Saturday, March 6, 2010

Putting on the Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

How does one go about putting on this armor?

Let's look at what we are "putting on" when we put on the armor:

  1. The belt of Truth
  2. The breastplate of righteousness
  3. Shoes of the gospel of peace
  4. Shield of faith
  5. Helmet of salvation
  6. Sword of the Spirit
  7. Prayer

Now, should I say some words or sing a song to put on this armor? Is there some sort of daily ritual I can go through each morning that would entail the putting on of the armor, or is there more to it than an act of religious mimicry?

The armor of God is a lifestyle that one must lead and constantly maintain in order to protect one's self from the attacks of Satan. It is not a magic spell or just a simple metaphor, it is an inspection list of the points of vulnerability that Satan uses against each of us as we live out our daily lives as Christians, wives, husbands, children, slaves, and masters. You cannot put the armor of God on in a couple of minutes in the morning. Preparing to go into spiritual warfare and putting on the armor of God may take years to accomplish, and then each point is inspected and maintained daily.

1. The Belt of Truth:

Pray that God would reveal to you any lie you are believing, and allow you to expose it, turn from it, and walk in the truth. Satan is a liar and he uses lies to hold us in bondage and keep us from knowing God's will and doing the good work that God would have us to do. We cannot be effective for God if we are accepting a lie as truth. There are times when we will militanty be ignorant of the truth. We become comfortable in lies of victim-hood, conflict avoidance, and other shirks of responsibility. Even when the truth is presented to us by trusted people using the word of God as thier foundation, if we are not daily seeking to put on the "belt of truth" we will dismiss the truth and hold on to the lie in order to avoid the pain or humiliation of exposing the lie and repenting of the lifestyle or misconceptions the lie has caused us to embrace.

Without the belt of truth, which holds all the other armor together, we are completely vulnerable as none of our other defenses will be secured upon our bodies.

2. The Breastplate of Righteousness:

Satan uses sin to isolate and dominate a person. So we must pray that the Holy Spirit would convict us of any sin that Satan would use against us. When we put on the belt of truth we will see lies that we are believing that are causing us to sin. Once we see the truth, it is now necessary to put on the breastplate of righteousness by repenting of the sin that the truth revealed to us. Repenting of the sin means to recognize the sin, name it to God and to others in our Christian fellowship, and to stop doing it. Obviously any willful acts of sin must be eliminated from our lives. Public sin is obvious and if we are ignorant of it the fellowship of believers that we associate with should be able to point this sin out to us. Public sin would be like a gaping hole in our breast plate, it is very evident and it obviously needs to be fixed quickly if we are to be protected. Secret sin as well as habitual sin causes us withdraw from God and from Christian fellowship in order to continue in and hide the sin. Our withdrawal may be in the form of physical removal, or it may be in the form of lies or omissions used to cover up the sin. Secret sin would be like having a breast plate that from all outward appearances looks like a solid peice of armor, but upon closer inspection is found to be made of well crafted, but very weak tin foil. If we were to go into battle knowingly wearing a breastplate that is made from tin foil, we will be an easy target for the enemy.

3. Shoes of the Gospel of Peace:

Repentance of sin in order to strive toward righteous living is the beginning, this is the breastplate of righteousness. The gospel of peace is the Gospel of love and forgiveness. Sin often causes us to hurt others. When we repent of some kinds of sin it is not enough just to stop the sin, we may be required to make amends with another person that we harmed while we were in our sin. The shoes of the gospel of peace cause us to get up and go make things right with others, and also to actively extend forgiveness to those who have done us wrong. Satan uses our sin against God and against one another to divide our relationships and thwart our abilities to work together to further the Kingdom. The defense against this attack is two fold, first is the breastplate of rightesouness which stops the sin, and second is the shoes of the gospel of peace which go out and make right the wrong our sins caused to others and forgive the wrongs that others sins caused to us. Satan's attacks on relationships are neutralized by use of the Gospel of Peace, which is forgiveness.

