General Douglas McArthur said, “It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win.” Our stance in this spiritual conflict is that we intend – no, we expect – to win. We are aggressively pursuing the gates of hell, knowing that they will not be able to withstand our offensive attack against them. (Matthew 16:18) We aggressively defy the enemy, knowing that he – and never us – will have to back down and even run away. (James 4:7)
Paul’s fifth area of attention when discussing this offensive stance we are to take is that we be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. (verse 5:18)
We must never give ourselves over to other influences such as alcohol, drugs, hypnotism, or cultish religion that dull our own control. We must always stay in the place of control of our own will, understanding, and movement. If we are walking circumspectly and fulfilling the will of God, we must have an understanding, aggressive movement. In the place of other influences, we must be filled with (or under the full control and direction of) the Holy Spirit.
The sixth area of focus is praise and worship.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. (verse 5:19)
James 1:2-4 tells us to react with joy when temptation comes.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul made a similar statement when he talked about tribulation. Not only do we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope. (Romans 5:2-4)
From these verses, it is easy to see that these great apostles of the faith didn’t count temptation and troubles as occasions for discouragement. Rather, temptation was an occasion for praising the Lord. Joy and rejoicing were their responses when Satan tried to get them down. They knew that they needed strength, and it is likely that they remembered that Nehemiah had said, The joy of the Lord is your strength. (verse 8:10) When he and Silas were in the Philippian jail in Acts chapter sixteen, Paul proved that joy rather than discouragement was the better response to trouble. They had been beaten, imprisoned, and held in chains. At midnight, when everything was the darkest, they were singing and praising God. Through their praises, an earthquake delivered them from the jail. These apostles could rejoice and praise God through their troubles because they saw that the final result of all soulical temptation and physical tribulation is a stronger spiritual character. James claimed that the final result was wanting nothing (verse 1:4), and Paul said that it was having nothing to make us ashamed (Romans 5:5). These apostles saw that not only does the believer need to praise God during temptation and look for God to work out a stronger spiritual character, but they saw that the believer needs to stand on “his own two feet,” so to speak, during these temptations.
Paul called for Christians to put on the whole armor of God to be able to stand against temptation. (verse 6:11-14) James called for the believers to submit to God, resist the devil, and then draw near to God. (verse 4:7‑8) How beautifully these apostles sandwiched the believers’ fight against the devil between statements about living close to God. They both encouraged us to fight the devil from a place of protection in the Lord. We are to stand on “our own two feet,” but on ground that has been established by Christ. Paul emphasized this point when he said, Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (I Corinthians 10:12) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (I Corinthians 10:13) If we try to stand alone, we will fall. But if we stand in Christ, we will always be able to match the temptations and have praise to utter during the conquest.
If Rule Number One of enduring temptation is to praise the Lord, then Rule Number Two is to get close to Jesus while fighting the devil. Peter and the author of Hebrews also agreed with this second rule. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. (II Peter 2:9) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)
Troubles are a part of the walk of a believer. Paul reminded the Galatians that walking in the Spirit meant constantly encountering and overcoming temptation. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (Galatians 5:16-18)
James added a new “beatitude” – that of enduring temptation. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12)
Even Jesus was tempted.
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered…And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. (Luke 4:1-2, 13-14)
What a beautiful difference Luke describes in Jesus’ life as a result of His enduring temptation, from being filled with the Holy Spirit to being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Having this kind of end result for overcoming temptation makes it easy to praise God and stand with Christ while the devil tempts. When we understand that, while we are in the middle of spiritual warfare, we can praise God, we are able to draw ourselves into a place where we come out on the other side with a stronger stance, a purer life, and a closer relationship with Jesus. We can then rejoice and not be upset because we are in a trial – not joyful that we are in the struggle, but joyous that there is a better prize set for us when we come to the other side.
Praising God is an absolute necessity to being an overcomer. Praise is an actual form of warfare. When we praise God, we establish a place for the presence of the Lord. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3) Joy is inherent in the presence of God. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11) Where the joy of the Lord is, there is strength. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) From the strength that we receive from the Lord as a result of the joy, we know that I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13) Our praise establishes the presence, which brings the joy, which produces the strength with the end result that we are victorious in all things. Praise warfare is a very important key that we must have. With this key, we can go into spiritual warfare with a totally victorious attitude. Praise is not only the propelling force to get us through the battle; it also establishes strength in our lives during the conflict.
