How Do I Actually Fight Back? (Defense and Offense)
You fight back the same way Rocky fought Drago. Not by showing up arrogant and unprepared like Apollo. But by training hard, knowing your opponent, suiting up with everything God gave you, and stepping into the ring ready. Scripture gives you both a defense and an offense. The question is whether you are actually using them.
We have spent this whole series talking about the game, the enemy's tactics, how he studies your film, how to recognize the pattern, why your testimony is a weapon. Today we close out with the practical piece. What do you actually do? How do you fight back in a way that produces real results?
The answer is in Ephesians 6. And most of us have heard this passage so many times that we stop really reading it. Today we are going to slow down and actually look at what every piece of this armor is doing, because when you understand what you are putting on, you will stop treating it like a church phrase and start treating it like the survival gear it actually is.
What Does It Mean to Put On the Whole Armor of God?
Ephesians 6:10-12 (NKJV) says, "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 places."
Notice it says the whole armor. Not some of it. Not the pieces you feel like putting on today. The whole thing. Because you do not get to decide which parts of the battle show up, and neither should you decide which parts of your armor to skip.
The belt of truth is defense. To gird your waist means to surround yourself, to enclose yourself, to prepare yourself for action. When you surround yourself with truth, the enemy's lies do not get through. But if you are not actively surrounding yourself with what God says about you, about your situation, about your purpose, there is nothing stopping his lies from landing.
The breastplate of righteousness is also defense. The chest houses the heart, the lungs, and the esophagus. When you are living according to God's Word, you protect yourself from blood malfunctions, breathing malfunctions, and the inability to digest spiritual food properly. When you are not living according to God's Word, you become vulnerable to exactly those things in your spirit. Put on the breastplate.
The shoes of the gospel of peace are defense. Peace of a special kind, the kind that only comes through Christ, the kind that holds steady in the middle of a storm. Psalm 23:4 (NKJV) says, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." That is a peace that surpasses understanding. Put on those shoes.
The shield of faith is defense. A shield is carried apart from the body, held out in front of you. Ephesians 6:16 (NKJV) says it is able to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." All of them. Not some. When your faith is active and out in front of you, his darts do not land.
The helmet of salvation is defense. It protects the mind. The mind is where the enemy loves to set up camp. Doubts, fear, shame, worthlessness, all of it tries to get in through your thoughts. The helmet keeps it out.
What Is Your Offensive Weapon?
Everything up to this point is defense. But Ephesians 6:17-18 (NKJV) says, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit."
The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is your only offensive weapon. Everything else protects you. This one strikes back. And prayer is offense too. When you pray in the Spirit for your brothers and sisters, you are covering ground you cannot even see, fighting battles on behalf of people who do not even know they need it yet.
Jesus used both. When the enemy tempted Him in the wilderness, He hit back with the Word every single time. Not with feelings. Not with logic. With Scripture. He trained under rabbis. He fasted. He prayed before miracles and after them. He was divine and He still trained. What makes us think we can skip it?
What Does Training Actually Look Like?
Rocky did not show up to fight Drago the way Apollo did. He ran in the snow. He boxed meat. He ran against cars. He changed his diet. He was disciplined because he understood what was at stake and he knew his opponent was not playing.
Faith without works is dead. Knowing about the armor is not the same as putting it on. Training means you are in the Word consistently, not just when things get hard. It means you are praying before you need to, not just when you are already in crisis. It means you are surrounding yourself with people who will tell you the truth and pray with you and for you.
Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) says, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." That is your inheritance. But an inheritance does not benefit you if you never walk into it.
Here is your victory in Scripture. 1 John 4:4 (NKJV), "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." Romans 8:37 (NKJV), "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Luke 10:19 (NKJV), "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
You are not the underdog here. You are the one with greater inside of you. Train like it.
Take this to the Word yourself. Ephesians 6:10-18, Isaiah 54:17, 1 John 4:4, Romans 8:37, Luke 10:19.
What This Means for You
Which piece of the armor have you been leaving off? And what would it look like to put on the whole thing, every single day, before you step into what God has called you to?
This is the final post in The Game series. Here's the full thread from the beginning.
Post 5: How Do I Actually Fight Back? (Defense and Offense)
I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, "The Game," is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.
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