Spiritual Armour

Ephesians 6

 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

My church sermon today looked at Ephesians 6 verses 10 to 20 and was entitled Spiritual Warfare. As I opened up my bible I noticed that I had put in a study in the spine of my bible by Stormie Omartian entitled The 7 Day Prayer Warrior Experience. There are some good points in this and I thought I would share them.

Notice in verses 10 and 11 we are given a command. We are told to "stand against" which really means to stand in front of and in opposition to the forces and plans of evil. It means to be the one standing after the battle but also to be in preparation for the next battle. Why does Jesus give us spiritual weapons if he doesnt want us to use them? We are  not waring against people but a spiritual hierarchy of invisible power. We are not only to use our armour to protect and defend ourselves from them but also to go on the offensive against them as well. When we do that we close doors to the enemy and open doors to the will of God to be done on earth. We advance God's kingdom. Our spiritual armour not only protects us from the enemy, it also gives us what we need in order to push against him.

What is the armour? Paul used the Roman soldiers guarding him in the prison as his model.

"Gird your waist with truth." The Roman soldier had girded their waist with something like what a weight bearer wears to give him strength and support so that he would not hurt the core of his body.  We too must tightly surround ourselves with truth and not allow anything other than the truth to enter into our thinking or situation. Knowing the truth liberates us from all possibility of deception and illuminates darkness in our lives. We need to not only know the truth but know it so that it becomes part of us and we live it. It is God's truth that sets us free.

Secondly the breastplate of righteousness. This kept the soldier's heart guarded from being fatally wounded. It is Jesus' perfect righteousness that covers our heart - Jesus sees this when he looks at us. The soldier must put this on and we too must choose to live God's way. God's righteousness protects our hearts from any mortal wounds and assures us that the enemy can never destroy us because of sin.

The third part of the armour is the "feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." The Roman soldier had special shoes or boots for protecting their feet. They were strong military shoes studded on the bottom of the soles in such a way similar to cleats. As a prayer warrior we need to have the foundation we walk in to be solid and protective. Having peace with God and peace in God is an unshakeable foundation from which we can defend ourselves and stay standing strong. The word preparation means that the gospel of peace has already been accomplished. It has already been prepared for you, you only have to walk in it. It is hard to imagine having that peace at times but that is what the enemy wants to do - to steal our peace and keep us anxious, fearful, upset and always in a stance of waiting for something terrible to happen at any minute. The enemy wants us unable to forget the terrible things that occurred in the past and instead remember them as though they happened yesterday. God has healing for upsetting memories. We do still remember what has happened but not all the time and not with the same pain and torture. Jesus made it possible for us to have the peace that passes all understanding - the kind that carries us, stabilises us, grounds us and keeps us from slipping.

I can personally testify to all of this! The devil is my enemy today and he plagues me constantly with memories of mistakes I have made, of things that shouldn't have happened but I take strength in the fact that he is a defeated enemy because of Jesus' blood. There are times when those memories rise to the forefront of my memory but it is then that I turn to God's word and remind myself of all Jesus has done for me and continues to do for me every day. He continually keeps me from a defeatist attitude and you can know that power too.

The next piece of armour is "the shield of faith". In Roman times the weapons used were arrows and swords. Sometimes flaming arrows and darts were shot over walls to set people and their house on fire. In the same way the devil shoots spiritual arrows at us today. Discouragement, fear, anxiety, uncertainty are some examples of these arrows.  The shield we have provides powerful protection. When we put our faith in God and his son we start out having small faith but it grows stronger as we read the bible and spend time in prayer talking to God daily. The Bible tells us that it is our faith in God and his faithfulness to us that becomes a shield for us. So focus on God, his word and his faithfulness to do what he says. Our faith must grow strong enough to believe for the impossible because we believe in the God of the impossible and with him all things are possible.

Next is the "helmet of salvation". This is protection for the head. In our minds we need protection from the lies of the devil. The devil wants to blind us to everything Jesus died for us to have. He wants us to feel worthless, rejected, weak, unimportant, hopeless and unlovable. Sometimes he can tempt us to go in the opposite way - to be full of pride. By renewing our minds we will be able to see ourselves as God sees us - as sons and daughters of the Creator and King of the universe. We are royalty! Jesus wants us to wear the helmet of salvation - the crown distinguishes us. We put it on the moment we receive Christ as our own and personal Saviour but we must remember what Jesus saved us for and who we are in him.

The last piece of armour is "the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God". Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness - what did Jesus do in response? He used the word of God. No spiritual battle can be fought and won without our greatest weapon, the word of God. God's word was inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is God breathed. Each writer of the bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the words of God. The word of God is so powerful that it is a double edged sword in our hands. That means it is a defensive as well as an offensive weapon. Once you receive the Lord, the Holy Spirit in you brings the word alive to your mind, your soul and your spirit every time you read it. The Bible is alive. It is living and it has power today. Every time you read God's word it will become more firmly planted in your mind and heart. It will protect you from the devil's attacks. Put it on every morning like a protective garment. Speak the word, pray the word, live the word and let it live in you so that it becomes part of your armour.

The chapter continues by telling us to be persistent in our praying. It is not intermittent start and stop whenever I am desperate kind of praying. It is deliberate. It is with knowledge of what we are doing and why. It is praying always with every kind of prayer in the Spirit, meaning it is Holy Spirit ignited. It is also important to pray according to God's will. How do we do that? By having the word of God woven into our hearts and our prayers. Jesus said to keep asking and keep praying.

The soldier keeps his battle gear on even when sleeping just in case there is a surprise attack. We need to do the same. Every morning we need to put it on so that we are fresh and new, polished so that we have maximum protection every day and at night it will protect us when we sleep.

Part of our protective armour is our own praying. Every day consistent praying. Our prayers are not answered because of good behaviour but our obedience to God. This is evidence that we are in alignment with his will. We need to accomplish what God wants. He is our priority and our greatest desire is to him.