THE ARMOR OF GOD

In Ephesians 6:10-17 Paul provides clear instructions on putting on the full Armor of God. The question is why? Let’s reflect on this verse 10-17 which states: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggles 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.

In 2 Corinthians 2:11 Paul writes “In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes”. In Luke 22: 31 Jesus says “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers”. Jesus already know that Simon (Peter) would be attacked and fail but would recover because Jesus said, “When you have turned back”. Jesus had covered Simon (Peter) with the armor of God so that he could fight the battle. Satan has an agenda in John 10:10 The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. God gave us spiritual weapons to be able to combat all the evil forces of Satan. Jesus came to destroy the tricks of the enemy; 1 John 3:8 second sentence states “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work”.

Therefore, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, by doing so we can discern and be able to activate the armor of God through our FAITH in Jesus Christ.

There are a few things we need to do:

1. We must identify ourselves as a child of God, even if the battle seems difficult.

2. God promises to fight for us, Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only

to be still”

3. Victory is sure in the hands of God, 1 Corinthians 15: 57 “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Why the Armor of God? The armor of God has three key elements 1. It helps us resist against all the plans of the enemy; Ephesians 6 states therefore take on the full armor of God to be able to resist the snares of the devil. 2. To help us stand firm at that moment. When you stand firm and resist you will defeat the evil one. Jesus stood firm when attack by Satan. 3. Help us to emerge victorious from the battle; The armor of God has a purpose to help and protect you against the snares of Satan.

Therefore, Paul states that our fight is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil, the armor of God is designed to protect us from these spiritual attacks from the evil one and his forces of darkness. Many of us lack this revelation and are fighting with the wrong weapons we cannot attack with common weapons as Paul states “They are spiritual attacks, and we fight by putting on the full armor of God”. Jesus taught us that for these types of battles we must prepare by prayer and fasting. 3 I have had conversations with Pastors that have shared with me “When children of God have conflict or struggles with others it’s not them it’s what operates in them”. We must discern that the struggles are of a spiritual nature. It’s our protection from God (the armor and blood of Jesus) that doesn’t get alone with the evil spirits that are occupying the lives of the individual that you are having conflict with. It can be a friend, family member, boss, co-worker, neighbor, or your spouse who is committing adultery or not living a life of integrity. As a soldier when you prepare for war you put on your gear, helmet, bullet proof vest, belt with ammo. In spiritual warfare it’s the same application. God has given us the tools to operate, be protected, and be victorious against the devils’ schemes with the armor of God. The only one that can activate the revelation of what the armor of God in you is the Holy Spirit therefore the apostle Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God. Let’s breakdown each part there are six symbolical parts of the armor of God: Paul In Ephesians 6:14 starts with the:

1. The Belt of Truth (Proverbs 23:23) Buy the truth and do not sell it wisdom, instruction and insight as well. The belt of truth of the spiritual armor which holds the sword of the Spirit, linking truth and the Word of God. The Word of God is truth. To put on the belt of truth, then, is to take on a personal commitment to live in the light of God’s truth, to stay safely within a hedge of protection that blocks and filters the lies and false realities of the enemy. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 

2. Breast Plate of Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. This part of the armor covers and protects the heart, chest, and abdomen of the soldier. 4 Our main focus is the cover our heart as everything flows from the heart. We must protect our natural heart that we are born with and our spiritual heart which is activated when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The spiritual heart pumps the life of God the bible states that from the spiritual heart God and life flows. When our hearts are blocked with bitterness, jealousy, strife, gossip, anger, envy, pornography, and lack of forgiveness our hearts become like a clogged drainpipe. All these things steal the presence of God in our life’s. We must begin to protect our hearts with the breastplate of righteousness by reading and hearing the word of God as it enters our ears we must make the deposits in our spiritual hearts and let God clean and purify the heart with his word and presence. We must ask the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts.

3. Shoes of Peace (Romans 10:15) And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” This is a prophetic symbol of preaching the gospel. God has given clear instruction to proclaim the good news of the gospel. This is what Paul did once he regained his sight, accepted Christ Jesus and was baptized. This focus became the center of his existence to preach the gospel to the gentiles in the four corners of the world. When we preach the gospel, we activate peace the peace that only Jesus Christ can give us because he is the peace of the world. In Isaiah 26:3-4 it says You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

4. Shield of Faith (Hebrews 11:1) Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and

assurance about what we do not see.

The shield is one of the most important parts of the Roman soldier’s gear; the shield protects

from any type of weapons of the adversary (Satan is going to come at you with weapons of all kinds to kill you) Paul says that we have a shield in the spiritual world and this is called the

shield of faith it enables us to extinguish the dart of the enemy to try to kill our faith in Jesus

Christ.

The word tells us that without faith it’s impossible to please God. Notice how in times of adversity and challenges in our life, marriage, family, finances, job, and health what is the first thing we lose or is shaken? Our Faith. The shield of faith is there to protect our trust in Jesus Christ. Faith keeps us alive its believing that something great is coming from God a total transformation of our situation.

You must activate the shield of faith in your life when Satan tell you I am taking this or that from you. Your faith in Jesus Christ will give you the authority to respond by saying no problem because God just activated a new door for me. Faith is believing and trusting in the power ofJesus Christ no matter how bad the circumstances may be.

5. Helmet of Salvation: (Acts 4:12) “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” This helmet protects the head from blows that can affect our mind, thoughts, visualizations, decisions, from creating strategy, or finding solution. This is the first place the devil and his demons start to attack. Evil forces start throwing darts at your mind creating doubts in God’s love, power, compassion, and salvation. The evil one attacks our mental strength and if we are weak and not firm in our walk God or intimacy with the Holy Spirit we begin to struggle. We start listening to the lies of the evil one via family, friends, and the voices in our heads. We need to stand firm and say I cover my mind and activate the blood of Christ on my head. I put on the helmet of salvation and reject every dart.

6. The Sword of the Spirit (Hebrews 4:12) For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul a spirit, joints and marrow: it judge’s, the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The sword of the spirit is the word of God, and the word of God is the one that contains the

promises of God. God has given us the sword to fight in the spiritual world, and in Hebrews it states that it is shaper then any two-edged sword. The word of God is in the power of the sword the power in the word breaks down all the ties and tricks of the devil and his army. In the desert Jesus used the word and declared every promise and every time Satan attacked Jesus, he would use the word and rebuked Satan and defeated him with the sword of the spirit. The bible has over 13,000 promises towards rebuking Satan and crushing his head.

How do I activate the Armor of God?

In conclusion Paul gives us the gear and clearly expresses how we can activate the full Armor of God? Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. In order to activate the armor we need to become men and women of prayer. Having perseverance and finding our own intimacy with the Holy Spirit. This will give us the discernment to understand what God wants to do in our lives and the only way to achieve this is via prayer and searching for the Holy Spirit. Put on the full Armor of God every day!