As a believer, you are in a spiritual battle, and your enemy is in stealth mode! Someone operating in stealth mode acts in a disguised or secretive way. They might appear innocent on the outside, but beneath the surface, they are deceptive and dangerous. That is why the Apostle Paul warns believers to be aware and alert!

Our enemy, the devil, is invisible and full of schemes. While we cannot fight him in the physical sense, we do battle with him daily in the heavenly realm. The heavenly realm is where spiritual activity occurs, and the spiritual impacts the physical. The good news is that God gave us weapons to battle against the “powers of this dark world” (v. 12). Even better, through Him, we have victory!

Paul teaches us how to fight from this position of victory. While under house arrest for proclaiming the gospel, Paul was obviously in close proximity to Roman soldiers who were assigned to watch him around the clock. Perhaps these circumstances were on his mind as he commanded believers to “be strong in the Lord” (v. 10). We find strength in God’s mighty power as we “put on the full armor of God” (v. 11).

In verses 14–17, Paul names this spiritual armor piece by piece (see also 2 Cor. 10:4–5). We put on “the belt of truth” and the body armor of God’s righteousness (v. 14). He continues with the sandals of good news, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (vv. 15–17). Paul tells us to stand firm three times (vv. 11, 13–14). Finally, he exhorts us to pray always in the Spirit for ourselves (v. 18) and for others. These tools will help us resist the tactics of an invisible enemy as we walk by faith and not by sight.

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