Second Chronicles chapter twenty tells the familiar story of Jehoshaphat. The armies of the enemies were approaching, and Jehoshaphat’s forces were far outnumbered; so, the king declared a fast and sought the Lord for His intervention. The Lord answered, Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. (verse 17) Then all the people of Israel worshipped the Lord. (verse 18)
God called them to the same revelation that He gave us in Ephesians chapter six concerning spiritual warfare. The verbs Paul uses are not verbs of struggle, but of standing in position with our authority, realizing that Christ has spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly (Colossians 2:15) and now He is seated far above them (Ephesians 1:20-21) – and, best of all, we are accompanying Him in that position of dominion (verse 2:6). God told Jehoshaphat to stand still because the battle was the Lord’s; that is exactly what Paul was telling us in the book of Ephesians (verses 6:11, 14) – stand still and accept the victory that has already been won for us.
Worship is an important element in bringing us into victorious spiritual warfare. Jehoshaphat …appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. (verse 21) Even though Jehoshaphat knew that praise and worship would be the important elements to win the victory, he did have his army dressed in battle array, ready for combat. Likewise, Paul tells us to take on the whole armour of God. (verses 6:11, 13) We are not to act like there isn’t a battle – we get dressed for the battle even though we know that God will do the fighting.
And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD. (verses 22-28)
James told us to count it all joy, not because we are to have the struggle but because we will come out from the struggle stronger than when we went in. (verses 1:2-4) When Jehoshaphat’s army went out to fight the battle, they did not have the three days’ worth of loot and booty in their hands that they eventually ended up with. They came into the battle with a genuine concern on their hearts. But they sought God until they finally came to the place where they could worship God, have faith in God, and draw nigh to God; then they used their praise to propel their spiritual weapons forward as they went into the battle. Instead of losing their houses, land, and families, they returned home with so much treasure that it took them three days to gather it all up. They came back better than when they went out to fight. James tells us that when we come to the temptation or trial, we must come to it with rejoicing because we know that on the other side we will be better off for having faced the conflict; Paul assures us that we will not be ashamed. (Romans 5:1-5) Jehoshaphat’s army came back full of rejoicing not only because their enemy had been defeated but also because they came back to Jerusalem with great wealth.
There is a victory that we will establish when we do warfare through praise. For Jehoshaphat, there was a battle, there was a struggle, and there was warfare; however, he only had to stand and watch it happen! He simply observed the battle from his position of authority. Jehoshaphat came home that day as more than a conqueror. He did not have to fight the battle; he just reached out and took the reward from the battle.
Let me stress one important fact concerning Jehoshaphat’s victory – it was manifested through praise, but the praise was established on the covenant relationship that Israel had with God. Notice that before Jehoshaphat commissioned the praisers, he reviewed and re-affirmed that covenant. It was only after he knew for certain God’s promise and commitment to be Israel’s defender that he was ready to rejoice. After purifying himself and his nation, Jehoshaphat was assured that they were in the right spiritual relationship to expect those covenant benefits. At that point, he was so full of faith that he called the army’s accompanying band to begin to play the victor’s march that they normally reserved for the march home after a victorious campaign. To Jehoshaphat, the victory had already been won; therefore, he didn’t have to wait to see the final score; he could sing the triumphant song in advance! The power of his praise was based on the power of his faith in his covenant. So it is with us – we must be grounded in the foundational truths Paul is explaining if we are to see victory.
When Jehoshaphat put the praise singers in front of the army, they were not equipped with shields, swords, helmets, and breastplates. They went forth as a choir. Before we get to the place of finally, my brethren and take up the shield, sword, helmet, and breastplate, we must come into praise, singing, and worship. Perhaps there is some symbolism in the fact that Moses numbered the warriors from twenty years old (Numbers 1:3), but he numbered the Levites, the priestly tribe, from one month old (Numbers 3:28). I think that this census tells us that we are to begin to serve in our worship relationship and in our priestly role the moment we are born again. The warrior position is something that we grow into, but we are to begin our role of worshiping and praising immediately.
The power of a song or a jingle is tremendous. It has the ability to get into our subconscious mind and demand to be heard over and over and over. We use the term “earworm” to refer to these little songs that we just can’t get out of our heads. I understand that Walt Disney’s “It’s a Small World” is considered to be the most difficult earworm to overcome. It is because of this kind of overwhelming force that jingles and songs can have that companies are willing to spend millions of dollars to get the right jingle to advertise their products. God wants to use exactly the same principle to get His victorious Word inside us through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The scripture tells us to meditate on the Word – a term that means mutter it over and over and repeat it inside ourselves. (Psalm 1:2)
The Holy Spirit tells us to sing and make melody in our hearts. Through that melody, the Word of God will get inside us to the point that we begin to bubble and churn with its truth. The words that go with that melody are being reinforced over and over, making us stronger warriors. This use of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is actually one way of redeeming the time – we may not always be sitting down reading the Bible, but the Word of God is bubbling on the inside of us because that melody keeps coming up.
