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Introduction
For the past several weeks we have been talking about Spiritual warfare.
Why have we spent so much time on this topic?
Our lives depend on it, plain and simple.
And
Now some might say that sounds far fetched…
I would ask you… are you 100% sure of your answer.
The Bible tells us we have an adversary, the devil.
He seeks to kill, steal and destroy… that is His number one goal.
And the target is the children of God.
He does not worry about those who are in the world, who are not a child of God..
The devil has blinded them…
And if the devil has already blinded them, if he already has them in darkness, then His target must be the children of God; believers.
So what are we to do?
How are we to prepare ourselves?
We are to put on the whole armor of God....
Take your Bibles and lets go to , verses 10-18
Eph 6:18
There is so much there and while we have looked at it before, I want to give you a few new thoughts as we seek to live successfully in front of God and each other.
So let me share three thoughts with you today as we walk through this passage...
So lets begin with this thought....
A Holy Lifestyle
1.
A Holy Lifestyle
As you begin to look at the this passage, there is one truth we cannot forget today, this is not about wearing a specific piece of armor, it’s not about making sure you never go into battle ill equipped...
it’s about a lifestyle.
Now what do I mean, since Paul clearly speaks to these different items for successful warfare?
Friends, How we live in front of God is just as important as the armor we are called to put on.
Think about it like this....
You can take anyone and dress them in the weapons of war.
Body armor, helmet, guns and other weapons, these are all good.
But if your not trained, if you are not well equipped you will not know how to use them.
A well trained solider knows both how to to act or do and how to use the weapons given to him.
We well trained solider knows both how to to act, what to do and how to use the weapons given to him.
For us as a child of God, it begins with our actions, it begins with a holy lifestyle.
Look at verses 10-12
Paul begins here by saying … our training, our ability to walk with the Lord is seen as we look not to ourselves for strength or empowerment, but instead we look to Him.
God has always said men will find success as they walk with Him, not the world.
So chasing after God, His ways, His lifestyle is where we find hope, strength and blessings… right??
A holy lifestyle is only achieved by living for Him and in his strength.
I want you to look at three words in verse 10 with me...
Strong, Strength and Might....
Now each of these words fall back to one person, The Lord Jesus.
They all relate to the Lord and who we are in him as well.
So the first, “Strong”… Paul calls for us to be strong in the Lord.
The Greek tense here refers to “us”, his children becoming more than we were… stronger, capable the more enabled to do as he has called us to do.
So the first, “Strong”… Paul calls for us to be strong in the Lord.
The Greek tense here refers to “us”, his children becoming more than we were… stronger, capable the more enabled to do as he has called us to do.
The second “Strength” refers to His controlling power in us..
The second “Strength” refers to His controlling power in us..
And the last is “Might” and it refers to the His strength, power and the power to accomplish .....
So what is Paul telling us here..
The call is for us in His power and ability, to become a strong person.
A person who can walk and carry out his commandments.
This begins and ends with holy living… walking in a way that is pleasing to Him, not allowing the Word of God to depart from our heart and mind, storing all this up.... so that our ways are pleasing.... to Him.
And the last is “Might” and it refers to the His strength, power and the power to accomplish .....
Now here is a question....
If God is empowering us through the Holy Spirit, through his power and might… How then do we fail?
How then do we fail?
The devil so often misleads us because
We lose our focus my friends, we lose our focus… we start paying attention to the world, to the things of the world and we forget what He has called us to be and do for his kingdom.
Have you lost your focus?
Have you forgot His vision and purpose for your life?
Now lets move on to my second thought....
2. The Armor....
Just as we are trained in this life, just how to live, act, do and don’t do for our best outcome… So we are given Armor for life and living in a world touched by sin.
Now as we start talking about the whole armor of God that Paul teaches us about here in this passage, I want you to consider something for a moment.
Instead of thinking about the individual pieces of the armor, one this and one that… I want you to think of them as a collective whole.
More especially a lifestyle of living.
We have already talked about the idea of living a holy lifestyle in the previous point.
So build off of this idea and consider the armor we possess as we live for the Lord.
Lets go back to our text and lets examine verses 13-18
When you look at this passage, you see the armor treated as a collective whole, not individual pieces where you have one and not the other..verse 13 speaks of it.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God… Not the pieces you need, but the whole.... Why?
As a child of God, We are called to live holy in front of Him.
We know that there is a battle around us that is not contained to flesh and blood.
If we hope to stand, if we hope to be faithful, we had better dress our self in holiness, a marked lifestyle that is faithful to Jesus and Jesus alone.
We are engaged in a spiritual battle.
Therefore dress appropriately. the first is our actions, conduct etc...
The second is our offensive and defensive weapons to use in this fight… Just like a solider today, he has offensive and defensive weapons....
So lets walk through these weapons...
Verse 14 begins with the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness.
The belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness…
These words “truth and righteousness” have a beautiful meaning in both the Old and New Testaments.
In the Old Testament they are almost parallel in meaning.
And as such they speak to the qualities of the future Davidic king, King Jesus.
They speak of righteousness and faithfulness...
says
They put forth the idea of God’s truth, it is both faithful and loyal.
And when you combine it with the New Testament, it speaks of our Christian virtue.
The belt of truth while practically it held ones clothes up to permit rapid movement in advancing the fight, Spirituality, with truth as a belt around your waist, it speaks to our faithfulness to God.
The breast plate while protecting vital organs in battle, here it is regarded as integrity and or character of a person.
If we assume then we are putting on clothing as a lifestyle, integrity and character would necessary be a portion of our Christian life and walk in front of God.
If we possess the truth of God, and the heart of man is “right” then our actions will be right as well...
Let me share this thought with you as well...
In Paul defines the breastplate as faith and love....
If we have faith, and our actions defined by love… we will do well in this life.
Amen.
Let all of our actions, our motives, and our words spoken be done in love...
Now moving on…lets examine verses 15-16
Shoes… The readiness given by the gospel of Peace… We are steadfast in our walk, in our steps because of the gospel of peace is strapped to our feet.
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