The Place to Be #26

Ephesians 5:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 

Having presented his big picture of the church as a unified body in Christ, and addressing them jointly and by various representative groups to do their part in maintaining that unity, Paul now gets to the core issue: their church was under spiritual attack.  They needed to depend upon Christ's strength to ward off the attack and protect against the devil's invasion.  The enemy was not their fellow believers, their spouse, or their boss; the Enemy was intensely evil, invisible, and intent on distracting, defeating, and disabling them from what God had called them to do.  He is still doing the same thing today.  We must make the same commitment, in dependence upon Christ, to stand together to fight and win the battle, every day.