There is a pattern of unbelief that I am most
curious of and is rather fascinating. Most unbelievers I come across have
such a strong desire to persuade me away from my faith whether they decide to
exercise the theory of evolution or other typical atheistic "logic"
(i.e. if God is an all loving God and does not save people from massacres and
famine and such, then He must not exist). The fallacy of their childish
logic is understandable to an extent because each of us are faced with these
doubts at some point in our lives, and there is a psychological term for such fallacy:
rationalisation. What separates the Christian from the
unbeliever is that we defeat the fallacies and starve the doubts fed by
the Devil and evidently overcome the doubts by feeding our faith. How do
we do that? I'm afraid that cannot be explained but rather experienced.
What I find increasingly interesting is that most unbelievers I come
across feel that it is a necessity to express such hatred, persecution, and
angry "logic" towards me and fellow brethren. There are guilty
Christians who bring about the persecution and judgement in the attempt to
persuade them into the faith first and therefore having the unbeliever become
defensive and attack back as a result. It is a simple defence mechanism
to attack when the very basis of your beliefs are threatened or challenged,
Christian or not. These very wrongful Christians may be the very reason
why most unbelievers attack innocent Christians — they feel judged and
persecuted by a Christian in their past and therefore assume all Christians do
this and so decide to attack us, whether we instigated the argument or not.
I am certainly guilty of this in my past when I first became a Christian,
but once I realised the foolishness of my behaviour I stopped it. Keep in
mind that as Christians we are not to instigate arguments and debates. It
is unbiblical. When such things happen, be become defensive and attack offensively; but we are to defend our faith that is threatened by people with defensive measures, not offensive.
The Word tells us that we are to "reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels" (II Timothy 2:23). And Titus 3:9 says to "avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." What it means by "genealogies" are speculative interpretations of the Old Testament. The Word of God says that arguments and debates are unprofitable and worthless! Indubitably, we can all agree on this, because in arguments and debates, especially with unbelievers going back and forth listing opinion after opinion for hours, what are you accomplishing? Above all, what are you accomplishing for God's glory? How is this argument or debate bringing any glory to God? This is a rhetorical question because it's obvious that such quarrels dishonour God's image. Being made in the image of God, we are dishonouring what He created us to become — His children in His image. "Ah," someone may say, "is it not right to resolve a dispute?" Proverbs 20:3, It is honourable for a man to resolve a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel. If you can peacefully resolve a dispute without including yourself in a quarrel, it is honourable.
I often say that we are soldiers of Christ, and some may argue that as soldiers it is our duty to defeat hostile arguments with our own logic and Word of God. If that were true, then such heated arguments would end each and every argument with the unbeliever as a believer without failure, but such does not happen. I have two points to make here. First, and shortly, as a veteran of the U.S. Army, a soldier knows that honour, respect, and mercy are more essential than taking out the enemy. As Christian soldiers, our values are the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And secondly, as soldiers of Christ, we wear the armour of God whereas those of the world are exposed with their weak flesh. They're missing the armour of God, and so their flesh is exposed and they are weak. They are not our enemies; Satan is the enemy. In the military, anyone not clearly wearing any hostile gear are considered non-combatants and it is considered both illegal and unethical to fire upon them. And with the Geneva Convention in effect (initiated by the United Nations), anyone who fires upon us and subsequently drops their weapon is also considered a non-combatant. We don't like that rule, but it's an international law and we are obligated to obey it. When we debate and argue with unbelievers, we are firing upon non-combatants, even if they attacked first. Always going on the offensive is the world view of a soldier, but as a Christian we are to remain in the line of defence against people.
