The full armour of God.
The descriptions of armour given here in ephesians were inspired by the roman soldiers who had different armour or clothes for different types of protection, or to aid the soldier in one waay or another. The sole purpose of the armour was to protect. The armour was not intended to be comfortable, in fact it was quite hard to carry the armour around as it weighed a bunch! The armour was very expensive and therefore the owner had a lot of responsibility to look after it.
The first command given in the passage is to "Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." This is very simple. It is an invitation to put on the full armour of God. You could walk onto a battlefield today stark naked, but i'd be willing to bet my life savings on you that you wouldnt survive as long as you would with tonnes of heavy armour protecting you.
So who or what are we protecting ourselves against? Verse 12 explains that we are protecting ourselves from anything the devil may throw our way (Message.) There is a lot of evil in this world, a lot of evil that has the power to really throw us off course or to throw us off the path on which we walk with Jesus Christ. But don't fear!! Jesus Christ has promised us that where he dwells, no evil can reside. Jesus has the power to overcome evil. In the bible, He repeatedly drove out evil spirits.
The full armour of God is all about being strong in the Lord, and helping to protect ourselves from the evil of this world.
So, we already know that "we are protecting oursevles NOT just from the flesh and blood, but from the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
The full armour of God is not designed just to keep you alive (even though im sure you'd agree that this would be a useful thing on its own,) it will also protect you so well that you will still be standing, even when the enemies have shown up, done their stuff, and cowardly turned and run - you will still be standing - standing in the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our saviour, and this knowledge gives you the ultimate power and authority.
14 - Stand with the belt of truth. A belt holds your trousers up. (Rocket science.) Anyhoo, the belt holds your trousers up (e.g. keeps you moral standards up high....unless you are "cool" and you may be wearing your trousers round your ankles....)The belt also holds everything together (Jesus Christ is the truth. Jesus holds everything together, just as we hold ourselves together by being honest.) And finally, weapons can be attached to the belt so they can be drawn quickly at a moments notice. (No bending down to get the little rock out of your sock jobby.)
Secondly the breastplate of righteousness - This righteousness that is spoken of here is a way of life. It is something we must strive to be, righteous. A righteous person is good, morally correct, virtuous and one who strives to live blamelessly in front of God AND man.
Your feet must be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Correct me if im wrong, but our feet can do two things (3 if you include drinking tea from a mug using just your feet....dont argue!) Our feet need to enable us to walk, and also to stand. Walk and stand, nothing more is required. We need our feet to walk with Jesus, to advance the message of God to everyone and to ultimately advance and expand the kingdom of God. We keep walking (we keep living) as God intends until we meet an obstacle in our life (something that stands in our way.) When we meet our obstacle, we blame God, we question our faith etc etc - watever. But, this is where the standing is required. We cannot continue until God has cleared the way. Sometimes God just asks us to stop and stand still in his presence, to receive anything he has to give us or teach us. So this is the other function of our feet, to just stand. Stand firm on what you know as the truth.
The shield of faith which will extinguish all the burning arrows of the evil one. Before we do anything, we need to believe in what we are teaching or preaching. We need to have the faith to know that God is real, that Jesus did live, and faith to believe that He is here today, living inside of us. If we do not have faith, we are useless.
Then the helmet of salvation which we receive as a gift - a gift simply for confessing our faith.
Finally - the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. We cannot always rely on our family and friends to protect us. We must master the use of our sword, and we must know it well. Study the word of Christ and know it well so that you can draw upon it quickly whenever it is needed. Remember - use your sword, dont just admire it on the shelf.
Pray - Pray always. Pray in everything you do. Pray now. Pray for me. Pray for yourself. Thank God for prayer. Pray that God will teach you to pray better. Pray for prayers. Pray for your friends, your situations, pray for everyone, pray for your enemies, thank God for Jesus' life, thank God for your life, THANK GOD RIGHT NOW THAT HE HAS GIVEN YOU THE BREATH TO THANK HIM, and finally finally finally, dont forget to take God up on his promise....ask and you shall receive...go on, ask.
