Ephesians 6:13

READY FOR SERVICE

‘Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’

Ephesians 6:13

Let me give you two watchwords

I. Put your armour on— all of it! It is not enough to know that God provides the armour—we must use it. We dare not go forth one single hour without it. There is a story of a Spartan soldier who went into battle without his armour and who was fined by the senate though he had been victorious. There are people who hope to go out and fight Satan and his angels who have not ‘proved’ their armour. Take, for example, the Sword—God’s Word. They cannot wield it; they use it clumsily; of course they do, they are not accustomed to handle it. They have Bibles, but they seldom or never look into them. Yet it is madness to dream of fighting without a sword. Imagine a soldier going into action who had not learned how to draw his sword from the scabbard.

II. Pray that you may have grace to stand firm!—‘Having done all, to stand!’ Standing firm is the beginning and end of every successful contest. It is the beginning. In the old Greek training-grounds, the first words of the trainer used to be ‘Stand firm!’ It is the attitude of readiness, of watchfulness, of resolution. A sloucher cannot fight. And it is the end. It is comparatively easy to drive back an enemy in the first rush; but the crucial test comes when soldiers are required to stand firm, and to hold their ground against an ever-returning, ever-increasing foe.

Rev. J. B. C. Murphy.