Not Ignorant of His Devices

The Battle

Paul names something worth taking seriously here, devices, plural, specific, patterned tactics, not random, undirected attack, and he claims, on behalf of genuine believers, we are not ignorant of them. Ignorance, this verse suggests, is precisely what gives the enemy his actual advantage.

This is worth examining against however much your own vulnerability has come specifically from not recognizing a familiar pattern, being caught by the same device repeatedly because it was never actually identified and named, rather than because it was genuinely new or unpredictable each time.

Notice get an advantage, the specific outcome ignorance produces. This names real, practical stakes, not merely theoretical concern. Remaining ignorant of these devices is not neutral. It actively cedes ground, giving the enemy opportunity that awareness alone could have denied him.

Consider today whether you can actually name the specific devices that have most repeatedly gained advantage against you, discouragement, comparison, isolation, whatever pattern recurs. Naming it accurately is itself a genuine step toward the awareness this whole movement is building, denying the enemy the advantage ignorance provides.