Danyelle Catoe- Fight like a Girl

In the past few weeks, I have been going through Ephesians 6: 10-20. This is the section that discusses the armor of God. What awesome imagery! We so often forget that we are caught in a battle! I am usually so content to just sit by and watch life happen; I am so hesitant to jump in to the battle and fight boldly for God!
I recently went to an Admirals hockey game. The game went into overtime, then to a shoot-out. They played this epic video compilation of movie clips from these inspiring pre-battle speeches. They used movies like Braveheart, The Gladiator, 300, Lord of the Rings, etc. It definitely made you eager to go into battle and fight for something! It was awesome! It was meant to get you geared up for battle; that is what this passage of Scripture is intended to do too.
This passage of Scripture tells us to find our strength in the Lord and to put on the whole armor of God so that we will be able to stand firm again our Enemy. Paul reminds us that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against enemies that are not tangible- the “spiritual forces of evil.” Therefore, we must take up the armor of God. I love that he explains why we need the armor of God before explaining what exactly the armor of God is.
When he starts to explain what exactly comprises the armor of God, I noticed something. We are only given one offensive weapon- everything else is defensive! We are given the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” That is why it is so essential that we read our Bibles! That is the only weapon that we have to wound the devil! When Jesus is tempted by the devil, He uses Scripture to rebuke him (Luke 4:1-13). Guys, it is imperative that we study Scripture!
The other thing that really stuck out to me was the shield of faith. It reminded me of three movies scenes. The first one was from Lord of the Rings. In one of the movies, enemy troops are attacking a city. The city was surrounded by walls, so the enemy troops were trying to infiltrate the city by breaking through its walls. As they were approaching, they held their shields around them, as a protective barrier. Some guys held their shields above their heads, protecting the top, and the guys around the perimeter held their shields beside them, protecting their sides. The soldiers from the city tried to take out the enemy troops as they approached the walls of the city, but they could not break through the shields. They were shooting flaming arrows, but they would simply be deflected off the shields.
The second scene was from 300. The Spartans were battling the Persian army, and they were vastly out-numbered. The Persians tried to take out the Spartan troops by firing arrows at the troops. There were so many arrows that they blocked out the sun! That is a lot of arrows! But all the Spartans had to do was kneel behind their shields. Their shields were able to block all of the arrows. The Spartans literally just laughed at the Persian’s attempt at attack. We can rest securely behind out shield of faith and simply laugh at the devil’s attempts at attacking us. We know that our strength lies in Christ.
Another scene that I thought of from 300 was when King Leonidas is explaining the battle strategy of the Spartan army. Each man holds up his shield at shoulder height; if one man cannot hold up his shield, then the battle line is broken, and the entire unit is now vulnerable to attack. The shield is an essential part of the battle strategy! We must take our faith seriously; it is so important to our defense against the devil’s attacks.
It also can be related to Till We Have Faces. Before Orual is allowed to go out and fight in a battle, she must be trained in how to use a sword. But, she is also taught that she will use her shield just as much as she used her sword; it is just as useful to her as her actual weapon. Both her sword and her shield are essential to her battle strategy. Once she learns this, she is a very skilled fighter. She even beats a man in a battle!
This particular passage has really encouraged me to become more active in my faith. I want to be a serious threat to the Enemy; I want to be a threat in the battle! I don’t want to just sit by and wait for others to fight for me. I want in on the battle! We know Christ has already won! What could we possibly be afraid of?! So I pray that I would “keep alert with all perseverance,” and that I would “boldly proclaim the mystery of the Gospel.” Care to join me in the battle? God doesn’t promise an easy fight, but He has already guaranteed a victory.