One other important truth to note is that our praise and worship are actually to be oriented to one another. Although some versions read, “speaking to yourselves” leaving the implication that this praise is to be for personal edification, many translations give a more literal rendition of “speaking to one another” (verse 5:19 NKJV) helping us to see that the edification is actually a corporate experience. Though we can encourage ourselves in the Lord through our positive praise, we are also called to bring encouragement to the Body of Christ by ministering positive praise to our brothers and sisters. This is why the author of Hebrews insisted that we not forsake assembling as a body for worship, especially as the evil day is approaching. (verse 10:25)
Point seven may not seem aggressive at first, but it is – being thankful. (verse 5:20) Giving thanks is a very powerful tool. Jesus healed ten lepers, but the Bible says that only one was made whole because he came back to give thanks. (Luke 17:11-19) The Bible says that the other nine were healed, but it gives us no indication that the parts of their bodies that had been eaten away by the leprosy were ever restored. If they had already lost earlobes to the leprosy, when they were healed there was no more leprosy, but the earlobes would still be missing. However, the one who came back and gave thanks was made whole. This means that he received a creative miracle in his body and his missing earlobes grew back.
A dear friend of mine served as director of Nepal Leprosy Fellowship for more than fifty years. Among all the other things that I learned from this saint of God was one lesson that really made this story of the ten lepers come alive. She explained that the mission had two objectives – to heal the patients and to reconstruct their disfigured bodies. I obviously understood the significance of the first objective, but had never really considered the importance of the second thrust. Of course, I had been around enough lepers in my mission travels to know how unsettling it is to see the disfigured victims on the train or on the street. Even when the victim has been cured and is no longer contagious and is in no way a threat to society, the nubs he has for fingers, the missing earlobes, and the hole in the front of his face where a nose should be are enough to make everyone give him a wide perimeter. For these patients to be able to be accepted back into their homes and re-integrated into society, it is just as important that their deformities be dealt with as it is for their contagious conditions to be treated. Without reconstructive plastic surgery, these victims are doomed to the same miserable lives as outcasts that they had previously known. So it was with nine of the men who came to Jesus that day; they may have received certification from the priests that they were cured, but they would not be welcomed back by their wives, families, or employers. Only one – the thankful one who was made whole – was able to find welcoming arms waiting for him when he made his way back to his village.
God will do so much for every Christian, but it seems that He does more for those who are thankful. When we get to the point of thanking God for what we do have rather than grumbling over what we do not have, we will find out how much more He is willing to bless us.
Chapter Ten – Submission
At verse twenty-one, Paul changed from one emphasis to another in the middle of the lengthy sentence that began in verse eighteen. Here, he changed his focus from aggressive movement to interpersonal relationships. He introduced the general arena of human inter-workings by giving us an across-the-board generalization: submit to one another.
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
We have to be soldiers in the army under a chain of authority. Matthew 8:5-10 tells the story of the centurion who knew that things happened when he gave the command because he was a man under authority. If we are not under authority, we cannot necessarily believe that things will happen when we speak. If we are submitted to authority, when we speak, the authorities under us move because they are responding not only to our authority but also to the authority above us. The reason the centurion could have faith was because he was under authority.
Next, Paul turned to some very practical where-the-rubber-meets-the-road issues concerning submission. It may be easy for us as believers to live in good harmony with our fellow church members whom we see only a couple hours one day each week, but to really know if we can apply the principles of submission, we have to take them into the crucible of where we live seven days a week – the family – and where we live forty hours each week – the workplace.
When the apostle began to discuss submission, he focused on our family and business relationships. These areas must be in order before we can begin spiritual warfare. If we don’t have harmony in our families and if we don’t have the right relationships in our businesses, we are not going to be able to go out and fight on the front line against an opposing enemy. If we can’t have harmony with those we call friends, we certainly cannot have victory against our enemies. Dick Eastman, President of Every Home for Christ, once observed that the ultimate spiritual maturity and personal fulfillment in life for the followers of Jesus is best taught, tempered, and tested in God’s laboratory of life – the family.