I'm going to use Ephesians 6:10-17 as support for this, which is the passage that discusses the armour of God. In verse 11 it says to "put on the full armour of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil." This is the vital key! It says we are to wear the full armour of God in order to stand against the tactics of the Devil — his battle strategies. This is a defence tactic, not an offence. One of his tactics are the persecutions and arguments we face from unbelievers in order to create doubt within us and to dissuade us from believing in God. But we are to stand our ground in defence! "Ah," someone may say, "is coming back with a rebuttal not a form of defence?" It is a form of defence, yes, but this defence includes a tactic of offence in the which you attack back while defending. You are attacking and defending simultaneously — a counterattack — but the armour of God is simply defence against people. (The armour of God is only used offensively against Satan. I will explain this soon.) In your mind you may think you are simply defending your faith but you are doing so by attacking them. Verse 12 then goes on to tell us that "our battle is not against flesh and blood," which can be unbelieving people, "but against... the world powers of this darkness, [and] against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." Our battle is not against these unbelievers but against the darkness and evil of the words they're speaking, which is Satan working through them. Satan formulates the tactic and these unbelievers are just the means to an end, and so I repeat: the enemy is Satan, not these unbelievers. And verse 13 tells us "this is why you take up the full armour of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day" — the day(s) these quarrels occur — "and having prepared everything, to take your stand." This is exactly what defence is — preparing yourself to stand against the forces of evil, not marching directly into it (that's offence). The use of the word preparation is very important here because as you'll see, all these forms of defence that Scripture gives us can only be strong enough if we prepare against the attacks of the dark forces, which comes with experience as well as making mistakes.
So now the question is, "What is the composition of the armour of God and how do we utilise it?" Well, it's given to us in verse 14-17, which I'm going to walk you through. It tells us to stand "with truth like a belt around your waist." Anyone can use this to argue that truth is to speak it against unbelievers in their debate because they speak lies. No, they are wrong. And again, our enemy to be offensive against is Satan, not people. It says to stand with truth "like a belt." What does a belt do? It supports your foundation so that you won't fall. Like a belt, we are to utilise what we know about the truth of God's Word to support the foundation of our faith so that we don't fall. Don't take the belt off and start beating people with it; that's not what it was designed to do. When we are faced with these persecutions and arguments, we are to exercise our knowledge of the truth of God's Word in maintaining the foundation of our faith — our faith unwavering.
Next, it says to stand with "righteousness like armour on your chest." Armour on the chest takes a heavy beating, but you still stand firm in your chest plate. Likewise, our righteousness takes a heavy beating, but we are to stand firm in it. However, we have to be careful not to be self-righteous; that is always a danger, and many Christians fall into it. There may be some questions in your mind right now, such as: "What is righteousness," and/or, "How are we righteous when we are guilty of sin?" Righteousness is "God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction" (Romans 3:22). By believing in Christ and having faith in whom He was, is, and is to come while being cognisant of your sin but not remaining shameful of your sin due to the graceful forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ, you are righteous. If you allow these words spoken by unbelievers to penetrate the armour on your chest by making you not believe anymore or doubt and feel guilty and shame for your sin, you damage your righteousness and risk destroying it. It's not just what these people say that puts your righteousness in danger, but mostly the doubts you create and ruminate upon as a result of their slander. Also, another note, Christians are called to judgement, contrary to popular belief, but not the judgement we all think of when we hear or read the word. When Jesus teaches, " 'judge not, that ye be not judged' " (Matthew 7:1), He is not talking about simply judging people by sizing them up in one glance. He is saying that we are not to judge (condemn) people to Hell. The word that is used here in the Greek for the word "judge" is κρίνω (krinō). It means to "separate, select," or "choose" and hence "to determine," and therefore "to pronounce judgement." In its use here, the use of this verb means to assume the office of a judge. If you're a judge, what do you do? You sentence someone to death or imprisonment. This is what Jesus is telling us not to do. Do not put yourself in the position of a judge and sentence someone to the death and imprisonment of Hell. This is why Jesus said in John 7:24, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement." But what in God's name (literally) is righteous judgement? Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter seven with His "speck in the eye" parable. Righteous judgement is to examine your own self first — your own sins and imperfections ("the log that is in your own eye," verse 3). Look to God's Word to see what it says about your own sins and fix it ("first take the log out of your own eye," verse 5a). Then after you have completed that self-examination you can then examine somebody else's sins and see what Scripture has to say about their sin ("and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye," verse 5b). Jesus calls people who don't do this hypocrites (v. 5a). The judgement you are to come up with, after self-examination, is this: "They are a sinner just like me. Scripture says this about their sin, and I must love them and help them to overcome it, just as I have suffered in sin."
