Tag Archives: armor

Before your head hits the pillow

Put on the Whole Armor of God

Leave a comment

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

As Christians, we must always remember that we are in the midst of a spiritual war. It is not a war of physical bullets or missiles. It is a battle against the evils of the world. It is a battle against greed, against arrogance, a battle against lying, a battle against gossip, or a battle against spreading discontent among believers. It is a battle against the devil himself.

2 Corinthians 10:3,4 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

2 Timothy 2:3&4 – You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

But Paul teaches us what we can do to prepare ourselves for the battle.

Each day, most of us get up and take a shower. Then we determine what cloths we will wear for the day, brush our teeth, tend to our hair and then we are ready for the day, but are we?

Do we take as much time dressing ourselves for the spiritual battles of the day?

Each day we should make sure that we equip ourselves with the BELT OF TRUTH.

In armor, the belt is needed to secure other pieces of armor. The rest of the armor does not function well without the belt being attached firmly in place. Just as God’s truth undergirds everything for our daily lives. If we did not have the truth, nothing in our arsenal would be effective. John 14:6 states that Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus is our truth.

Next we need to take on the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. In the suit of armor, the breastplate protects the heart and other vital organs. We are deemed righteous only through Christ, not by anything that we can do. Understanding that we are deemed righteous only through the grace of the Lord keeps us humble. It also reassures us that no matter what happens in our lives that we are His. Nothing can pierce our hearts and take his redemption away from us!

After we have fitted ourselves with the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, next we must arm ourselves with the SHIELD OF FAITH.

The shield was the warrior’s first line of defense. It was strapped firmly to his arm as faith must be strapped firmly to us as we face the world. Faith is our first defense against doubt. When we go into battle, we cannot afford to have a tinfoil shield of faith. Our faith must be strong and thick, strong enough to take any arrow or accusation the devil throws at us.

Then we must put on the HELMET OF SALVATION. Salvation is the knowledge that we are sinners, that we must accept Jesus as our Savior and repent of our sins.

The helmet guards our head. Knowledge of salvation comes from our head. There are going to be times that we doubt, but we must rely on that shield of faith, and the knowledge of salvation to get through those times. The helmet of salvation protects our head from false teaching and those who would lead us astray.

The next part of our uniform is GOSPEL OF PEACE SHOES. During our struggles hear on earth, we are going to have to be sure footed. We are going to stand firm in order not to slip. These shoes will help us side-step the enemy and will allow us to bring the good news to all mankind. Sharing the gospel of salvation ultimately brings about peace between God and man.

And then we must pick up the SWORD OF GOD’S WORD. This is the only offensive weapon in our suit of armor. Hebrews 4:12 states: For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. An acute knowledge of the Word of God is our best defense AND offense in this world’s battles.

And the last of our armaments is PRAYER. Not just some prayer, but praying in the Spirit on all occasions.

Just as you wouldn’t go to work tomorrow morning minus your pants, or without your shoes, you cannot be prepared for the struggles of the day without placing on THE ENTIRE ARMOR.

You need TRUTH, FAITH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SALVATION, SHARING OF THE GOSPEL, THE WORD, and PRAYER! You need all of them to battle well!

God has given us everything we need to engage in this spiritual war, it is up to us to make sure that we get dressed every morning!

 

Before your head hits the pillow

Are You Vulnerable to Attack?

Leave a comment

No one wants to be vulnerable to attack.  We do a lot to keep ourselves safe.  Many people install security systems in their homes.  Our cars come with theft alarms.  Women carry mace on their key chains.  Each day hundreds of women, all across the country, take self-defense classes.  We are cautious about traveling alone and we no longer pick up hitch hikers.  Our world is just not safe.

So here is the question, if we take so many precautions to keep our bodies safe, why don’t we take as many if not more to keep both our body and soul safe?

Have you ever watched the nature channel and seen an episode that shows a lion on the prowl?  The lions surround their prey.  They look for a weak animal, one that is small or wounded.  Then they isolate that animal.  The separate the most vulnerable in the herd from the pack and then attack.

That is not much different than how the devil and his demons go about their attacks on us.  They look for any weakness they can exploit.  If a marriage isn’t going well, they introduce a third party to tempt.  If you are a new Christian the devil may surround you with your old friends, friends who do things that you have turned your back on.  The devil also wants to isolate you from the body of believers.  When you go to church you have the protection of the body of believers.  They are there to pray for you.

But the devil wants to isolate you.  He wants to take you away from anyone who can build you up or keep you strong so he isolates you from other believers.

The devil wants you to be weak so he certainly doesn’t want you to be aware of the armor of God. But we can learn how to strengthen ourselves for battle with the enemy by reading Ephesians 6:10-18, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

So there you go, if you don’t want to be vulnerable to spiritual attack, be spiritually strong by placing on the full armor of God and by surrounding yourself with others who love the Lord.  Run in a pack of Christians! We are stronger when we are many.  We are more productive when we are praying together. We are a greater force when we gather together with other Christians.

You can make excuses for not gathering together with other Christians, but know this, you are making yourself vulnerable to spiritual attacks.  You can make excuses for not undergirding yourself with Scripture but you are making yourself as vulnerable as a weak antelope, isolated from the rest of the herd as the lions attack.

The devil’s attacks and schemes will always be out there, but so will that armor and the body of Christ!  Begin your battle preparation now, put on that armor and join the army of Christ’s fellow servants.

Tomorrow I will repost a piece on what the full armor of God really is.  Stay tuned.