The Weapons We Fight With

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:4

What are the weapons of the world?

The world fights with with weapons crafted for worldly battles. Victory in the world is defined by winning; beating the competition; dog-eat-dog. The most obvious example is the business world. But more subtle and destructive to our souls are demonic spiritual weapons: self-interest, pride, greed, control, anger, jealousy, power, justice, religion. Maybe you’ve not thought of these as weapons, but the enemy uses them skillfully and deceives us into using them as well.

It’s important to understand that as our relationship with Christ matures the enemy has to get more creative and subtle in ways to deceive us. More and more he uses our “righteousness” against us by deceiving us into believing that good and righteous thoughts, acts and virtues are more important than people. Good and righteous thoughts, acts and virtues are important! That’s the point. What the enemy does is twist the truth and try to make us believe they are the most important. When we begin believing this, our righteousness begins to turn into religion and not love. Love is selfless.

Our defensive stance

Some view Ephesians 6 (putting on our armor) as our weapons. I believe the Apostle Paul is describing a defensive posture. Notice how often he exhorts us to stand or put something on:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Therefore 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:10-18

Scripture assures us of our identity in Christ: we’re born again, we’re a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old has gone the new is here, we are now seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, etc., etc. Over and over God is telling us we are not of this world. We are spiritual beings living in an earthly tent. We are still tempted to live out of that old flesh nature but, nonetheless, we are new in the Spirit of Christ. Believing who we are in Christ and standing in it firmly is not passive. It’s an active, powerful and protective stance.

What are our weapons?

Our weapons are offensive and powerful. They’re offensive in that they demolish the enemies weapons. See our weapons compared to the enemy’s:

Does this look like a list you or I would come up with if we were going to battle? Submission? Humiliation? Forgiveness? Confession? It looks curiously…passive, but these are the weapons our Lord Jesus used to defeat Satan. Note: Jesus was never guilty of anything, but he felt guilt and condemnation.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Hebrews 4:15

These weapons will give us victory as well. When we actively employ them they demolish strongholds and bring freedom. The key is being alert to the temptations to use worldly weapons, and choosing our weapons instead. Now, we can’t do this. Apart from Christ we can do nothing. We need Christ in us to do it which means asking Him to do it in us and being willing when he says “submit”, or “let it go”, or “forgive”, etc. Our battle is not fighting with our might to do the right thing. Our battle is in surrendering to Jesus who lives in us. This is the narrow road that Jesus modeled for us. It’s very important that we know experientially, deep in our being, our identity in Christ. When we choose to fight with worldly weapons we demonstrate unbelief in Christ in us. The basis of all sin, including shame, retaliation, hatred, control, greed, entitlement, idolatry, fear and pride is unbelief.

Satan’s plan is really very simple – no matter how many ways or forms he uses, his weapon against the believer is always a lie or a deception/distortion of our identity in Christ. To the unbeliever it’s a lie or a deception/distortion of the truth of Christ. His objective is to appeal to the flesh. If he can deceive us that we are unlovable, forsaken, forgotten, or entitled, we can easily choose worldly weapons rather than divine spiritual weapons. This is what the apostle Paul was describing about taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It’s an active, moment by moment, discerning of whether a thought is from the Holy Spirit, or the devil, or our flesh.

As we allow Jesus to have His way in us, painful as it is (crucifying the flesh hurts), we begin to discover our true selves and the joy of Christ (not the same as happiness). We begin living in and with Christ, participating in the Kingdom, and winning the battles that are the most important.