I got a little sidetracked there, but it was a necessary digression. Let's move on with the next piece of armour. In verse 15 it says to stand with "your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace." This is a lot simpler than the subject of righteousness. It simply means to always be ready to tell others about the Gospel. Now, anyone can say here that this contradicts everything I've said up to this point. That's not necessarily true. If you tell somebody about the Gospel and they just choose to argue, that's not your problem and so you are to move elsewhere to somebody else who is willing to listen and discuss it maturely, leading to their possible repentance and their acceptance of Jesus Christ. You're not giving up on them because there is still the power of prayer. Spreading the Gospel is not for the sake of argument and debate. By debating with people and pointing out how sinful they are, you are simply preaching Law, not Gospel. The Law is still applicable in some regards, but you cannot preach the Law without offering the Gospel; the Gospel is the whole point of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is grace. God did not give us His Word to debate with people; He spoke to us in order that we may lead people to Christ so that they may be free from the bondage of sin and that they might know Him and in turn inherit His kingdom as co-heirs and as God's children. However, if somebody is sincerely intrigued and is asking you questions simply out of curiosity and intrigue and wishes to know what Christianity is all about, then answer them accordingly in the Spirit. There is a huge difference between a mature, gentle discussion and a raging quarrel. If an unbeliever is arguing with you, he or she is not interested in being saved or having their mind changed; they've already made up their mind so you would just be wasting your time and their time. This is why you must pray for them on your own time. Jesus commands us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). If an unbeliever is asking you questions without argument and is looking for answers, then they're obviously looking for a change that only God can offer that they wish to understand. So put on the sandals of the gospel of peace and always be ready to teach others of the Gospel.
In verse 16 we are told: In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. First, let me emphasise that it says "the evil one," which is Satan, not people. A shield is the most used form of defence, and what is this shield? Our faith. I find it very interesting that the very thing we have to protect is also one of the greatest forms of defence, and it is because faith can be that strong. It is imperative that we get to the point where our faith is so unwavering that we can deflect the flaming arrows of Satan. So basically our faith has to be so strong that the tactics Satan decides to attack our faith with are ultimately ineffective. This is a true challenge, and it takes a very long time to get there, but it is very achievable. Next, in verse 17 we are told to "take the helmet of salvation." Our salvation is our inheritance in God's kingdom with Christ Jesus, and we are to use that knowledge of our salvation to protect our minds from dark and evil thought patterns. You have the ultimate inheritance to be with our Lord in God's kingdom! That is a glorious thing! Wear that knowledge and keep your chin up and keep looking forward to that moment! Therefore, do not allow the words of unbelievers to sizzle in your mind and distract you from that promise. They don't have that promise, but you do. So put on the helmet of this inherited salvation and protect your mind against these vile, insidious words that unbelievers speak — do not allow yourself to lie awake at night thinking of these things that the unbeliever said. If you find yourself in this situation, pray. Talk to God. Be absolutely sure of your salvation and what the Word of God says about it and who you are in Christ, as God the Father sees you.
