Stand in Spiritual Warfare

The armor of God is given because our battle is not against other people, but against spiritual forces and the evil one. Believers are able to withstand and fight in spiritual battles when equipped with the full spiritual armor God provides. 

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I laid on the post-op gurney in recovery, waiting for my newborn to curl-up on my chest and bond skin to skin. Instead, a man in green scrubs said something like, “Your son is not breathing well…we are transferring him to another hospital…we will know more later.” What?!

I stared at the tiled drop-ceiling, numb from the waist down with empty arms. For a few moments, I considered if I wanted to continue following Jesus. Why would He let this happen? I pondered the unknown road of my son’s life. Would he live? Would he die? Walking through the next few days terrified me. So, I imagined flinging my body into the arms of the Father, pounding His chest in anger as He held me close. I hated what God allowed—and I so desperately needed Him.

Following God does not isolate us from pain. Believers throughout the world suffer various kinds of hardships (1Peter 5:8). Scripture is filled with examples of faithful sufferers. The book of Job might be one of the most notorious. Job loved God, accumulated immense wealth, and enjoyed numerous children. Then Satan asked God if he could test Job’s faith. God permitted the testing, and Job lost all his wealth and children in one day. Tribal attacks and natural catastrophes—of hurricane winds and raining fire—annihilated his cattle, livestock, and children.

Job fell to his knees and said, “The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

I responded in a less honorable way when doctors told me my son had a fifty-fifty chance of survival due to a hole in his diaphragm. But I took my anger to God instead of turning away. Satan wants us to look at our circumstances and turn from God. But we are to “resist him, standing firm in our faith” (1Peter 5:8–9 NIV).

So how can we stand firm when the ground of our lives gives way? We can fix our minds on truth. Trials sometimes consume our thinking, but we can “demolish arguments and…take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2Corinthians 10:4–5).

Every night I sat for hours on the cold tile floor of the Ronald McDonald House, armoring my mind with the promises of God as my son struggled to live. And God was faithful. He strengthened me and guarded me against the evil one (1Thessalonians 3:3). He restored, established, and supported me. One moment at a time (1Peter 5:10).

One month after my son entered the world, we brought him home. As I walked out of the NICU, a nurse ran up to me and said something like, “I’ve never seen a baby heal the way he did.” I praise God—but not every trial ends where we want it to. Even when we suffer loss, may we be able to say, “The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).