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Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Every part of the armor of God mentioned here in Ephesians has to become part of our lives. We often have heard people say, put on the armor of God, without the real significance of the meaning, as if you can put on and take off the armor of God. That is the wrong concept.
What does it truly mean to put on the full armor of God? It means that we must live according to every piece of God’s armor, in order to stand firm in the midst of spiritual battles against the devices of the devil. In order to effectively fight the spiritual battle, we must be dressed in the whole armor of God all the time. Not just one or two pieces, the full armor. This is the only way we are going to effectively fight the spiritual battle. We fight in the spirit, not in the flesh. This is spiritual warfare, not natural.
This is why we need to live by every application of the armor of God in our lives to withstand the attacks of the enemy.
We know that Paul described the armor as the armor of God, because he saw the Roman soldiers wearing armor and used that analogy to explain something spiritual.
Let’s see what each piece of the armor represents.
Belt which is the TRUTH. We must walk in truth at all times. We as believers have the truth of God’s word to defeat the lies of the enemy. When the enemy comes with lies, we use the truth of the word of God to defeat the lies of satan.
Body armor represents Righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness guards our heart. It can be fatal if we do not guard our hearts. It is important to guard what we allow into our hearts. The enemy will use many tactics to deceive us. We must live in righteousness; this is an open door to the enemy, he often uses to attack.
Sandals, feet of Peace. Ready to share the Good News. The enemy wants to make you think that sharing the Good News is worthless or that there is no meaning in sharing the gospel to those who need it. We know this is a lie from the enemy! The sandals represents the peace of God. We continue proclaiming the true peace that is available through God to all those who hear the Good News.
Shield represents Faith. Faith is what we use to attack the enemy when needed to protect us from the fiery arrows from satan. With God’s word we can see beyond our circumstances and we become confident and assured that we have the victory.
Helmet represents Salvation. The enemy wants you to doubt God. The Helmet protects our mind from doubting what the Lord has done for us.
The Sword represents the Word of God. Without the sword we cannot fight the good fight of faith when you need to use the Word to fight against the enemy, when he comes with lies against what the word of God says about who you are in Him. The sword is your weapon at times when we need to take a stand against satan’s devices.The truth of the word of God is your sword!
All of these armor pieces are for our protection and weapon in our spiritual warfare.
I will never forget what my husband shared during a teaching many years ago. This stood in my heart and it was such a great example. During his time as a police officer in Colombia, he was in the special force unit. The special force unit had to be ready at all times to go and fight when needed against the enemy. They had to sleep with their uniforms on and the weapon right by their side. As believers we must be fully dressed to engage in any spiritual battle when it arises. We cannot put it on and take it off, we must always be ready to engage in any spiritual battle.
Paul was reminding the Ephesians as it is speaking to us, to effectively fight the spiritual battle, we must put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Remember this, the armor of God is a lifestyle in our daily lives as a Christian. You will only be able to withstand the attacks of the enemy only if you live by every principle of the armor of God to be fully dressed to be able to fight against the enemy. This is a spiritual battle, it is not something you can fight in the natural, it must be done in the spirit by living according to the word to be fully protected and equipped!
Do not take off your armor, keep it on!
Ephesians 6:11-17 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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