Lastly, it says to take "the sword of the Spirit, which is God's Word." Here, someone may say, "Ah! A sword! You use a sword for attacking!" That is one use of it, yes, but you can also use a sword to defend yourself by blocking out attacks — cancelling them out. We attack Satan with God's Word, but we defend ourselves against people with God's Word. Allow me to explain. We are not to use the sword of God's Word to attack others because when we do that it always leads to condemnation that comes from the Law instead of the grace of the Gospel — doing so is using God's wrath against them. Rather, we are to defend our faith against the words of the world that Satan puts into action in order to block them from puncturing our faith, cancelling them out; and we are to do this by remembering and reading God's Word. Use Jesus as an example when He stood against the temptations of Satan when He was in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Yes, Jesus actually used the Word of God to physically speak against the Devil, and that's exactly the point. He attacked the Devil with God's Word, not a human being, and the end result was that Satan fled from Him. Sure, at times Jesus made known to the Pharisees that they were hypocrites and sinners, but He also made very known to them that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). They just refused to believe, and there are many reasons why, which I won't get into right now. I'll use a personal example as well. Usually when unbelievers start to insult me with numerous profanities, I simply tell them that they're actually doing me a favour because by their persecutions and insults, they are blessing me, according to Matthew 5:11-12. I have that Scripture memorised, and I quote it to them. They either have nothing to say to that or they continue with their rude and spiteful remarks, which is my cue to walk away. That's all you have to do. Memorise Scripture; it really helps. When I paraphrase or quote that passage to them, it is not in argument or in condemnation; I'm just simply making it known to them that their words neither offend me, confuse me, nor change my mind. I have made up my mind just as they have made up theirs, and there is nothing they can do about it.
Remember in verse 12 that it says our battle is not against flesh and blood, which are people. Do not attack people with the sword of God's Word. Their words (and our own thoughts) create doubts in our minds and that's when we attack with the sword of God's Word against Satan, and he shall flee (James 4:7). Attack the lies that you allow Satan to form in your mind with the sword of God's Word. When you speak the Word of God against peoples' accusations and "logic," they are so arrogant and ignorant that they just keep on attacking; they don't run away. This is why I make the wise choice to walk away because it just simply isn't worth it. What's the point in arguing with someone who refuses to be objective and have a mature discussion? There is no point. Since they keep on attacking, we then have to use God's Word as a sword to block and cancel out their blunt blows on our faith by reminding ourselves in our mind what the Word of God says against their purported and perpetual logic and accusations. In case you haven't figured it out yet, the purpose of putting on the armour of God is not just to be capable of fighting against Satan, but also to remain defensive against His wiles through any means he uses, protecting your faith. Since our battle is not against flesh and blood but against these dark powers and forces, doing everything I just described is our only form of offence in battling against these spiritual forces, as well as the only form of defence against flesh and blood — the wiles of Satan. As they say in sports, "Your best offence is a good defence." How true that is for the Christian faith! By defending your faith against Satan's dark forces you are also fighting against it, for he runs away (remember James 4:7). But remember, after Satan had tempted Jesus, "he left Him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13). So be careful; he will come back and try again.
The Word tells us that we are to "reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels" (II Timothy 2:23). And Titus 3:9 says to "avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." What it means by "genealogies" are speculative interpretations of the Old Testament. The Word of God says that arguments and debates are unprofitable and worthless! Indubitably, we can all agree on this, because in arguments and debates, especially with unbelievers going back and forth listing opinion after opinion for hours, what are you accomplishing? Above all, what are you accomplishing for God's glory? How is this argument or debate bringing any glory to God? This is a rhetorical question because it's obvious that such quarrels dishonour God's image. Being made in the image of God, we are dishonouring what He created us to become — His children in His image. "Ah," someone may say, "is it not right to resolve a dispute?" Proverbs 20:3, It is honourable for a man to resolve a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel. If you can peacefully resolve a dispute without including yourself in a quarrel, it is honourable.
