Prepared For Spiritual Battle

Believers are in a spiritual battle. In Ephesians 6, Paul implores the Ephesian Christians to “put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil” (6:11). Though spoken to the Ephesian church, Paul’s wisdom still applies to modern-day Christian as a call to arms against “the spiritual forces of evil” (6:12). When we put on the whole armor of God, we will be prepared to stay against the evil that wants to destroy us.

The Belt of Truth: In John 14:6, Jesus states “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the only way to get to God and as Christians, we know this as truth. Like a belt left unfastened will cause a loss of clothing, if the truth of Gospel is not tightly held, then all the other pieces of armor will be of no use.

The Breastplate of Righteousness: The breastplate is the biggest part of the armor and protects the vital organs. The righteousness mentioned here is not of our own works, but is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ upon us as Christians. As the articles explains, “It is Christ’s righteousness-not our own righteousness-that covers and protects us.”

Shoes of the Gospel: In Romans 10:15, Paul states “How beautiful are the feet of those that bring the Good News!” As believers, we should have the “readiness” to share “the Gospel of Peace” with a lost and dying world. We have a command from our Lord to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), but disciples cannot be made without people first hearing the Gospel. As Paul says in Romans 10:14 “how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”

The Shield of Faith: A defensive weapon in combat, the shield here is the Faith that knows whom it believes in. When Satan attacks with the “fiery darts” of deceit and lies, the Christian can stand firm on the faith that “is not of your own doing,” but is “the gift of God.”

Helmet of Salvation: The helmet of salvation represents the knowledge a believer has that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4:12). When Satan, “the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44), comes to deceive, the believer can stand firm that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6).

The Sword of the Spirit: As Believers, God equips us not only for defense, but for offense as well. The Sword of the Spirit is God’s Word and it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12).  When tempted in the wilderness, Jesus used the Word of God to rebuke Satan, causing him to flee. God’s Word is valuable as a weapon against the enemy’s deception, but it is also “profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

From Ephesians 6:14-17, we see that God does not leave us unequipped for the battles that we will face. Rather, God provides defensive and offensive spiritual tactics that we “can stand against the tactics of the Devil” (v.11).

(Information on the Pieces of Armor is taken from the article “Armor of God: What is it?” from www.bibleinfo.com)

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