We have been exploring Spiritual warfare at Emmanuel, actually using the Bible unlike some in the news recently.   Our text is Eph. chapter 6. Something to be aware of as we look at these powerful verses is the fact that the Bible wasn’t written with chapter and verse.   They were added later in order to give us an address, if you will, to accommodate referencing.   The Bible was written in (by in large) a flowing, continuous thought.   That said, lets recap chapter 5. Spiritual Switch. Chapters 5 and 6 dealt with submission in the areas of: Wives to husbands,   Husbands to Christ, Children to parents, Parents to authorities (bosses to judges), and then it turns the corner in chapter 6 vs 10 and following. “Finally”, vs 10, or Now that we have established this whole submission thing, we can now “put on the whole armor of God” vs 11, so that we will be able to “stand” or better withstand the “wiles” or schemes of the devil.   Pause for a moment and let this sink in.   We think (especially us men) that submission is an undesirable trait. Something to avoid at all cost. Yet in God’s realm, it is absolutely essential in order to survive the attacks of the devil, let alone, bring the fight to him.   Does this seem vague to you?  We like to quote, or rather misquote James 4:7 and say “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”   As wonderful as this sounds, and as bad as I want to believe it, it smacks of “self-sufficientism”.   The whole verse reads: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”   These guys on TV wanting you to think they are going to “pick a fight for Jesus”, are morons. That’s not my assessment, but God’s. “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said The Lord rebuke thee.” Jude vs 8-9.
Nugget. Angels are not little bare-bottomed cherubs wielding benign bows and arrows. With very little exception, when anyone encountered one in the Old and New Testaments they did, or nearly did, pass out.  One angel killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night with one sword.   Michael is arguably the baddest angel on the block, and he wouldn’t fight with Satan, so why do we think we are going to.  Absent submission to God, we are on our own, and that is a terrible place to be; literally.  Remember: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”   With regard to recent events, the question of what our reaction should be is the wrong question.  As Christians, we should not have a reaction, but rather a position = prior established, and weighed through the lens of Scripture.  When the evil King threatened the Hebrew children with the fiery furnace if they wouldn't bow, they didn't react but rather replied from their established position.  "We mean you no harm O King, but know we will not bow to anything save God." "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not (future tense) defile himself .............................." Don't wait till you're at the crossroad to make the decision; you'll have a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong.  Choose ye this day.