The Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10-20 (NIV)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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. 13 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
What did you put on this morning? Are you dressed appropriately for this day? We know life will have it’s challenges. We dress to protect ourselves against the weather. Some dress to impress or for “success”. Some wear their pj’s to the supermarket... What are you wearing today?
In spiritual warfare it is important to get dressed in the full armor of God. He provides us with our covering and we can see this in Ephesians 6:10-17
What does our heavenly Father tell us to wear?
- Helmet of Salvation – Jesus is our salvation -renew a right mind- giving our thoughts to Jesus. (1 Corinthians 2:16, Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8)
- Breastplate of righteousness- Jesus is our righteousness- leads us in paths of righteousness for His name sake. ( Psalm 23:3, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Philippians 3:9)
- Belt of Truth- He is the way, the truth and the life. ( John 1:14, John 8:31-32, John 14:6)
- Feet fitted with the gospel of peace- He is The Prince of Peace. He is the Good news...the gospel that we take to others. ( Isaiah 9:6, John 14:27, Romans 5:1, Mark 16:15, Acts 8:35)
- Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God... Jesus is the word and the word was with God and the word was God. In our defense we have the word of God. (John chapter 1)
Put on Jesus! On your head, over your heart, on your waist, on your feet...defend yourself and your own...you have the sword...The word which is also alive and active..Jesus! (Hebrews 4:12)
Put on Jesus.
6. And The Shield of Faith- This one is up to us. ( 2 Corinthians 5:6-7, Matthew 17:20, Acts 15:8-9)The enemy will try and throw things our way- shoot arrows of discouragement, doubt, fear, anxiety, disillusionment but our Faith...if we pick it up will guard us. The bigger our faith...the bigger our shield...the more protected we are from his schemes. (“I believe Lord help my unbelief” Mark 9:24)
Get dressed in Jesus and pick up your faith!
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