Ephesians 6:13 “Having done everything, . . . stand firm.”
Observation: Beginning with Ephesians 6:10, Paul focused on how to achieve full protection from attacks of the enemy: by putting on the full armor of God against Satan’s schemes. Then Paul said this: “Take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (6:13).
Application: Everything? What exactly does Paul mean by everything? Doesn’t the term conjure a flurry of activity—a whirlwind of marriage seminars, counseling sessions, financial planning, specialized training, and outside consultants?
Imagine boys hiding behind the battlement of their snow fort, preparing for coming war. Doing “everything” for them may mean two things: making sure they are facing the right direction, and creating a generous supply of snowballs. For a nation concerned about future attack it may require a full-orbed marshalling of defensive and offensive strategies including armaments, border protection, intelligence, and surveillance.
But Scripture always comes down to me personally. What do I do to “do everything”? How can I, faced with the reality of a personal enemy of unsurpassed cunning and evil ever get to a point of “having done everything” so as to be unshakable in the knowledge that I can now “stand firm”? Snowballs melt, and in any event, the arsenal will eventually be depleted. Illness, death, or the unexpected cratering of the economy can reveal our best financial strategies to have been thin indeed. My heart commitment to my marriage may mean little in the face of the wandering heart of a spouse. And, as I have seen daily both in the nation of Israel and in my own, all the determined strategies and creative leadership, all the sophistication of defensive and offensive weaponry are insufficient to keep the lone madman from occasionally succeeding in his dark resolve.
No, this “having done everything” suggests another kind of preparation altogether, one that appropriates all the power and authority of heaven itself in my behalf. To have my heart remade by Christ’s righteousness, to bring peace wherever I go, to be so filled with faith that there is no room for fear, to don salvation by which I begin life hid in Christ, and to properly wield the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, these are my armaments. These are my only effective tools and strategies for life lived well in the midst of great danger.
Prayer: Father, You have given me all the resources I need to live in safety, and You have clearly shown me the enemy. Keep me hidden in Christ, so He can war in my behalf. You are sufficient, Lord; You are my Everything.