"Put on the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor
of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done
everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with
truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your
feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up
the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming
arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all
times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all
perseverance and petition for all the saints," Ephesians 6:11-18
A belt,
breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword.
What do these have in common? While
each of these items serve a specific purpose, how do they fare on their own? Which would you choose?
Surely, the shield would be the
best choice. It is a defensive
weapon. It can protect you from a
variety of attacks, right? How will that
one shield hold up against attacks from several positions at once? Ok, a sword in skilled hands can really do
some damage. How well can that sword
protect you against a speeding arrow? Let’s
try the helmet! It will keep your head
covered, but the rest of your body is vulnerable. Fine, the breastplate then! While it may protect your heart and other
vital organs, you can still be cut down at the knees. Give
up yet?
Surprisingly, this is how many of
us Christians attempt to “arm” ourselves daily.
We are not dressed for battle. We
aren’t even half-dressed. Let’s be
real. If we try to go into battle with
just one or two of those items, we wouldn’t last long. It doesn’t matter how well you think your
skills are with what you select, the enemy thrives on victory through
weakness. Satan excels in finding our
weakest areas and exploiting them against us.
Having truth is nothing if Satan twists it to not include God’s
plan. Having righteousness won’t last
without the Word to understanding the foundation of righteousness. What good is having faith without accepting
salvation through Christ? Again, Satan
is crafty. He even challenged our Savior
with scripture, correct? Refer to Luke
4:1-13.
Satan tempted Jesus with hedonism
(satisfaction from hunger). Jesus had
fasted and was hungry, so Satan appealed to His humanity of needing food. Jesus replied that more than bread was needed
to survive, the Word was also required.
Satan tried to work on Jesus’s ego by telling him to jump off a high
tower. He was Jesus, nothing would
happen to Him, quoting from Psalm 91 that He would be protected by angels. The Son’s again replied that God is not to be tested. God/Jesus is the very essence of
righteousness. Again, Satan tempted with
wealth and materialism; offering all the Earth’s kingdom if Jesus bowed to him. Jesus countered that only God is to be
worshipped. Every time Satan tried a new
form of attack, Jesus had a new strategy to repel the attack.
The point is, each and every one of
us should be prepared with EVERY item that God provides for us. We need FAITH in the one that brought our
SALVATION. We need to be armed with GOD’S
WORD which gives us the only TRUTH. We
must have PEACE from Jesus’s teaching to get us through the troubled
times. Having all of those, we will be
successful in following the path of RIGHTEOUSNESS. Helping each other obtained the missing
pieces of our armor will be the strength in being part of God’s army.
What parts of His armor are you
carrying? What parts do you require to
be better prepared?
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