Armor of God
"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 saints." (Eph. 6:13-18).
This is fascinating, and might quite possibly be a little different from most encounters you've had
with the armor of God! Before we get to the interesting stuff, though, let's see what exactly
composes the "armor of God".
1. The belt of truth
2. The breastplate of righteousness
3. Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace...or shoes of readiness
(note this readiness comes from the gospel of peace)
4. The shield of faith
5. The helmet of salvation
6. The sword of the Spirit...which as noted, is the word of God...or the Bible
7. This last one is often overlooked as being part of the armor...prayer
At some point in the future, we hope to take a closer look at each one of these individually, but for
now, just a few basic points to ponder. Why are we told to wear put on the armor of God?
"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." (Vs.
11).
And, again...
"...so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand." (Vs. 13).
We are told to put on the armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes,
and that when the day of evil comes, we may be able to stand our ground, and after we have done
everything, to stand. (Notice it didn't say "if" the day of evil comes...but "when" the day of evil
comes!). In other words, it's for our own protection. Why did the knights of old wear armor? To
protect themselves! Why do our soldiers wear helmets and flak jackets? Why do policemen wear
bulletproof vests? Why do football players wear helmets and pads? To protect themselves, of
course.
One might think this would be obvious, but there are a lot of folks out there that are wearing the
armor of God, not for protection, but as a "status symbol" of sorts. There are others that seem to
try to use the armor of God as an offensive weapon...attacking anyone they can...including other
Christians...with it. Keep in mind that a breastplate can only be used as an offensive weapon if
it's being used to whack someone over the head! There are a good many Christians that aren't
even wearing their armor. This one probably describes most of us. We have it shined up really
nice and stacked in the corner...right on top of our Bibles. That's why we've become so
competent at having our (censored) kicked...we have no protection. Our protection is sitting over
there in the corner looking pretty, while we're running around naked getting whooped up on!
As a good many of you have probably already know, the only offensive weapon mentioned is the
sword of the Spirit. While it's true that the sword is an offensive weapon, we sometimes forget
that it's also a defensive weapon...used to ward of the blows of the enemy. You have to be able to
defend yourself successfully before you're in a position to attack anyone or anything! We all know
Christians that are so busy trying to shove their sword down somebody's throat, they don't even
notice they've got the devil sitting on their own back using their head for a tom-tom! (See? You
need to be wearing your helmet and using that sword for defense instead of offense! When
you're ready...then you can use it for offense!)
Those who aren't wearing their armor are defenseless. Those who aren't wearing it properly
have protection, but it's not very effective. And those who are wearing it for "status" or for
offensive reasons have already had their defenses breached by the enemy...he's behind the lines
and inside the city, bringing it down from within. So be sure to check your armor, will ya? Make
sure it's on...make sure it's on right and make sure it's being used right. You might have to make
a sweep of the perimeter and work on getting some of those infiltrators out of the city,
though...otherwise you're going to be constantly harassed by the enemy from within your own
lines! Anyway, on to the good stuff...
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 saints." (Eph. 6:13-18).
This is fascinating, and might quite possibly be a little different from most encounters you've had
with the armor of God! Before we get to the interesting stuff, though, let's see what exactly
composes the "armor of God".
1. The belt of truth
2. The breastplate of righteousness
3. Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace...or shoes of readiness
(note this readiness comes from the gospel of peace)
4. The shield of faith
5. The helmet of salvation
6. The sword of the Spirit...which as noted, is the word of God...or the Bible
7. This last one is often overlooked as being part of the armor...prayer
At some point in the future, we hope to take a closer look at each one of these individually, but for
now, just a few basic points to ponder. Why are we told to wear put on the armor of God?
"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." (Vs.
11).
And, again...
"...so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand." (Vs. 13).
We are told to put on the armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes,
and that when the day of evil comes, we may be able to stand our ground, and after we have done
everything, to stand. (Notice it didn't say "if" the day of evil comes...but "when" the day of evil
comes!). In other words, it's for our own protection. Why did the knights of old wear armor? To
protect themselves! Why do our soldiers wear helmets and flak jackets? Why do policemen wear
bulletproof vests? Why do football players wear helmets and pads? To protect themselves, of
course.
One might think this would be obvious, but there are a lot of folks out there that are wearing the
armor of God, not for protection, but as a "status symbol" of sorts. There are others that seem to
try to use the armor of God as an offensive weapon...attacking anyone they can...including other
Christians...with it. Keep in mind that a breastplate can only be used as an offensive weapon if
it's being used to whack someone over the head! There are a good many Christians that aren't
even wearing their armor. This one probably describes most of us. We have it shined up really
nice and stacked in the corner...right on top of our Bibles. That's why we've become so
competent at having our (censored) kicked...we have no protection. Our protection is sitting over
there in the corner looking pretty, while we're running around naked getting whooped up on!
As a good many of you have probably already know, the only offensive weapon mentioned is the
sword of the Spirit. While it's true that the sword is an offensive weapon, we sometimes forget
that it's also a defensive weapon...used to ward of the blows of the enemy. You have to be able to
defend yourself successfully before you're in a position to attack anyone or anything! We all know
Christians that are so busy trying to shove their sword down somebody's throat, they don't even
notice they've got the devil sitting on their own back using their head for a tom-tom! (See? You
need to be wearing your helmet and using that sword for defense instead of offense! When
you're ready...then you can use it for offense!)
Those who aren't wearing their armor are defenseless. Those who aren't wearing it properly
have protection, but it's not very effective. And those who are wearing it for "status" or for
offensive reasons have already had their defenses breached by the enemy...he's behind the lines
and inside the city, bringing it down from within. So be sure to check your armor, will ya? Make
sure it's on...make sure it's on right and make sure it's being used right. You might have to make
a sweep of the perimeter and work on getting some of those infiltrators out of the city,
though...otherwise you're going to be constantly harassed by the enemy from within your own
lines! Anyway, on to the good stuff...
Copyright © 2007 imonlywood.com All rights reserved.
 | |  | |  |