Ephesians Chapter Six
10 Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor 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 armor 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;
While doing my search on “faith”,
I ran across the full armor of God
and wanted to
share this with you.
Paul tells us to
put on the WHOLE armor of God.
And then he proceeds to explain what
each part of the armor does
and why.
What was an armor used for
in the first place?
For protection?
Protection from what?
Injury or even death right?
Protection from who?
The enemy right?
As Christians, do we have an enemy?
Of course we do.
It is Satan.
And it is Sin.
And the enemy literally wants
to kill us!
To destroy us, and prevent us
from doing God’s Will.
But God gives us all the necessary
equipment
to protect
ourselves
from this enemy.
And He tells us to USE it.
Not put on "some" of the armor,
or part of the armor,
but the FULL
Armor of God.
Let’s take a look at each verse,
(each part of the armor)
and see what they stand for
and why:
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might.
We are engaged in a fearful warfare.
And we need to be equipped for it.
We see it all around us, all the time.
As a christian,
we are not exempt from the enemy,
as a matter of fact, we stand out,
with a bullseye right on our chest!
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil.
Peoples NT Commentary says this:
Put on the whole armour of God.
The ancient soldier was not
equipped for war until he had
put on his armor.
Paul was at that time a
prisoner,
probably living near
the praetorian camp in Rome,
as he was by the Roman customs
under the charge
of the praetorian prefect.
It is possible that the figure
was suggested by the sights he so
often witnessed.
That ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
The great enemy.
The armor was designed
not only to protect,
but there were
weapons also with which to assail him.
Eph 6:12 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.
Back then, the fighting that took place
was hand grappling.
And even tho many times the attacks
seem to be in flesh and blood,
we need to remember that the attack
is truly spiritual.
Against principalities, against powers.
These terms designate
different rank of evil spirits.
These were fallen angels (see
#Ro 8:38).
The same terms are applied
to the different ranks of holy angels
in #Eph 1:21.
Satan is described as
the ruler of this world.
(Read chptrs. 12,14 & 16 in the book of John).
He uses whatever means he can
to sway people into darkness and
prevent them from keeping in the light.
That means evil people as well
as demons and spirits.
Eph 6:13 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.
In otherwords, prepare yourself
in every way and direction
because you will be
Confronted repeatedly.
But if you are prepared,
when it is over,
you will still be standing.
Victorious, not beaten down.
Hallelujiah!
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth,
and having on the breastplate
of righteousness;
The Roman soldier wore a girdle,
breast-plate, shoes with iron nails,
a helmet to protect his head,
and carried a great
shield on his left arm
which was thrown in front
of his body.
His weapon was the sword.
It was with the sword,
not the spear as other nations,
that the Romans conquered the world.
And these represent parts
of the Christian's spiritual armor.
The girdle kept the armor in place and
supported the sword.
So truth holds the Christian armor
and supports the sword of the Spirit.
The breast-plate was
over the lungs and heart.
If Christ's righteousness
is over our hearts,
they can hardly suffer harm.
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with
the preparation of the gospel of peace;
He is not talking about putting on shoes…
but to be prepared to carry the gospel,
to be a messenger of good tidings and peace.
Eph 6:16 Above all,
taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked.
The Roman oblong shield,
four and a half feet long,
covered the whole body,
and was a protection
of itself.
So faith,
the faith that fully trusts
in God and never doubts,
is the best of all defenses.
It will quench, stop, put out all
the doubts, whisperings and evil
suggestions of the wicked.
Fiery darts. These were missiles
hurled by the hand, and very
dangerous unless stopped by the shield.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God:
The Roman soldier wore on his head a
metallic cap to protect it from blows,
called a helmet.
#Isa 59:17
says:
"He put a helmet of salvation on his head".
(See also #1Th 5:8.)
Salvation, the consciousness that we have a Savior
"able to save unto the uttermost"
(#Heb 7:25).
Also…..
The sword of the spirit
( the Holy Spirit conquers thru the Christian)
and the word of God is the weapon.
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication
for all saints;
Praying always. Simply said.
We need to be continuously in prayer.
Keeping ourselves fed daily in His word,
hiding it in our heart,
fellowshipping with God
on a constant basis.
We are not like a gas tank on a car,
where it keeps running the same
until it gets low on fuel.
We can’t “store up” and then
hope to maintain the same level
of strength until we are ready
to come back and refill.
It doesn’t work that way.
And most of you know what I mean.
I know that I have tried it.
I find that it is subtle.
That in the beginning Im “okay”.
Then one day turns into two,
and then the little things
begin to creep in there.
Caught up in the rush of daily living.
There just isn’t enough “time” in one day
for all that needs to be done.
I remember that I didn’t start my day
with prayer and time in His word,
and I think,
“tonight” I will make time.
Then boom! The night is gone
and another day begins.
And on and on it goes.
We walk further away,
and the darts begin to hit,
some just pin pricks,
ahh I can handle it.
Then the big ones start coming.
And I am open prey.
And I begin to feel “dry” inside.
And then I realize just what happened.
I was in too much of a hurry,
and got a little self righteous
because when you are in fellowship with God,
you “feel” strong.
He IS your strength.
And maybe I remembered to
grab the helmet, but the rest of the armor
is still hanging in the closet.
A couple of years ago,
I did this same study with a group of children.
I found out that in midevil times,
the armor was of course very heavy and secure,
BUT there was one place in the armor
that was a weakness.
With all the skills and craftsmanship,
there was a small place just below the heart,
that was susceptible to the arrow.
It could penetrate the armour
if not protected by the shield.
You could be covered from head to toe
and still, if you were not
completely prepared and
used all parts of the protection,
the enemy could still get to you.
That really hit me hard at the time,
and I am reminded of it now.
How often does God give us the means
and the weapons and we don’t use them?
Something to think about.
I pray today, that you will keep
a visual picture in your mind
of the armor of God.
And if you have to,
mentally make a check list
of each part as you don the gear
that will keep you safe and strong
to be able to with stand the attacks
of the enemy at all times.
Father, thank you for
giving us what we need.
Thank you for looking out
for each of us.
Help us to discipline ourselves
to spending time with you.
Not out of obligation,
but because you truly do
have the answers to all things
regarding our lives.
You are our God, our Father,
our Protector, and our Friend.
We believe that You,
who began a good work in us
are faithful to complete it.
Help us to hold on to that,
and look forward to the
exciting things ahead,
hand in hand with You.
In Jesus precious name we pray,
Amen.
