The Wiles of the Devil

The Whole Armor of God - Message 2 - The Wiles of the Devil. Paul tells us, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God.” Would we think it was necessary to tell a soldier to dress for battle? He knows when he goes to fight that he must be wearing his battle armor and have his weapons and wits at the ready. Our verse for the week tells us that with the armor of God we can stand against the wiles of the devil. The word translated “wiles” is the Greek word methodia, better known as methods. These are cunning, deceptive methods that the devil uses to attack us, discourage us, confuse us, and accuse us. In fact, as we mentioned him as a roaring lion, he is stalking his prey – hoping they will not pray! The methods of our enemy include appealing to our fallen flesh through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He also deceives by spreading false doctrine and giving false hope. He uses counterfeits. This is part of his deception. He lies about what is good, and substitutes for it what is evil. So how do we stand against these schemes of the devil? By taking advantage of God’s power through putting on the armor He provides us. Our application of course is that we must be ready to stand in the fight but we must not wear the armor of another man. It is His power, His might, and His armor. He has made it for us. We need to USE it. But as we look at this text it does not say that we are to keep putting the armor on, over and over. It says, “Put on the whole armor of God.” The phrase “put on” is permanent. It means, put it on once for all. This is the last suit of armor you will ever need!