WATCHFULNESS TO BATTLE

The devil is to be overcome. He is not only a hypocrite, full of quiet, slippery, and artful ways,
but he is a man of war. He is a renowned warrior of many campaigns and many battlefields. His
boldness and skill were tested in heaven. Angels were his enemies when heaven was the scene of
his conflict and his defeat. Yet, he still fights.

The devil must be defeated. Victory over him is victory all along the line. It takes strength and
courage to overcome him. He is no coward, no disheartened enemy. The zeal and strength of
mature faith is absolutely necessary in this battle.

The Word of God is the conquering sword in this warfare. The believer who has his quiver full
of these divine arrows is swift, strong, penetrating and deadly to Satan and to sin. He will be
more than a conqueror over the devil. The weapon used by the Son of God in His conflict with
Satan was the Word of God, and by it He conquered. “I have written unto you, young men,
because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked
one.” (1 John 2:14) John, the apostle of love who was nearest the heart of his Lord, was full of
this victory. John’s love was too genuine to shrink itself into sickly sentiment or evaporate the
devil into a mere influence… John carried the scars of the battles with the adversary of his soul.
He had witnessed the conflicts of many young soldiers. His soul had shared in their triumph and
recorded their victories.

Fight the devil and overcome him. This is John’s method of becoming fathers in spiritual power,
rooted, grounded, and perfected. According to John, overcoming the devil is prerequisite to
overcoming the world.

The mighty new-birth experience makes a man watchful like a sentinel at his post. When the
enemy in power is massed in the front, the believer is like a watchman. He stands on the walls of
the beleaguered city like a guard over a royal prisoner. This keeping and guarding himself is
safety against Satan’s inflaming touch. The faithful, vigilant Christian keeps himself pure, and
Satan comes and finds nothing in him. Every vantage point is barred and sleeplessly watched. (1
John 5:18-19) “Keeping ourselves” is the surest pledge that Satan will not keep us.

Watch is the keynote of safety. The devil works on us with a thousand instruments, comes to us
in a thousand ways, administers a thousand rebukes, and assaults by a thousand surprises.
Watchfulness at all times is our only safety. We must remain wide awake, not only when we see
his form and fear his presence, but wide awake to see him when he is not to be seen. We must
repel him when he comes with any one of his ten thousand disguises – this is our wisest and
safest course.

No cry of alarm is so frequent in the New Testament as the call to watch. No call hurts Satan so
vitally or defeats him so readily as the call to watch. Being on the watchtower prevents all
surprises and is essential to victory at all times. The Son of God makes this call the keynote in
many of His teachings. It is a call to be sleepless, to be vigilant, to be always ready… To watch
is to be opposed to all listlessness. It implies a wakeful state as if in the presence of some great
danger. It is a cautious state untouched by any slumbering influence…
 WATCHFULNESS TO BATTLE

Read how the church at Sardis is called to the exercise of watchfulness. She was put to sleep by
the dulling effects of a fancy church exterior and a proper religious structure. The Ephesian
church is advised to combine watching with persevering prayer. The Corinthian church is urged
to watch and stand fast. The Colossians are exhorted to “continue in prayer, and watch in the
same” (Col 4:2). The Thessalonians are to “watch and be sober” (1 Thess 5:6). Timothy, the
young preacher, was to “watch in all things” (2 Tim 4:5). Peter’s call is “be ye therefore sober,
and watch unto prayer,” because the solemn end of all things was quickly approaching (1 Pet
4:7). Again he says: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert Your adversary, the devil, prowls around
like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

The most frequent call to watchfulness is from our Lord. “Watch, therefore,” He says, “for ye
know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matt 24:42). Again He calls us to exercise this great
grace, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man
cometh” (Matt 25:13). Again and again He calls us “to watch ye therefore.” The herald cry and
the trumpet call from Him to us is to be awake – to be fully awake, to be tremendously awake.
“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these
things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). “Watch and
pray,” He charged His disciples, and so He charges us to “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41). Still the flesh is
weak, and watchfulness must always be united with prayer while we are in the flesh.

There are many sad failures in Christian life because watchfulness failed…(Eph 6:12) The
Christian’s battle is against the devil and his methods. Satan’s struggle is arranged with order,
wisdom, and skill. Principalities and powers are under his management and subject to his orders.
They are his lieutenants, his prime ministers, his captain generals who carry out his orders and
represent him fully. They are the world rulers with worldwide control and power. They master
and control all the evil forces of the world. The devil and his high comrades are world rulers.
Their might is as extensive as the world. Theirs is a fearful rule for evil, against the good and
against man. Their subordinates, the rank and file, are innumerable and invincible, except to a
God-equipped man. What a vast and powerful array of aggressive, vicious, and cruel enemies.
They are in heavenly places, the very place where Christ’s power is located. This power is over
us, above us, and around us. They are too mighty for us. Against this invisible, innumerable, very
powerful, and vast array, we wrestle. Wrestling is a close conflict. It is an intense and difficult
conflict which tests all strength and strains every fiber. It is hand-to-hand, foot-to-foot, close
contact. This conflict is not with men, though men may give us much opposition in our Christian
course. Our chief trouble and our great war is not with man but with all the mighty evil forces of
the devil. It is a life and death struggle – a war for heaven and hell, for time and eternity.

The Christian must be a soldier by birth, by fortune, by trade…

The ability to stand, to fight, to conquer, and to drive the foe from the field will be found in
God’s armor. God’s strength is imparted through God’s armor. No power short of God can
enable us to meet the devil…

Defeat or victory must come to all. The soldier fully equipped in God’s armor is a veteran
against the devil and invincible to all of his attacks.
- E.M Bounds, “Winning the Invisible War”