“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.”(Ephesians 6:13) What does it mean; “having done ALL, to STAND”? Some of you out there know because you have been in a battle so fierce that eventually you fought long enough to find out.

The sixth chapter of Ephesians is all about spiritual warfare and the weapons to use and the way to fight. It is a very active chapter and we have plenty to chew on that is useful when we receive an onslaught from the devil, who is the enemy of our souls. We beat back the enemy with the whole armor of God but what if nothing works? We are being warned in these five little words that there are times when that will seem to be the case.

We have prayed and praised, fasted and inquired, spoken the word of God, humbled ourselves, searched for obstacles, launched a counter attack – yes, all that and more! Now we are tired and confused and we wonder how long we can hold on. This is the place where some fall by the wayside, throw their weapons down and surrender or go AWOL from God’s service.

When nothing else is left, there is still one more thing to do and it is a powerful thing: STAND. I’ve always remembered a particular scene from the baseball movie, The Natural. As the character Roy Hobbs struggles on the field in a critical game, the lady in white played by Glenn Close simply stands up from her seat. He doesn’t even know she is at the game but somehow there is a powerful effect and he begins to look up to the stands to see what has happened to make things different. Her standing turned the tide for him.

Don’t underestimate your power when you simply stand. It means you are not giving up and you won’t run away or surrender the fight. You may have no weapons left but you are not going to leave the field. Have you done ALL? Then STAND.