The good armor (8)

In this last post about the armor of God, I would like to take a look at all scripture verses we discussed and well in full context, that is as in Ephesians 6:10-18.

I will do so step by step for clarity sake (the words in italics are Bible verses):

• Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power. 👉The power is the Lord's, we should not event try to rely on our own strength!
• Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks. 👉What is the purpose of this armor? It will enable us to stand up gainst evil, even if all others and everything else is falling down.
• For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. 👉Never forget this, the fight is NEVER aginst people, it is against the powers of darkness.
• So put on God's armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground. 👉Again: let's make sure we keep standing. Do not bow down to Satan.
• So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate, and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace. 👉Stand ready, be alert, don't be sidetracked, keep attention!
• At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One. And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you. 👉At all times, don't wait for better times, stand ready now!

And so we have come to verse 18. It looks like a new sentence, even a new paragraph, but we should not seperate it from the prevous verses, If we do so, it will lose value and we will miss a very essential part of the armor.

Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people.

We can arm ourselves from head to toe ... but if we don't do so in prayer, we can't take the fight. Always pray, pray persistently. Is that possible? Yes, otherwise it wouldn't say so. Praying is talking with God, which is possible anytime, anywhere ... we don't necessarily have to sit at the table with our hands folded. Be alert. Is that possible? Yes, I believe so. It does mean that we have to put aside all things that distract us.

With good armor, we fight a good fight (2 Timothy 4: 7).

The good armor (7)

Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation... we looked at it briefly in the previous blogs. They are the God-given weapons we need to fight with and to protect ourselves with in a hostile world.

When we read verse 17 in the sixth chapter of the letter to Ephesians in its entirety, it says:

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. So, what is this sword? The Spirit of God or the Word of God, or maybe both? Surely, we are not supposed to stab people with Bible verses, as if we were in a sword fight ...

No, that would not be wise. However, this verse does show us that the Word of God is sharp, and no doubt powerful. The Bible is not just a book full of letters, it is a book full of life. Jesus said to His disciples, The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).

Such an awesome statement. The words of Jesus are spiritual and full of life, which is why they are still speaking to people today (two thousand years later)! His words are not theory or theology, but spiritual truths. In Hebrews 4:12 the Word is described like this:

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The sword, we cannot and should not live without it. Reading (and then doing) the living word is essential everyday food!

The good armor (6)

In my previous blog I described briefly how we can use our faith as a shield to ward off the attacks of the enemy, actually to ricochet them.

Let's read on in Ephesians 6, verse 17a.

And you will need the helmet of salvation ... Most translations say: 'Take the helmet of salvation'.

👉A helmet offers protection against head injuries. So actually this is not a weapon, but none the less part of the armor. Kind of like a musician who cannot properly play without his sheet music. Although not an instrument, sheet music is essential for performance.

The helmet of salvation, how should we see it? The Bible speaks of being saved from eternal death that was the result of sin. But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved (Ephesians 2: 4-5).

God's love and grace exceed our shortcomings. He offers us eternal life in His presence if we are to believe in His Son Jesus Christ. Being 100% sure that He has rescued us from darkness and brought us into light protects us from every other thought ... Thoughts that we are not worth it, that we are lost, that it is not for us, that we did awful things ...

In that same chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, it says in verse 8: For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.

Receive that gift and let it guide your thinking, it can save you a lot of headaches!

The good armor (5)

Truth, righteousness, and the willingness to be a messenger of peace, I mentioned these weapons in the previous blog posts about the spiritual armor.

Let's read a little further in Ephesians 6 until we arrive at verse 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. The TLB translation says: In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.

Flaming, fiery arrows of the enemy? Faith as a shield? So, how exactly does this work in our daily lives? Faith is the assurance of things we hope for and the evidence of things we cannot see (Heb. 11: 1). Faith basically means that we do not doubt the existence of God, that we accept the Bible as His Word, and that we know He keeps His promises. If we can see that kind of faith (assurance) as a shield, we will understand that it will ricochet everything that brings doubt or goes against God's Word.

Everything yes, because flaming arrows are fired at us on a daily basis; thoughts that suddenly enter our heads or our hearts ... Is it all true? Does God Really Love Me? Have I been forgiven? Is the Bible actually true? etc. etc. We can extinguish those fiery arrows (meant to set our thoughts and feelings on fire) with faith.

The kind of faith that makes us say aloud: Jesus is the truth, God loves me with an everlasting love, Jesus has completely forgiven me of all sin, and His Word endures forever. I dare you to raise that shield when all kinds of lies and doubts about God and His Word are coming your way. Go right against it, proclaim the truth. This is how we fight the spiritual battle.