Taking Up The Armor Of God
Getting Into Position: Taking Up The Armor of God
I recently gave a lesson from Ephesians 6 to our house church on the armor of God, particularly the shield of faith. Afterwards it occurred to most of us that we tend to forget about the reality of spiritual warfare and need to be reminded frequently that the fact is that we are in a battle. Contrary to popular messages out there, once you become a Christian your attack is not lessened, in fact in some cases it may increase! The devil wants to make believers useless, powerless and rend them paralyzed to fulfill the great commission of discipling nations. It is both error to dismiss spiritual warfare, the devil and demonic r
ealm and to have an unhealthy interest in it. Many churches fall into an obsession with spiritual warfare therefore finding demons around every corner. Here are some thoughts about the armor of God and shield of faith that will place some tools in your hands when it comes to standing firm against the evil one:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your 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.
The words “taking up” are a military term. God’s people are called to be a militant people. We are a bride, but we are also a warring bride. We are also an army, with Jesus Christ as the chief Commander in charge. Many people settle for sitting on the sidelines just trying to make it till Jesus comes back to rescue them. To the contrary, Jesus gave his church an apostolic mission to be sent into all the world and to “occupy until he comes” back. (Lk. 19:13)
We must take up the FULL armor of God. One piece of armor is not enough to withstand the onslaught of the enemy. To run out into battle with only your helmet on would least to say, not protect you. We must daily put on the FULL armor of God including all pieces of armor.
The armor of God must be accessed. Like many other things available to us in Christ, many choose to live without. It could be because of a lack of knowledge, ignorance or plain spiritual laziness. We must put on, take up and utilize the spiritual defense system that Christ has given us for our protection to stand firm against evil. God will not force us into spiritual maturity, we must choose to grow up and to acquire those spiritual gifts he has so richly lavished on us.
The shield of faith is a symbol of our spiritual covering in Jesus Christ. No man can cover you. Your material possessions can’t cover you, nor is your spouse good enough. Our covering is complete in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Our faith, trust and reliance is completely in the atoning work at the cross. I can find my protection, safety and covering in him alone.
We can join our faith together with others to better withstand and advance against the powers of darkness. The Roman shield was created with ridges on each side of it to create a flank when the armies of Rome were in battle. They formed what was called a “turtle formation” that would create a seamless wall of shields that was literally like a armored tank that would quench fiery arrows from above and also plow anything in front of it moving forward.
Christians are called not to run from evil, but to defeat evil with standing firm against it and overcoming it with good. We must daily put on the full armor of God. Without it, we don’t stand much of a chance fighting the good fight of faith in this world. But with it, we can and will be able to stand. And having done everything else to stand, stand some more.
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