Paul’s first area of admonition is to the wives who are told to submit themselves to their husbands.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. (verse 5:22)
Please make certain that you understand that the verse is talking about husbands and wives. It does not say, “Women, submit yourselves to all men,” which is exactly the way many people interpret New Testament relationships. The submission Paul is talking about is the relationship within the home; it is not genetic or chromosomal. It is not a situation where a woman cannot teach and have men sit under her teaching. It is not a situation where a woman cannot be a pastor and have men sit under her pastoral leadership. In the Body of Christ, women are not on a second status below men. It is within the individual home that the wife submits to her own husband. In the home, someone has to make the final decision. This kind of recognized order brings us to a place of security in the home because we know that there is one person who is in charge. Paul puts the word “own” in the verse for clear distinction. Paul does not intend that a woman submit herself to somebody else’s husband. A husband only has authority over his own wife.
Wives are told to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord. There is a different kind of submission that you have to the Lord than the kind of submission that you have to a slave driver. Many men have taken this verse thinking they could be “Simon Legree” from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. We do not submit ourselves to the Lord out of fear thinking that He is going to beat us up if we don’t please Him. We submit ourselves to the Lord in response to the love He has poured into us. Jesus went to the cross and died for us; therefore, we can’t help but submit to Him. If He loves us that much, He must have our best interests in mind, and we cannot help but yield to Him. That is the kind of submission Paul is asking the women to move into in relationship to their husbands.
Paul’s second focus is on the husbands who are told to treat their wives like the Lord treats the church.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. (verse 5:23)
The husband is then shocked into the realization that he must be in the same position as Jesus. Jesus doesn’t go around bossing and barking at the church. Jesus is the savior to the church who Himself to save the church. That is the kind of relationship that a wife should expect in a Christian husband. If she is going to submit to him, she has the right to expect him to be a giver and provider for her just as Christ is to the church.
Christ gave Himself over to abuse so that He could sanctify His Bride and bring her to Himself holy and without spot or blemish. He paid everything so that He could give it all to His Bride. Jesus spared no expense so that the church could be the most beautiful bride that she could be. (verses 5:25-27) This kind of love is what is expected from every Christian husband who is preparing for spiritual warfare.
Notice the overwhelming emphasis Paul places on the husband’s role in the home. In verse thirty-three, Paul says, Let…the wife see that she reverence her husband. This is his second sentence in relationship to the wife – the first sentence and the last sentence of this section are directed to the wife, but the meat in the middle of the sandwich – verses twenty-three through the middle of verse thirty-three – zeroes in on the husband’s responsibility. The fact that the wife gets one and a half verses and the husband gets ten and a half verses should tell us something – the husband is to be the head of the house, and he must take on a tremendous responsibility of being in leadership so that the wife has a very simple role of respecting him in that leadership position. She respects him because of who he is, how much he has given himself to her, and how sincere and dedicated he is. She can submit herself to him because he is treating her like the Lord treats the church. This line of authority in the home provides the foundation necessary for exercising supernatural authority in spiritual warfare.
The children are told to obey their parents in Paul’s third area of focus.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (verse 6:1)
The Bible says that we must honor our father and mother in order for our days on the earth to be long and fulfilling. (Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16) Paul prophesied that in the last days children would be disobedient to parents (Romans 1:30, II Timothy 3:2); we can see this passage proven by observing the increase in youthful deaths resulting from gang activity, drug overdoses, sexually transmitted disease, suicide, and accidents resulting from rebellious actions such as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or recklessness and excessive speeding. Every time a young person dies as a result of any of these causes, he again proves the validity of the scripture’s command that he should have honored his parents and obeyed their instructions. Instead, he has allowed the enemy to direct his life and eventually take it from him.
The fourth area Paul addresses is the role of the father with his children.
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (verse 6:4)
It is interesting that Paul did not say, “Parents, do not provoke your children to wrath.” All the weight is put on the fathers. This is exactly the same thing we discussed earlier regarding the husband’s relationship to his wife. The father is the one who has to take the responsibility in the home.
A minister was trying to explain to me how we need a fearful respect for God by paralleling his experience as a child who always obeyed his father for fear of being punished; eventually, I interrupted him saying that I couldn’t relate to his story because of my own experience as a child. I understood the incredible love my parents had for me and I always wanted to respect and obey them out of a concern for disappointing them. I also had such a respect and admiration for them that I wanted to do everything possible to grow up to be like them. When the pastor heard this testimony, he was shocked and exclaimed that I must be the only one in the world with this experience. I somehow doubt that I’m the only one, but I am sure that I am in the minority. Maybe most of us haven’t had this kind of positive relationship with our earthly fathers, but this is exactly the kind of relationship we can – in fact, must – have with our heavenly Father. And when we do, it will totally change our perspective and experience as Christians.
