The Armor of God

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How to defend against the devils blows

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Introduction

Many of us when we think of the passage about the armor of God we think of a VBS story that was taught to us time and time again! We remember the environment the level this lesson was taught on, which VBS level teaching is fairly simplistic. So our minds here tend to stereotype this as being childish, or extremely simple… But its not in fact, I could do a whole lesson series over this one passage in Ephesians! It is powerful and dynamic lesson! We learned a little bit about how we might resist and stand against the devil and his schemes, about why being humble is a is important so that we might fall in our sinful nature, why we must be covered by the blood of the Lamb which is Christ, and why we must never compromise in our faith otherwise the devil who Peter compares to a roaring lion will devour you or very well advance to destroy your Christian witness or reputation. The armor of God gives an exact detailed description of how we can defend against the devil schemes with a 100% guarantee!

Scripture Reading ()

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.

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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.

What Do You Think When You Think About a Soldiers Armor?

You think of a medieval or Roman soldiers advancing into combat, arrows bouncing off their shield, their sword cutting down their enemies, just brutal warfair. The Roman soldier in his armor, from just a little bit of reading was a tank, oh my gosh his armor alone was an extra 50 pounds or more in battle, he used this extra wait to run over his enemies. He would usually always fight behind his shield that would keep him well protected, and his sword well its easy to know what the sword does! It quite possible when Paul was describing the armor of God in Ephesians he had the roman soldier’s armor in mind as an example to how well the armor of God protects us Christians against the devil’s schemes!

Be Strong in the Lord

First, of all a Christian must be empowered by the armor of God! We can’t be strong without God’s strength empowering us! Remember, we cannot stand against the Satan, who is like a roaring lion if we don’t put God power into all of the equation! Our strength alone will utterly fail! First of all we depend on God’s strength…,
in it says,
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
We need God’s strength so badly. I mean for example it’s like a car breaking down in the dead of winter on a abandoned highway! You are in desperate need for a tow truck’s strength to lift and pull your car. You can’t do that all your self you’ll stay stranded and much worse you will die! We are in desperate need of God’s strength, without His strength there is a roaring lion of a devil waiting to devour us when we are spiritually stranded in our weakness. Paul, in this passage knew just how much he needed to Christ’s strength to get him through his hardships! He faced a good number more then what either of us will probably ever face in our lifetime!! If we do things apart from Christ scripture gives that we can do nothing for it says in …,
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
So if we take scripture literally if we do anything apart from Christ, aka His strength we cannot do anything that has any spiritual value.

We Struggle Not Against Flesh and Blood!

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.

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.
In todays world we often think its our fellow man that is our enemy. Yes people hurt, people persecute us, and they will hate us! But Paul gives that our war is not with them. Something we must alway remind ourselves of is that not matter how much drama a individual makes us put up with our war is not with that individual. Our war is always with Satan! This is what this passage is saying. So when you are persecuted by another or that person is just simply giving you drama pray for him/her the devil might in fact be oppressing that person that week with their own personal suffering.

Take Up the Armor to Stand in the Evil Day

Its
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.
It’s simple enough we must have the armor of God to have the ability to stand against the devil! Drawing a logical conclusion, if we have to put on this armor to have the ability to stand against such a force of evil we can make the assumption enough that if we neglect it we will not stand and will constantly be beaten down!