I often say that we are soldiers of Christ, and some may argue that as soldiers it is our duty to defeat hostile arguments with our own logic and Word of God. If that were true, then such heated arguments would end each and every argument with the unbeliever as a believer without failure, but such does not happen. I have two points to make here. First, and shortly, as a veteran of the U.S. Army, a soldier knows that honour, respect, and mercy are more essential than taking out the enemy. As Christian soldiers, our values are the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And secondly, as soldiers of Christ, we wear the armour of God whereas those of the world are exposed with their weak flesh. They're missing the armour of God, and so their flesh is exposed and they are weak. They are not our enemies; Satan is the enemy. In the military, anyone not clearly wearing any hostile gear are considered non-combatants and it is considered both illegal and unethical to fire upon them. And with the Geneva Convention in effect (initiated by the United Nations), anyone who fires upon us and subsequently drops their weapon is also considered a non-combatant. We don't like that rule, but it's an international law and we are obligated to obey it. When we debate and argue with unbelievers, we are firing upon non-combatants, even if they attacked first. Always going on the offensive is the world view of a soldier, but as a Christian we are to remain in the line of defence against people.
I'm going to use Ephesians 6:10-17 as support for this, which is the passage that discusses the armour of God. In verse 11 it says to "put on the full armour of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil." This is the vital key! It says we are to wear the full armour of God in order to stand against the tactics of the Devil — his battle strategies. This is a defence tactic, not an offence. One of his tactics are the persecutions and arguments we face from unbelievers in order to create doubt within us and to dissuade us from believing in God. But we are to stand our ground in defence! "Ah," someone may say, "is coming back with a rebuttal not a form of defence?" It is a form of defence, yes, but this defence includes a tactic of offence in the which you attack back while defending. You are attacking and defending simultaneously — a counterattack — but the armour of God is simply defence against people. (The armour of God is only used offensively against Satan. I will explain this soon.) In your mind you may think you are simply defending your faith but you are doing so by attacking them. Verse 12 then goes on to tell us that "our battle is not against flesh and blood," which can be unbelieving people, "but against... the world powers of this darkness, [and] against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." Our battle is not against these unbelievers but against the darkness and evil of the words they're speaking, which is Satan working through them. Satan formulates the tactic and these unbelievers are just the means to an end, and so I repeat: the enemy is Satan, not these unbelievers. And verse 13 tells us "this is why you take up the full armour of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day" — the day(s) these quarrels occur — "and having prepared everything, to take your stand." This is exactly what defence is — preparing yourself to stand against the forces of evil, not marching directly into it (that's offence). The use of the word preparation is very important here because as you'll see, all these forms of defence that Scripture gives us can only be strong enough if we prepare against the attacks of the dark forces, which comes with experience as well as making mistakes.
So now the question is, "What is the composition of the armour of God and how do we utilise it?" Well, it's given to us in verse 14-17, which I'm going to walk you through. It tells us to stand "with truth like a belt around your waist." Anyone can use this to argue that truth is to speak it against unbelievers in their debate because they speak lies. No, they are wrong. And again, our enemy to be offensive against is Satan, not people. It says to stand with truth "like a belt." What does a belt do? It supports your foundation so that you won't fall. Like a belt, we are to utilise what we know about the truth of God's Word to support the foundation of our faith so that we don't fall. Don't take the belt off and start beating people with it; that's not what it was designed to do. When we are faced with these persecutions and arguments, we are to exercise our knowledge of the truth of God's Word in maintaining the foundation of our faith — our faith unwavering.
