Have You Seen His Playbook? | Ephesians 6:11

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Ephesians 6:11

The devil has a playbook. The devil has a pre-set way of tempting you to sin sexually. You likely know this from bitter experience. But you also know it from God’s Word. In the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul tells the believers to put on the whole armor of God so that they can stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles means schemes. Schemes means a playbook.

The word “wiles” is methodeía in the Greek, properly, a “predictable (pre-set) method used in organized evil-doing (well-crafted trickery)” (Strong’s). It derives from the word methodos, a way of searching after something, an inquiry; a method. It means scheming, craftiness. This is why you and I need armor—to defend ourselves against predictable weapons and predictable methods of attack. That’s what armor is for, to protect you against the weapons you know your enemy is going to use against you.

I take great consolation in knowing that the devil has a playbook, a pre-set, predictable way of tempting me to sin sexually. Now that I know his playbook, I am less likely to get caught by surprise when temptation comes. I now know when I am tempted, where I am tempted, how I am tempted, and by whom I am tempted. I now know what tempts me. I have seen it all before, because I have been in this battle since I was 12 years old, and I am now 62 (I am writing this in 2022).

And now that I know that the devil has predictable ways of tempting me to look at pornography and to masturbate, I am ready to defend myself by putting on the whole armor of God. So, that’s actually two consolations I get from this passage. One is that I know the devil’s attacks are predictable. And the other is that I know I have a God-given defense against the devil’s methods. Knowing how and when I will be attacked is one thing. Having a divine defense against those attacks is even better. Thank you, Lord.