A Servant Of God - The Armor Of God

The Armor Of God

Ephesians 6:10-20

10 "Finally,be strong in the Lord and His Mighty Power. 11 Put on the

full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's

schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against

the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil

comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and after you have done

everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the 'belt of truth' buckled

around your waist, with the 'breastplate of righteousness' in place,

15 and with your 'feet fitted with the readiness' that comes from the

gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the 'shield of faith',

with which you can extinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17 Take up the 'helmet of salvation' and the 'sword of the spirit',

which is the word of God. 18 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. 19 Pray also for me,

that whenever I open my mouth, works may be given me so that I will

fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an

ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Ephesians 6:10-17

In the Christian life we battle against rulers and authorities(the powerful

evil forces of fallen angels headed by satan, who is a vicious fighter, see

1 Peter 5:8)

1 Peter 5:8 - "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls

around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

To withstand their attacks, we must depend on God's strength and use

every piece of his armor. Paul is not only giving counsel to the church,

the body of Christ, but to all individuals within the church. The whole

body needs to be armed. As you do battle against 'the powers of the

dark world,' fight in the strength of the church, whose power comes from

the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 6:12

Those who are not 'flesh and blood' are demons over whom satan has

control. They are not mere fantasies - they are very real. We face a

powerful army whose goal is to defeat Christ's church. When we believe

in Christ, these beings become our enemies, and they try every device to

turn us away from Him and back to sin. Although we are assured of

victory, we must engage in the struggle until Christ returns, because

satan is constantly battling against all who are on the Lord's side.

We need supernatural power to defeat satan, and God has provided

this by giving us the Holy Spirit within us and His armor surrounding us.

If you feel discouraged, remember Jesus' words to Peter: "On this rock

I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it"

(Matthew 16:18)

Ephesians 6:18

How can we pray on all occations? One way is to make quick, brief

prayers your habitual response to eery situation you meet throughout

the day. Another way is to order your life around God's desires and

teachings so that your very life becomes a prayer. You don't have to

isolate yourself from other people and from daily work in order to pray

constantly. You can make prayer your life and your life a prayer while

living in a world that needs God's powerful influence. "Praying for all the

saints" means praying for all believers in Christ; so pray for the

Christians you know and for the church around the world.

Ephesians 6:19, 20

Undiscouraged and undefeated, Paul wrote powerful letters of

encouragement from prison. Paul did not ask the Ephesians to pray that

his chains would be removed, but that he would continue to speak

fearlessly for Christ in spite of them. God can use us in any

circumstances to do His Will. Even as we pray for a change in our

circumstances, we should also pray that God will accomplish His plan

through us right where we are. Knowing God's eternal purpose for us

will help us through the difficult times.

Application

- Satan fights with lies, and sometimes his lies sound like

the truth; but only believers have God's truth, which can

defeat satan's lies.

- Satan often attacks our hearts - the seat of our emotions,

self-worth, and trust. God's righteousness is the

breastplate that protects our hearts and ensures His

approval. He approves of us because He Loves us and

sent His Son to die for us.

- Satan wants us to think that telling the others the Good

News is a worthless and hopeless task - the size of the

task is too big and the negative responses are too much to

handle. But the footgear God gives us is the motivation

to continue to proclaim the true peace that is available

in God - news everyone needs to hear.

- What we see are Satan's attacks in the form of insults,

setbacks, and temptations. But the shield of faith protects

us from satan's flaming arrows. With God's perspective,

we can see beyond out circumstances and know that

ultimate victory is ours.

- Satan want's to make us doubt God, Jesus, and our

salvation The helmet protects our minds from doubting

God's saving work for us.

- The sword is the only weapon of offense in this list of

armor. There are times when we need to take the offense

against satan. When we are tempted, we need to trust in

the truth of God's Word.