Next, it says to stand with "righteousness like armour on your chest." Armour on the chest takes a heavy beating, but you still stand firm in your chest plate. Likewise, our righteousness takes a heavy beating, but we are to stand firm in it. However, we have to be careful not to be self-righteous; that is always a danger, and many Christians fall into it. There may be some questions in your mind right now, such as: "What is righteousness," and/or, "How are we righteous when we are guilty of sin?" Righteousness is "God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction" (Romans 3:22). By believing in Christ and having faith in whom He was, is, and is to come while being cognisant of your sin but not remaining shameful of your sin due to the graceful forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ, you are righteous. If you allow these words spoken by unbelievers to penetrate the armour on your chest by making you not believe anymore or doubt and feel guilty and shame for your sin, you damage your righteousness and risk destroying it. It's not just what these people say that puts your righteousness in danger, but mostly the doubts you create and ruminate upon as a result of their slander. Also, another note, Christians are called to judgement, contrary to popular belief, but not the judgement we all think of when we hear or read the word. When Jesus teaches, " 'judge not, that ye be not judged' " (Matthew 7:1), He is not talking about simply judging people by sizing them up in one glance. He is saying that we are not to judge (condemn) people to Hell. The word that is used here in the Greek for the word "judge" is κρίνω (krinō). It means to "separate, select," or "choose" and hence "to determine," and therefore "to pronounce judgement." In its use here, the use of this verb means to assume the office of a judge. If you're a judge, what do you do? You sentence someone to death or imprisonment. This is what Jesus is telling us not to do. Do not put yourself in the position of a judge and sentence someone to the death and imprisonment of Hell. This is why Jesus said in John 7:24, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement." But what in God's name (literally) is righteous judgement? Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter seven with His "speck in the eye" parable. Righteous judgement is to examine your own self first — your own sins and imperfections ("the log that is in your own eye," verse 3). Look to God's Word to see what it says about your own sins and fix it ("first take the log out of your own eye," verse 5a). Then after you have completed that self-examination you can then examine somebody else's sins and see what Scripture has to say about their sin ("and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye," verse 5b). Jesus calls people who don't do this hypocrites (v. 5a). The judgement you are to come up with, after self-examination, is this: "They are a sinner just like me. Scripture says this about their sin, and I must love them and help them to overcome it, just as I have suffered in sin."
I got a little sidetracked there, but it was a necessary digression. Let's move on with the next piece of armour. In verse 15 it says to stand with "your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace." This is a lot simpler than the subject of righteousness. It simply means to always be ready to tell others about the Gospel. Now, anyone can say here that this contradicts everything I've said up to this point. That's not necessarily true. If you tell somebody about the Gospel and they just choose to argue, that's not your problem and so you are to move elsewhere to somebody else who is willing to listen and discuss it maturely, leading to their possible repentance and their acceptance of Jesus Christ. You're not giving up on them because there is still the power of prayer. Spreading the Gospel is not for the sake of argument and debate. By debating with people and pointing out how sinful they are, you are simply preaching Law, not Gospel. The Law is still applicable in some regards, but you cannot preach the Law without offering the Gospel; the Gospel is the whole point of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is grace. God did not give us His Word to debate with people; He spoke to us in order that we may lead people to Christ so that they may be free from the bondage of sin and that they might know Him and in turn inherit His kingdom as co-heirs and as God's children. However, if somebody is sincerely intrigued and is asking you questions simply out of curiosity and intrigue and wishes to know what Christianity is all about, then answer them accordingly in the Spirit. There is a huge difference between a mature, gentle discussion and a raging quarrel. If an unbeliever is arguing with you, he or she is not interested in being saved or having their mind changed; they've already made up their mind so you would just be wasting your time and their time. This is why you must pray for them on your own time. Jesus commands us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). If an unbeliever is asking you questions without argument and is looking for answers, then they're obviously looking for a change that only God can offer that they wish to understand. So put on the sandals of the gospel of peace and always be ready to teach others of the Gospel.
