The Weapons of Our Warfare: Using the Full Armor of God to Defeat the Enemy

by Phil Hopper

My husband and I make our home just outside of Portland, Oregon. The Pacific Northwest is a wonderland of sorts, long known for its beautiful rivers, tall mountains, and majestic waterfalls. I spent my childhood growing up near the shadow of Mount Hood, but now this place I love has become famous for a different kind of shadow—a spiritual one. Like many places in the world today, the northwest has found itself at the center of a very real spiritual battle. Take a stroll through the streets of Portland, and you will quickly see the evidence of a city in moral and spiritual crisis. It is impossible to deny the effects of drugs and obvious demonic activity. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that something is going on—but you are not likely to find consensus as to what that “something” is. Charles Spurgeon rightly noted what is really going on when he said, “Consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it.” He’s right, of course. The apostle Paul taught us that we are in a very real spiritual war, and if we’re going to be victorious, we need to take our place on the battlefield. It’s time we understand who we are as children of God and how to use the weapons God has given us to engage the enemy and defeat him. As a child of God you really are “armed and dangerous,” yet the average Christian has no idea just how heavily armed they are! God has armed you supernaturally to win spiritually against a very powerful adversary. In fact, the Bible teaches th...

You see, the good news is that Satan’s tactics never change.

We know his moves. Second Corinthians 2:11 tells us we “are not ignorant of his devices.” God has given us vital knowledge in the Bible so we can understand the enemy’s tools and the tactics he deploys.

As a former police officer, Phil has a unique perspective on how to engage an enemy, and God is using him to equip and encourage this generation of believers to stand instead of shrink in the face of the struggles we’re facing today. Pastor Phil reminds readers that as we prepare to engage the adversary, it’s critical that we get our knowledge of the ...

The apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians 6:12, “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.” We are in a struggle every day with demonic beings–Satan’s army of fallen angels. This is not allegory or literary symbolism. This battle is real.

Second Corinthians 10:3-4 tells us, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [physical] but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” We are in a battle that is not physical, it’s spiritual, and we have weapons that are not natural—they are supernatural.

God has armed us supernaturally to win spiritually against a very powerful adversary.

As a child of God, you really are “armed and dangerous.”

If you want to defeat your enemy, you must first understand his tactics. That is why I wrote my first book, Defeating the Enemy: Exposing and Overcoming the Strategies of Satan, in which the strategies Satan uses to try to overcome us are revealed as well as the battle for the Kingdom of God and His throne. Satan hijacked the entire human race when he succeeded in getting Adam to sin with Eve. Because of Adam’s sin, every human being since has been born under sin’s penalty and Satan’s slavery.

Jesus came to set the captives free—Satan comes to take the free captive.

If you have been born again as a child of the living God, you are a joint heir with Jesus Christ; you are a son or daughter of the King. That means you are under the authority of Jesus and no longer under Satan’s authority. Armed with the authority of Jesus, you can have victory and liberty. Jesus says in John 10:10, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

It is so important that you never go to battle without knowing your enemy—because knowledge is power.

God has given us vital knowledge in the Bible so we can understand the enemy’s tools and tactics. I encourage you to start your boot camp training as a Kingdom warrior by reading my book, Defeating the Enemy. It is an in-depth study of the enemy’s strategy that lays the foundation for everything you need to know to effectively put on the whole armor of God. In The Weapons of Our Warfare, we are going beyond

I have to warn you—this book is more than just a nice little devotional or motivational pep talk. It’s a deeply theological study of Ephesians 6:10-17—the apostle Paul’s field manual for believers.

In the same way, we are going to dissect Ephesians 6:10-17 piece by piece and examine each individual part. Our textbook is the Bible. We are going to learn from God’s Word, our ultimate weapon, which is capable of diffusing every situation and defeating every adversary. It’s crucial you become intricately familiar with your God-given armor!

It’s crucial you become intricately familiar with your God-given armor!

Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:14, “No longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine….” God wants us to grow to spiritual maturity because otherwise, like a child, we will be easily deceived and defeated by the enemy. This is one of the primary problems in modern Christianity.

God’s purpose is to mold and shape you into a vessel that cannot be cracked or broken by the threats of the enemy. Instead, you are about to become the adversary’s worst nightmare!

As a child of God, you have supernatural weapons; however, many Christians probably don’t know how to use them.

First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant.” Like Islamic terrorist cells within our own nation, his primary method is one of deception and infiltration. He wants to slip into your life unnoticed, unannounced, and undetected. He is a master illusionist. He is a counterfeiter of all that God is and all that God does.

