The Armour of God (1 of 8)

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Spiritual Warfare

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour 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 armour 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 round 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.
Ephesians 6:10-18
I have what is known as a pre-existing condition, Diabetes, in these times of the Covid-19 pandemic, it means I have been trapped in my house for the past 9 months and not allowed out, without some severe restrictions. As you can imagine this has given me plenty of time to ponder things. Recently I turned back to my Bible, having blown the dust off it, and I have been looking, in some detail, at the book of Ephesians and coming to some profound realisations.
GreedWe live in a fallen world, full of war, fighting, greed, envy, unbelievable self-interest and love of self. Our earthly leaders do not seem interested in us, only in gaining power, status and self-interests, or putting down their fellow leaders. The industrialists are only interested in profit, and certainly not their customers. Pride FlagAnd individuals of this world also live the way they want. Except for local and national laws, individuals refuse to change the way they live and claim they have the right to do what they want when they want. LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender), is a movement gaining in popularity, even though not so long ago these were arrestable offences. Today LGBT is totally acceptable and no-one dares to criticise.

We live in a world that is conflicted, not only with itself but with God. A lot of people say there is no God. There are many different faiths, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and many more. All the faiths say I am right, I will worship God my way, and you may not disagree or even censure.

But, these are all lies, lies whispered to the world by an expert liar, Satan. Satan wants us to fall short (sin) and reject God and Jesus to have an eternity without God. The truth is we have a loving Father who has, through the sacrifice and resurrection of his wonderful son Jesus, already defeated Satan, and won for us a place with Him in eternity. The above passage repeats three times that we must “Stand Firm” against the devil’s schemes.

I say this as a man struggling to resist one of the modern world’s seductions. How do we “Stand Firm”? It is so difficult, we are surrounded by temptations on all sides. Hate pours down on us, other peoples opinions crush us and we are governed by fallen leaders. This is too much for any individual to stand up to, on our own we are defeated by the world and Satan’s lies.

The good news is we are not alone. God is not a distant and uncaring father. He is right beside us cheering us to victory. It is His strength with which we can stand firm. The same strength that created the whole universe and all that is in it in six days. As I have already mentioned, through the blood of Jesus, this strength has already defeated and imprisoned Satan. I say this as a man struggling to resist one of the modern world’s seductions. How do we “Stand Firm”? It is so difficult, we are surrounded by temptations on all sides. Hate pours down on us, other peoples opinions crush us and we are governed by fallen leaders. This is too much for any individual to stand up to, on our own we are defeated by the world and Satan’s lies.
The armour of GodAdditionally, God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”1 some of which we can choose to wear as a suit of armour to aid us to stand firm against the devil’s schemes. If we strap on this armour every day it will protect us from the flaming arrows of the evil one. If we use God’s strength, His armour, His protection for us, the truth, the truth that will set us free. We will win the race, with these gifts from God:
  • Truth, God created us, and we chose to turn away from Him. God’s rescue plan of Jesus dying as a sacrifice to redeem us, then rising to heaven to ensure us a place in His Father’s house, and He will come back to fetch all believers home. In other words, ALL of the bible, the God-breathed word of God.
  • Righteousness, our sinful nature is covered with the righteousness that comes from Jesus. Also, to make every effort to live a righteous life using these tools. Or as John Stott puts it “‘justification’, that is, God’s gracious initiative in putting sinners right with himself through Christ.2
  • The gospel of peace, Firstly Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, then love your neighbour as yourself3. , “the devil fears and hates the gospel, because it is God’s power to rescue people from his tyranny, both us who have received it and those with whom we share it”2.
  • Faith, that because of Jesus and the blood he shed, we matter, we are God’s children and we will sit with Jesus at the right hand of God for all eternity. “It is the shield of faith. God himself ‘is a shield to those who take refuge in him’, and it is by faith that we flee to him for refuge.”2
  • Salvation, We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus from death. We are no longer chained to our sinful nature and we are free to say no to sin.
  • Sword of the spirit (or the word of God) Using the scriptures to combat evil, all scripture is “God Breathed”4 and therefore the truth. Even Jesus combatted Satan’s temptations with the scriptures/the word of God.

Paul did not include this as part of the Armour of God, he finished the above verses withs another tool that we can use (verse 18) “be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people”. Talk to God ask for His protection over all His children, to bolster the armour He has given us. So that we can stand firm in His strength wearing His armour. God really does answer prayer.

So you see, “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, strap on your armour daily so that you may “Stand Firm” every day.

Footnotes

  1. Ephesians 1:3
  2. John Stott from his book The message of Ephesians.
  3. Matthew 22:37-38
  4. 2 Timothy 3:16

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