The Armor of God(Eph 6)

[Christ's Free Servant]

Thanks, guys, you've helped a lot. I'm now putting on the Armour daily!

billie,

I used to have that same struggle. I thought it was some kind of routine that I had to perform each day, but it is not like that at all. It is just applying the truth of God's word in our lives and circumstances each day as we encounter the onslought of the enemy. It begins by first of all having faith in Jesus Christ and then we must develop that relationship through time spent in his word and in prayer and in obedience. Every time we resist Satan, flee temptation and draw near to God, we are in essence putting on the armor of God.

For instance, the first thing we are told to do is to stand firm with the belt of truth around our waist. Basically, that just means to stand on the truth in everything you face each day, especially the lies of Satan and the world that are thrown at us each and every day. But, in order to do that, we must know the truth, which then goes back to spending time in God's word every day. The breastplate of righteousness, I believe, is holy living. If we want to fight the enemy, we can't be living in his camp. We have to be set apart from the world. So many people play with temptation and then wonder why they give in. The shield of faith means knowing what you believe so that when Satan throws his lies at you, you can extinguish his lies with a strong faith in what the Bible teaches.

The sword of the Spirit is the most important one to me. I used to put on all the defensive weapons until Satan wore me down or found the cracks in my armor and then I gave up and gave in. Once I learned that I had to put on the sword of the Spirit, my offensive weapon, then I began to win the battles. So many people lose the battle against Satan because they respond to the enemies attacks with only defensive weapons. We have to be ready with the word of God so that when Satan begins to attack, we are ready to attack back. One of the greatest parts of that weapon is in understanding that the battle is already won. Christ won it on the cross. All we have to do is claim the victory that is ours in Jesus Christ, and we do that through our offensive weapon, the word of God.

One other part of that offensive weapon for me is to understand the sovereignty of God. We lose so many battles, I think, because we do not understand that God is there in everything in our lives and that nothing we go through escapes his notice, and he is absolutely and totally involved in every aspect of our lives. I remember telling him one time, "but God, you don't understand!" Funny now, but I was dead serious. I truly thought that God was somehow limited by my circumstances. I am obviously not the only one - look at how many people worry and fret over the circumstances of their lives. They obviously are believing the same lie I was. So, the sword of the Spirit is the truth of God's word that we can use to fight those lies and to accept whatever God brings into our lives, that it is there for a purpose and that God will bring us through it and will accomplish his purposes in our lives if we will just surrender to his sovereign will.

This is how we put on the armor of God each and every day.