included as a piece of armor, Paul certainly makes sure it is part of this discussion on how to win battles against Satan. It could be that the reason it is not a part of the armor is that it is not so much a means of “taking your stand” as it is a means of going on the offensive. The fact that we are encouraged by Paul to pray for all the saints and for his mission is support for that view. The rest of the passage was really focused on individuals and how they stay strong. Although the list of things to pray for includes “all kinds of prayers and requests”, this is the one aspect of the discussion that puts our focus outward: on other Christians and on the mission of those who are out preaching the gospel.

-Given what we are to pray for, is there anything about our lives that the Devil wouldn’t want to get his claws into? How can you practice this kind of prayer in your life?

The list of prayer topics is exhaustive. Working backwards, it is for Paul’s mission, all the other saints, and oh-by-the-way, all kinds of prayers and requests on all kinds of occasions. Clearly, the spiritual battle we fight encompasses our entire lives and Satan will take advantage of every “chink in our armor” to compromise our relationship to God and effectiveness for Him as His warriors. We must be constantly vigilant in every aspect that is discussed here and never let our guard down. The admonition here is to pray “in the Spirit.” This hearkens back to the discussion on being “filled with the Spirit” in chapter 5, which is affirmed by Paul as being an ongoing activity in our lives. How can we make prayer not just a single event in our day, but an ongoing conversational relationship with God? Perhaps that is the most powerful way that we can keep our armor on all the time.