4. Shield of Faith:

Satan only real power against us is the power to deceive us and in doing so convincing us to sin. Satan's deceptions will not vary much from the deception he used to cause Adam and Eve to fall. His basic question is this "Did God really say...?" These questions are the flaming darts that Satan shoots at us. Each one designed to have us doubting God's goodness, his love for us, his sovereignty, or even his existence. Standing behind the shield of our faith easily deflects these darts, however the shield of faith is not born easily. The shield of faith is built upon our proper use of the previous peices of armor. Truth, Righteousness, repentance and forgiveness are the support structures that build our faith, and these things are also what the shield of faith is designed to protect. If we continue to tolerate lies, sin, pride, hatred, and broken relationships in our lives then our shield of faith is of no use as Satan has already accomplished his purposes in us. There is really no need to hold up a shield if you have already been mortally struck. As we see the truth, repent of sin, forgive others and seek forgiveness we pull out the arrows satan has struck us with and hoist our shield of faith higher and higher until it is doing it's job protecting us from future sin.

5. Helmet of Salvation:

If we were to go into battle with all of the other armor, but were missing our helmet we would act just as if we had no armor on at all. Imagine a football player with all his pads on except his helmet. Will any of those pads matter to him if his head is unprotected? He will constantly be in a defensive state of mind as he does all he can to protect his head. He will be completely unable to make any offensive strategies. And if given the option the player will avoid the game all together, even though he is only lacking this one piece of equipment. The assurance of our own salvation is vital to our ability to move forward in taking the Kingdom of God to the world.

One of Satan's primary methods of removing our helmet (or "getting into our head") is to accuse us of sin that has already been forgiven, causing us to doubt that God has forgiven us. When Christ saves us he saves us from all of our sin, past and future, however as we strive toward righteousness we may stumble, and the Holy Spirit will convict us of these sins so that we can repent of them and not adversely effect our relationship with God. Once we repent and make things right our relationship with God is restored, however Satan would have us to believe otherwise, even to the point of doubting that we have been forgiven at all. The assurance of our salvation is the hope that causes us to remain in the battle. We would not be able to take the Gospel forward to others if we doubted that it had any power in our own lives.

6. Sword of the Spirit:

Our primary mission as Christians is to love God and love others and to teach others how to live the way that Jesus taught us. When taking on the world we will confront them with the word of God, this is our sword. The word of God is a strange sword because when you stab a dead man with it he comes to life! It teaches us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. When we share the good news of Jesus it pierces the dead flesh and brings them to a new life. The first peice of equipment a new believer receives is the shield of faith, this protects them from Satan's continued attacks while we are then able to move in and mend their wounds and fit them with the rest of their armor. The new believer will usually be to weak to hold up their shield on their own. We must help them hold up their shield as they learn the truth, repent of sin, and mend relationships. Once they have done these things are fitted with their armor they can bear their own shield and join us in the battle.

7. Prayer:

All of our armor is useless if we are not on the battlefield. A football player may learn all the plays, practice, and put on all his gear, but if he shows up on the basketball court it will be all for naught. As Christians we must go where the battle is, it is a waste of good armor to have it stay in the church building when the battle is out in the streets. Prayer is the means by which we communicate with God so that we know where the battle is, and what our mission is when we get there.

When Paul says "and having done all, to stand firm." This is when prayer comes in. When we are out taking the word of God to the world we will come to a point where we have done all we know to do. We have told all our stories, we have pleaded the Gospel of Christ, and we have arrived at the point where it is up to God to do the rest. At this point Satan will be working overtime to thwart us, but we must stand, and pray. We must hold the line and call in for air support.

Prayer for the lost is much more meaningful when you have expended all your love and know-how on a person and your prayers are being lifted up for that specific person. We don't have much invested in a general prayer like "God please save all the lost people", but when we can put a name and a face and when we have been battling for that person it creates and urgency and expectation and a desire to the see the prayer answered.

Paul also pleads that we pray for all the saints and for him. So prayer for each other as we are all out doing what God would have us do in the world. Getting together, talking about our struggles in taking the Gospel to the world, and then praying for each other that we would be supplied by God with what we need to see His purposed accomplished.


Conclusion:

The armor of is not a quick change of clothes, it is a lifestyle. Serving God should not be entered into lightly. It is serious business as there is a real enemy out there wanting to destroy us. When we come to know Christ we all have a strong desire to go serve him in many different ways, and by all means we should chase that desire with everything in us. But in chasing that desire we should do so as God has taught us. By putting on our armor, even if it takes years to do so, and going into the battle well prepared.