The descriptions of armour given here in ephesians were inspired by the roman soldiers who had different armour or clothes for different types of protection, or to aid the soldier in one waay or another. The sole purpose of the armour was to protect. The armour was not intended to be comfortable, in fact it was quite hard to carry the armour around as it weighed a bunch! The armour was very expensive and therefore the owner had a lot of responsibility to look after it.
The first command given in the passage is to "Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." This is very simple. It is an invitation to put on the full armour of God. You could walk onto a battlefield today stark naked, but i'd be willing to bet my life savings on you that you wouldnt survive as long as you would with tonnes of heavy armour protecting you.
So who or what are we protecting ourselves against? Verse 12 explains that we are protecting ourselves from anything the devil may throw our way (Message.) There is a lot of evil in this world, a lot of evil that has the power to really throw us off course or to throw us off the path on which we walk with Jesus Christ. But don't fear!! Jesus Christ has promised us that where he dwells, no evil can reside. Jesus has the power to overcome evil. In the bible, He repeatedly drove out evil spirits.
The full armour of God is all about being strong in the Lord, and helping to protect ourselves from the evil of this world.
So, we already know that "we are protecting oursevles NOT just from the flesh and blood, but from the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
The full armour of God is not designed just to keep you alive (even though im sure you'd agree that this would be a useful thing on its own,) it will also protect you so well that you will still be standing, even when the enemies have shown up, done their stuff, and cowardly turned and run - you will still be standing - standing in the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our saviour, and this knowledge gives you the ultimate power and authority.
14 - Stand with the belt of truth. A belt holds your trousers up. (Rocket science.) Anyhoo, the belt holds your trousers up (e.g. keeps you moral standards up high....unless you are "cool" and you may be wearing your trousers round your ankles....)The belt also holds everything together (Jesus Christ is the truth. Jesus holds everything together, just as we hold ourselves together by being honest.) And finally, weapons can be attached to the belt so they can be drawn quickly at a moments notice. (No bending down to get the little rock out of your sock jobby.)
Secondly the breastplate of righteousness - This righteousness that is spoken of here is a way of life. It is something we must strive to be, righteous. A righteous person is good, morally correct, virtuous and one who strives to live blamelessly in front of God AND man.
Your feet must be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Correct me if im wrong, but our feet can do two things (3 if you include drinking tea from a mug using just your feet....dont argue!) Our feet need to enable us to walk, and also to stand. Walk and stand, nothing more is required. We need our feet to walk with Jesus, to advance the message of God to everyone and to ultimately advance and expand the kingdom of God. We keep walking (we keep living) as God intends until we meet an obstacle in our life (something that stands in our way.) When we meet our obstacle, we blame God, we question our faith etc etc - watever. But, this is where the standing is required. We cannot continue until God has cleared the way. Sometimes God just asks us to stop and stand still in his presence, to receive anything he has to give us or teach us. So this is the other function of our feet, to just stand. Stand firm on what you know as the truth.
The shield of faith which will extinguish all the burning arrows of the evil one. Before we do anything, we need to believe in what we are teaching or preaching. We need to have the faith to know that God is real, that Jesus did live, and faith to believe that He is here today, living inside of us. If we do not have faith, we are useless.
Then the helmet of salvation which we receive as a gift - a gift simply for confessing our faith.
Finally - the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. We cannot always rely on our family and friends to protect us. We must master the use of our sword, and we must know it well. Study the word of Christ and know it well so that you can draw upon it quickly whenever it is needed. Remember - use your sword, dont just admire it on the shelf.
Pray - Pray always. Pray in everything you do. Pray now. Pray for me. Pray for yourself. Thank God for prayer. Pray that God will teach you to pray better. Pray for prayers. Pray for your friends, your situations, pray for everyone, pray for your enemies, thank God for Jesus' life, thank God for your life, THANK GOD RIGHT NOW THAT HE HAS GIVEN YOU THE BREATH TO THANK HIM, and finally finally finally, dont forget to take God up on his promise....ask and you shall receive...go on, ask.
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