Paul reminds us in Second Corinthians 2:11 that we are no longer “ignorant of his devices.” God has revealed to us through His Word the tools and tactics Satan uses and the devices he deploys. Once you know the weapons of your enemy, it’s time to learn about your own.

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 place. 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. 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; 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 6:10-17).

“The purpose of life is to know God and make God known.” With that said, he stood up and disappeared around the corner.

Who and what are angels? Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” From this verse, we learn that angels, among other things, are God’s servants and messengers that He dispatches to minister to “those who will inherit salvation.”

While God’s angels are messengers and ministers, so are Satan’s. Paul says in Second Corinthians 12:7, “…a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me….” Angels are messengers of God, but in Paul’s case, he encountered a messenger of Satan. Angels are ministers of good or evil, depending on who they are working for. One of Satan’s angels had been assigned to Paul to afflict and buffet him.

It’s important to remember that angels don’t always take on the form of a human to minister to us, but the Bible absolutely teaches they can: Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels (Hebrews 13:2).

Genesis 18:4, Abraham washed their feet; in verse 5, he

Angels have the ability to take on the appearance of human beings with fully functioning human bodies. Hebrews 13:2 confirms that “some have unwittingly entertained angels.”

Angels are always described as male throughout the pages of the Bible. I know this blows away the images of the plump porcelainskinned little cherubs fluttering about with stubby little wings while plucking little harps, but that imagery has been formed in our imagination by pop culture. The Bible paints a much different picture.

The Bible always describes angels as mascu...

This is contrary to our politically correct, gender-neutral world. I would rather be biblically corr...

Even among Christians, there is a tendency to try to take the supernatural out of the Bible and explain everything through a naturalistic lens. It is how we are conditioned as Westerners. Much of the worldview of Western civilization is built on naturalism, rationalism, and intellectualism. We aren’t a superstitious people. We’re sophisticated and educated, which is why the tendency even among today’s Christians is to explain away the supernatural elements of the Bible.

As my congregation has heard me say many times, “The Bible is not hard to understand, just sometimes hard to believe.” It’s hard to believe because our rational minds are conditioned to explain everything we see, hear, and experience through a naturalistic filter. The Bible teaches something different altogether. There is the natural world but also the supernatural world. There is the physical realm but also the spiritual realm. There is the realm we can see, as well as the unseen realm, and the two intersect on a daily basis. This is why the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but…against the rulers of the darkness of this age….”

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 (Ephesians 6:12).

Who are these rulers of darkness? They are the unseen enemy. God has an angel army, and Satan does too.

Paul is telling us we are locked in a struggle with demons, “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” They are the fallen angels that rebelled with Sat...

Most of the time Satan’s demonic army prefers to work in the unseen realm.

Most Americans don’t believe in Satan or demons, and that is exactly how Satan wants it. Even most Christians, while perhaps believing in Satan and demons theologically, don’t really believe they affect their daily lives practically.

People who are born again of God’s Spirit cannot be possessed by an evil spirit, but because Sarah had just come to faith in Christ, this spiritual confrontation was imminent. There were spiritual powers at war for control of her life.

‘Jesus set me free.’”

Jesus said in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy….”

Remember, in Luke 10, Jesus sent out the disciples in pairs.)

We are called to be the weapons in God’s hands to confront the darkness.

Our Westernized Christianity gives many in the body of Christ a naturalistic filter, especially when we encounter the supernatural. Our rational minds are trained to immediately dismiss anything that doesn’t fit within the natural and the physical.

Whether or not you’re paying attention to him, the enemy is paying attention to you.

If God didn’t want us to be aware of the demons or to actively engage them in warfare, then the Holy Spirit would have never inspired Paul to pen Ephesians 6:10-17 that describes the armor of God.

Now I have to warn you—it’s critical you get this knowledge of the enemy from God’s Word and nowhere else.

God has already revealed everything you need to know in the Bible.

The word “occult” means secret or esoteric knowledge and includes anything related to the worship of or communion with secret powers or spirits through psychics, New Age mysticism, participation in séances for the purpose of communicating with the dead, spiritism, sorcery, Wicca, witchcraft, palm readers, tarot cards, fortune tellers, Ouija boards, voodoo, the zodiac, astrology and more. These and other practices were forbidden by God as His people were preparing to enter the Promised Land. They were going to encounter pagan people who practiced them (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). It’s true that many of the people who practice these things today are nothing more than fakes and phonies who only want your money. It’s equally true that the practices themselves are not fake and not phony. This is real, and it’s not a game. You may take a trip to the psychic fair and hang a crystal from the rear-view mirror—and if you do, you’re apt to come home with a demon sitting in the back seat of your car. God forbids these kinds of practices because they are the “welcome mat” to the door of your home. They are the doorway of the demo...