Perhaps it is because I had too much time on my hands the last few days being relegated to my room with a bad cold and a positive COVID test, or because I have been thinking about this every time I pray through the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6.
It occurred to me that every time I reach the bit where I take up the shield of faith against the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:6), I name those arrows as “d” words: deception, depression, discouragement, distraction, doubt, distortion, division, delusion, etc. Perhaps because the evil one starts with “de”: the devil. Come to think of it, so does the term we use for his lackeys: demons. The prefixes de and di mean from, off, or away from. In the spiritual sense, they turn a positive into a negative: trust becomes distrust, attraction (focus) becomes distraction, etc.
I don’t know if there is any spiritually deep significance to this, but it is a helpful way to sum up the kinds of spiritual attacks I am looking to extinguish every day.
Most of the spiritual attacks we are warned about in the New Testament are personal – aimed at devouring us by destroying our faith in God, our assurance of salvation, and our ability to do kingdom work. The armor of God Paul describes is, like any armor, a primarily defensive set of gear. Even the sword he described was short and not designed for charging at the enemy but for fighting off attacks in close combat.
It is a set of mindsets forged in us and for us by God through the Holy Spirit (hence, Paul calls it “the armor of God” in verse 11). They are held together by the divine truth that everything we believe in – truth, righteousness, salvation, readiness, faith, and the applied Word of God – has been given to us by our all-powerful, loving Father Who is Truth and does not break His promises.
It’s not a steeliness of mind we can forge ourselves. It is forged by faith in One greater than ourselves and anything else in the universe.
That is why our faith in Him is our divine defense—or, to use the British spelling, our divine defence. Better yet, our d-fence – a divine fence against the “d” darts Satan throws at us daily. After all, the Roman shield was full-body length and slightly curved to catch arrows coming from multiple directions. The reason why the verse says “extinguish” rather than “block” refers to them being made of leather and soaked in water so that tar-dipped and flaming darts (short, heavy armor-piercing arrows) would fizzle out in the dampness of the shield.
How does that work for us in the spiritual realm? Satan’s favorite weapons are aimed at the battlefield of our minds.
First, there is doubt. He’ll whisper that God doesn’t love us anymore or that our salvation is in jeopardy because we have messed up. Or He’ll try to convince us that He won’t answer our prayers because we didn’t pray them right or do not deserve a blessing.
Then, there’s distraction. It’s almost too easy these days: cell phones, digital media, busyness, noise, full agendas—he uses them all to keep us from setting our minds on God.
Discouragement is another favorite. He’ll tell us that the ministry or job to which God has called us is too hard, so we might as well give up. Or that our friends and families’ hearts are too closed off, so we might as well not try to share the gospel. There are a million messages of discouragement for a million different things, so we’ll give up and do nothing.
Then, there is deception and distortion. After all, he is the father of lies. He tempts us to give in to the desires of our flesh, distorts Scripture, and deceives us with lies about ourselves and God, so we wander away from the truth we have in Christ.
I want to mention another one on the list that he uses a lot: dismay. That’s the “d” synonym for fear. He wants us to be anxious and afraid because the acuteness of feeling fear undermines faith – the very shield that keeps the rest of our armor from being damaged by his arrows.
I have found it helpful to conclude my time alone with God every morning by praying through the spiritual armor and mentioning the “d” words specifically. Doing so helps me be vigilant against them throughout the day and makes it easier to recognize them when they come at me—in my mind, through the words and actions of others, and in the world in which I drive around.
Our divine d-fence is perfect. But it won’t work unless you put it on. The devil is ready for you every morning. God lets him be so that we will become strong in battle by using the equipment he has given us.
So don’t forget to be ready for him. Put on your d-fence!