In verse 16 we are told: In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. First, let me emphasise that it says "the evil one," which is Satan, not people. A shield is the most used form of defence, and what is this shield? Our faith. I find it very interesting that the very thing we have to protect is also one of the greatest forms of defence, and it is because faith can be that strong. It is imperative that we get to the point where our faith is so unwavering that we can deflect the flaming arrows of Satan. So basically our faith has to be so strong that the tactics Satan decides to attack our faith with are ultimately ineffective. This is a true challenge, and it takes a very long time to get there, but it is very achievable. Next, in verse 17 we are told to "take the helmet of salvation." Our salvation is our inheritance in God's kingdom with Christ Jesus, and we are to use that knowledge of our salvation to protect our minds from dark and evil thought patterns. You have the ultimate inheritance to be with our Lord in God's kingdom! That is a glorious thing! Wear that knowledge and keep your chin up and keep looking forward to that moment! Therefore, do not allow the words of unbelievers to sizzle in your mind and distract you from that promise. They don't have that promise, but you do. So put on the helmet of this inherited salvation and protect your mind against these vile, insidious words that unbelievers speak — do not allow yourself to lie awake at night thinking of these things that the unbeliever said. If you find yourself in this situation, pray. Talk to God. Be absolutely sure of your salvation and what the Word of God says about it and who you are in Christ, as God the Father sees you.
Lastly, it says to take "the sword of the Spirit, which is God's Word." Here, someone may say, "Ah! A sword! You use a sword for attacking!" That is one use of it, yes, but you can also use a sword to defend yourself by blocking out attacks — cancelling them out. We attack Satan with God's Word, but we defend ourselves against people with God's Word. Allow me to explain. We are not to use the sword of God's Word to attack others because when we do that it always leads to condemnation that comes from the Law instead of the grace of the Gospel — doing so is using God's wrath against them. Rather, we are to defend our faith against the words of the world that Satan puts into action in order to block them from puncturing our faith, cancelling them out; and we are to do this by remembering and reading God's Word. Use Jesus as an example when He stood against the temptations of Satan when He was in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Yes, Jesus actually used the Word of God to physically speak against the Devil, and that's exactly the point. He attacked the Devil with God's Word, not a human being, and the end result was that Satan fled from Him. Sure, at times Jesus made known to the Pharisees that they were hypocrites and sinners, but He also made very known to them that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). They just refused to believe, and there are many reasons why, which I won't get into right now. I'll use a personal example as well. Usually when unbelievers start to insult me with numerous profanities, I simply tell them that they're actually doing me a favour because by their persecutions and insults, they are blessing me, according to Matthew 5:11-12. I have that Scripture memorised, and I quote it to them. They either have nothing to say to that or they continue with their rude and spiteful remarks, which is my cue to walk away. That's all you have to do. Memorise Scripture; it really helps. When I paraphrase or quote that passage to them, it is not in argument or in condemnation; I'm just simply making it known to them that their words neither offend me, confuse me, nor change my mind. I have made up my mind just as they have made up theirs, and there is nothing they can do about it.
Remember in verse 12 that it says our battle is not against flesh and blood, which are people. Do not attack people with the sword of God's Word. Their words (and our own thoughts) create doubts in our minds and that's when we attack with the sword of God's Word against Satan, and he shall flee (James 4:7). Attack the lies that you allow Satan to form in your mind with the sword of God's Word. When you speak the Word of God against peoples' accusations and "logic," they are so arrogant and ignorant that they just keep on attacking; they don't run away. This is why I make the wise choice to walk away because it just simply isn't worth it. What's the point in arguing with someone who refuses to be objective and have a mature discussion? There is no point. Since they keep on attacking, we then have to use God's Word as a sword to block and cancel out their blunt blows on our faith by reminding ourselves in our mind what the Word of God says against their purported and perpetual logic and accusations. In case you haven't figured it out yet, the purpose of putting on the armour of God is not just to be capable of fighting against Satan, but also to remain defensive against His wiles through any means he uses, protecting your faith. Since our battle is not against flesh and blood but against these dark powers and forces, doing everything I just described is our only form of offence in battling against these spiritual forces, as well as the only form of defence against flesh and blood — the wiles of Satan. As they say in sports, "Your best offence is a good defence." How true that is for the Christian faith! By defending your faith against Satan's dark forces you are also fighting against it, for he runs away (remember James 4:7). But remember, after Satan had tempted Jesus, "he left Him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13). So be careful; he will come back and try again.
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