When he was leading the children of Israel through the Sinai Desert toward the Promised Land, Moses was instructed by God to strike the rock so that water could be provided for them. (Exodus 17:6) Later, when they came to another place where there was no water, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. (Numbers 20:8) Perhaps out of anger toward the grumbling Israelites or perhaps out of lack of sensitivity to cautiously follow God’s directions, Moses again struck the rock. He had done this before and water gushed out, but God wanted to lead the Israelites into another realm of faith by simply speaking to the rock this time. First Corinthians 10:4 tells us that the rock in the desert was a picture of Christ Jesus. The first time we come to Jesus, it is through the cross where He was struck. After that initial encounter, we simply come to Him and ask; then out of Him flows all the mercy and grace we need. Because Moses destroyed the object lesson God had designed in the rock, he was forbidden to enter into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12) – even though he had struggled for eighty years to get there.
Paul tells us in this passage that the family is a mystery of Christ and the church. (verse 5:32) When a Christian marriage is broken up, it destroys the symbol God has set up. Jesus taught us that our relationship with God is like a child with his father. He said that if we ask our earthly father for something, we expect to receive it from him and how much more can we expect to receive good things from our heavenly Father. (Matthew 7:9-11) Paul spoke about our relationship to God saying that out of our spirit man we would cry, “Daddy, God.” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) Yet today, we live in a world where the father-son relationship is almost totally destroyed. When I have tried to talk to some people about the goodness of their heavenly Father, I have had them look back at me and say, “That does not compute for me because my father did not love me.” Some do not even know who their earthly fathers are.
We live in a day when the world has done exactly as Moses did – they have struck the rock instead of speaking to it, destroying the symbol that God has put in the earth. I don’t believe that God is going to be any more lenient with us than He was with Moses. Moses missed his Promised Land because he destroyed a symbol, and I believe we are a generation that is missing our Promised Land because we have destroyed God’s symbols in our homes. We need to keep the family together. A husband needs to love his wife as Christ loved the church. A father has to love his children and not provoke them to anger but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. When our homes are weak or even destroyed, we have defeated ourselves on the home front. We must turn our homes back to proper spiritual order if we expect to succeed when we venture into spiritual warfare.
In his fifth and sixth points, Paul went beyond the home and talked about our business relationships. He told slaves to be obedient to their masters.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. (verses 6:5-8)
Then he addressed the masters, telling them to treat their servants fairly.
Ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him. (verse 6:9)
In our business and work relationships, we can’t cheat or default our boss because we really don’t work for him – we actually work for God. The same thing is true with the boss – he must realize that those who work under him are not really his employees; they belong to God. Therefore, he should treat them like they are God’s property, acknowledging that He has allowed them to serve a human master because that human employer is answerable to God. If we do everything as unto the Lord, we are actually doing the will of God from the heart.
The truths of spiritual warfare are not for just supernatural conflict; they must show in our relationships with the people around us. It is when we have proper relationships with our husbands, our wives, our kids, our parents, our employers, and our employees that we are finally in the authority alignment to begin preparing for spiritual warfare. We are finally ready for the finally, my brethren of verse ten.
Before Paul lets us venture into spiritual warfare, he insists that our new creation qualities be of sufficient substance and that they are practical and applicable within our homes and our businesses. Paul moved directly from our home and business relationships into spiritual warfare. We sometimes want to divorce ourselves from the practical things, thinking we are doing great at spiritual warfare and that it doesn’t matter what kind of mess we have at our homes or how out of order the workplace is. We may think that we can divorce our practical living from our spiritual warfare, but the truth is that we can’t fight our husband or our wife or our boss or our employees – and the devil – all at the same time. We must have harmony in our homes and workplaces. We must stop fighting flesh and blood in order to come into proper relationship and proper love in our homes and businesses. Then – and only then – can we be victorious in spiritual warfare.
When we realize that we can’t fight with our spouses and the devil at the same time, it brings new meaning to the passage about not wrestling with flesh and blood but with principalities. Thinking back to the lesson we already learned about the necessity of unity in the Body of Christ as we link our shields together, we can see the significance of these teachings on submission in the home and in the workplace and we can understand why Paul placed these instructions strategically just before he turned to the topic of the armor of God. He realized that, if we couldn’t submit in the microcosm of the home where we live twenty-four/seven and in the workplace where we spend at least forty hours each week, we would never be able to have real unity in the macrocosm of the outside world where we would depend on one another’s support in times of spiritual conflict.