The Belt of Truth

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.
Before putting on the rest of the armor a roman soldier would gird his loins in the original translation the belt has to do with particularly the girdle, an undergarment that make the whole suit of armor much more comfortable to wear then without it! Fastening the belt of truth is being sure that the integrity of which you walk is in line with God’s truth, in line with the rest of the armor to prepare, you for the rest of the armor, and protect you from devil’s lies! It also means filling your mind with truths that come from God (), what He says in His Word and in your personal prayer, in harmony with His Word and letting it effect your walk (). I and if you would read ; ,; ; T ; , ; you might very well make the assumption that the type of truth Paul is talking about is integrity! Scripture gives in that the devil is the father of lies…
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Not so coincidently he does the things God hates, for he fits the description of well...
16  There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17  haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
The devil will try his very best to make you just like him! To guard against his lies, to guard against being the very same way, we must stand in integrity with God’s Word, not mearly looking into it and forgetting what it says but by doing what it says. Most of us knows a perpetual lier, he or she will keep digging and digging his hole to where it become incredibly seemly shameful for him to own up to his lies. Do you know what usually happen to someone like that? one day it all catches up to him the plot hole in all the lies, he cooked up, proves to his shame and humility. If that’s not you, just know you have just as much potential without the belt of truth around your waist, without walking in the integrity that is in line with God’s Word, and believe me you wont be blessed by God if you are a lier! If you attempt to put on anything else without first putting on the the belt of truth, the rest of the armor with seer you with conviction because it all has to do with God’s truth! We know God’s Word is His truth! gives...
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
If we do not walk in integrity that is in line with God’s Word and we walk in the lies similar to Satan’s we do not please God and our reputation will be marred by the devil poking holes in us! For how are we to be good witnesses if we are shackled by something that impairs our integrity and reputation?
Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary a. The Christian Conflict (6:10–20)

As ‘the girdle … gives ease and freedom of movement’, so ‘it is the truth which gives this freedom with ourselves, with our neighbours and with God. Lack of perfect sincerity hampers us at every turn.’

The Breast Plate of Righteousness

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.
The breastplate of righteousness is not righteousness that come from faith but rather it Christ righteousness that is recieved only by have faith in Him! Knowing that it is the righteousness of God’s Son brings us to the realization that when God looks upon us He sees His Son! --- Remember that video we saw a few weeks ago Aiden? --- Remember last week when I told you all that the devil is labeled an accuser in scripture? Here is your way to resist his false accusation! When he comes to you says that your are worthless, guilty, and no good failure! The breastplate of righteousness is a reminder that your worth comes from comes from Christ, that your guiltless because Christ paid the your guilty sentence, and that you are good and righteous because God made Christ who had no become sin in your place! I don’t expect you to understand all of what I said their but basically my is this when the devil come to accuse you can say right back to, “Devil I am a child of God, He has made me guiltless of past, present, and future failure because because His Son has made me righteous and is my righteousness!” That is putting on the breastplate of righteousness!

The Shoes of Readiness

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.
In warfare over the centuries it was not uncommon for traps to be placed in the battle field. Because we have the gospel of peace we must go and preach but not only that we must lean on it, we must allow the gospel to be our foundation. If you horrible shoes in during a sporting event what usually happen? The slip all over the place, because the foundation that you put on your body is week, it doesn’t have good traction and it will hardly keep you going, you need good shoes because it doesn’t matter how hard you train you’ll mess up! Much more then that the gospel needs to be the very foundation of our lives, Christ died for me and my desire is to serve him! You see in serving Christ with His gospel by telling others, you will have to advance into the enemy’s territory, because you are literally are telling those that the devil has a hold of how to be released from the bondage of their sin! The devil will not want that he will put traps in your way, temptation, persecution! But the gospel which you are preaching will be blessed by God will protected you no matter how harsh the persecution is, or how tempting the temptation. However the gospel doesn’t just effect a person pertaining to their salvation, but should effect everything that we do! If we are God’s child we have made Christ our Lord and because Christ shed his blood for us so that we could be saved we ought to be willing to let everything in our lives be about Him, we should keep our minds upon Him, let the realization of what you were saved from to what you were saved for (Hell--->Heaven) overwhelm you with gratefulness, and such gratefulness will make you want to be in His Word, be in prayer, and tell others about Him! And once that happens God will bless you, no matter how big the trap is or the stone the devil throws at you, no matter how bad it hurts (because it still will hurt), you got the best foundation for shoes that will hold their place! And I am ending my lesson here tonight because first the lesson will go on for a long time!
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