Put on Your Armor
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take a stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:10-17.
Put on the armor of God. I love this verse for so many reasons. Paul is telling us, as sons and daughters of the Lord, how to stand strong in the power of the Lord. He warns us of the temptations that will come and of the schemes the devil will attempt on us. He doesn’t try to under play it or beat around the bush but tells us honestly that we will have struggles. Struggles not against flesh and blood, but spiritual warfare. We will be tempted and tricked by Satan because he will try anything and everything to tear us away from our Heavenly Father. But Jesus tells us to take heart! For he has overcome the world! (John 16:33).
Paul doesn’t just end the statement after he warns us, but he goes on to tell us HOW we can stand against these spiritual battles. He tells us to be strong in the Lord and to put on the armor of God!! Think about a soldier going into battle. I can bet you that he most likely is not going to enter into war without any sort of armor guarding his body. Each piece that he wears has a specific purpose to guard specific parts of his body. Yes, in that sense, the soldier is entering into physical battle. But it’s not much different for us. Every single day, when we choose to chase after the Lord, the enemy plans to attack. We may not be in a physical battle, but we do face spiritual warfare, and we must be ready! When you put on your armor, you can stand tall and step up to the plate because of the strength within you from the Father.
Within those verses in Ephesians, Paul lists each hypothetical piece of armor we are to put on. Each of them has their own importance, but there’s one I particularly want to focus on. “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Back to the example of a soldier. If a soldier carries a sword into battle, he probably has studied that sword, right? The way it moves, certain thrusts and positions to use. A sword is a major battle weapon and if the soldier goes to fight with it and has never picked it up prior, it’s probably not going to turn out the way he wanted. The same idea goes for the Word of God. If we go to battle without ever picking up the word, studying it and really knowing what it says, it would do us no good. It’s going to be really hard to stand up for what you believe in without knowing where it came from. So, I urge you to pick up the bible! Read it, know it, really pray through it. It is the biggest weapon we can take with us.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” Read that and believe that! With the power of God within you, you can do all things! (Philippians 4:13) The enemy has no hold over you, so be strong in the Lord and don’t fall back into fear. I pray that we as a nation can rise up, with strength and courage, and enter into this spiritual battle each and every day. We are not alone! May we remember that it is not us fighting alone, but with the power of the Holy Spirit within us. When we choose to fight, we are given the tools to equip us for war, and we have the most powerful tool anyone could ever have on our side, the Holy Spirit.
Challenges:
Read the Word and know the Word. The bible is full of truth and when we know that truth, we can be prepared and equipped for anything that comes our way!
Be aware. As simple as this sounds, we cannot be naïve in thinking that we will not be tempted by the enemy. When we can know what’s coming, we can stand firm and be ready because we have been preparing.
Remind yourself of truth daily. Something I like to do is write scripture and words of encouragement on sticky notes to put on my bathroom mirror. We have to choose every single day which side of the battle we will be on, so having these reminders around you will help you stand firm and be ready!
Prayer:
Lord, we PRAISE you today! We praise you because you have given us the tools to equip us for spiritual battle. I pray that we would use those tools to prepare us and to ready us for whatever comes our way. Thank you for your Word and the truth that is inside of it. May we come to know your heart better by diving into scripture. I pray for each person reading this, that when temptation and attacks come their way, they will choose to stand tall and step up to plate, fighting against the schemes of the devil. We know that you are with us and we never have to enter into these battles alone. Help us to keep our eyes and hearts focused on you, being obedient to you and bringing you the glory you deserve. We pray all these things in Jesus’ name! Amen!