The Lion Pit

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 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” (Ephesians 6:10-13).

When temptations are surrounding you it is like you are in a pit of lions that are ready to pounce. If you ignore them and continue to mull on how you got there and how bad things are, the lions will come in and attack and you’ll go down. These lions are the temptations of your mind with the names “Worry”, “Anxiety”, “Envy”, “Anger” or “Bitterness”. These lions want to tear you apart if you let them so you must fight to stop their advance. But thankfully you are not alone. You have a heavenly coach who will teach you to fight and how to use your weapons.

How do you fight? Ephesians 6:10-16 tells you how.

We have a lot against us in this world. We have the devil, our mortal flesh and the world against us. But our Lord asks us to be strong in the power of his might by putting on His whole armor that we may be able to stand and not fall. The end goal is to remain standing at the end of a skirmish. How do you do that?

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Eph 6:14,15).

The first order is to put on foundational armor. You need to gird your waist with truth. Truth comes from God’s Word with His promises. You need to have the breastplate of righteousness which means you are a child of God, and have access to Him. And at your feet, the foundation of the whole body, is the gospel of peace, the blood of Christ which made you righteous, and so able to fight.

“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:16).

Now we come to the main weapons which will repulse the advance of the lions. The shield of faith is the weapon that will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Then there is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. How do you use these weapons? When a lion of doubt approaches ready to pounce, you put up your shield of faith to stop the advance. But this shield must be used with the sword of the Spirit at the same time. It works like this: When a doubt is approaching, you get out God’s Word, and believe in His promises, knowing that He is Who He says He is and will do what He says He will do, and you can rest in that by faith. You find the verse that will counter the doubt and believe in the truth and not the lie. This stops the lion of doubt, anxiety, or whatever lion is approaching, dead in its tracks.

But what if a lion does get through? Well, it probably will, since learning to fight is a process. But the thing about these lions is that they are chained and can not kill you due to your position in Christ. They can only wound you, since the enemy is bound. So if you get lashed and are down, you confess, take God’s hand, get up and get ready to fight again. He’ll put the shield of faith and sword of the Spirit back in your hand so you can go back to fighting. The more you do it, the better you’ll get keeping the lions at bay.

But on this earth in our human state, we really do need help.

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:19).

We lift each other up in prayer, encouraging each other to keep standing, and fighting till the day of ultimate victory when the battle will truly be over and our life on earth has ended.