Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. —Ephesians 6:10-11
Before I embraced the sovereignty of God over all things, I lived in fear of the ‘spiritual forces of evil.’ It was easy to see evil as powerful—it surrounds us! And knowing how weak I was, spiritually and morally, taking up the ‘whole armor of God’ didn’t provide much hope that I would be able to stand firm against spiritual forces.
But those thoughts simply betrayed how blind I was to the reality of Jesus Christ as sovereign Lord of all the universe:
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:15)
God has placed Jesus “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. . .” (Ephesians 1:21)
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8b)
The cosmic powers are certainly strong, but they are not decisively strong. To Jesus alone will every knee bow (Philippians 2:10). And this Jesus is also the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)!
So, because Jesus is sovereign over all things, we can confidently and joyfully take up the whole armor of God, knowing that he has already won the victory and will supply all that we need to stand firm even in the most evil of days.