The full Armor of God Ephesians 6

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore 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. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And 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 saints. (NIV)

I was encouraged last week trough a devotion to study Ephesians 6, talking about the full armor of God. I thought for a few days how I was going to do it. Because God works in mysterious ways, low and behold I went to church on Sunday morning and the sermon was about the Full Armor of God, it was one of those, this sermon was written for me kind of Sunday mornings.

I have a lot that I want to say, but first here is my disclaimer. I did the research, but I can not take credit for anything written in this blog. I am only writing what I found in my research on the Full Armor of God. I have 3 sources, first, Londa Ramsey, my pastor who did the sermon on Sunday morning. Second RealArmorofGod.com a division of Optimus International, Inc., and third Got Questions Ministries www.gotquestions.org. So understand that none of this is coming from me, but from my research. So Here it is.

The first element of our armor is the truth (verse 14). This is easy to understand, since Satan is said to be the “father of lies” (John 8:44). Deception is high on the list of things God considers to be an abomination. A “lying tongue” is one of the things He describes as “detestable to Him” (Proverbs 6:16-17). We are therefore exhorted to put on truth for our own sanctification and deliverance, as well as for the benefit of those to whom we witness.

The belt of truth can secure anything that will cause you to stumble or fall when moving around quickly in Christian daily battle. We need to always be spiritually sharp, alert and ready to respond with spiritual mobility and spiritual agility.

Also in verse 14, we are told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate shielded a warrior’s vital organs from blows that would otherwise be fatal. This righteousness is not works of righteousness done by men. Rather, this is the righteousness of Christ, imputed by God and received by faith, which guards our hearts against the accusations and charges of Satan and secures our innermost being from his attacks.

Verse 15 speaks of the preparation of the feet for spiritual conflict. In warfare, sometimes an enemy places dangerous obstacles in the path of advancing soldiers. The idea of the preparation of the gospel of peace as footwear suggests what we need to advance into Satan's territory, aware that there will be traps, with the message of grace so essential to winning souls to Christ. Satan has many obstacles placed in the path to halt the propagation of the gospel.

The shield of faith spoken of in verse 16 makes Satan's sowing of doubt about the faithfulness of God and His Word ineffective. Our faith—of which Christ is “the author and perfecter” (Hebrews 12:2)— is like a golden shield, precious, solid, and substantial.

The helmet of salvation in verse 17 is protection for the head, keeping viable a critical part of the body. We could say that our way of thinking needs preservation. The head is the seat of the mind, which, when it has laid hold of the sure gospel hope of eternal life, will not receive false doctrine or give way to Satan’s temptations. The unsaved person has no hope of warding off the blows of false doctrine because he is without the helmet of salvation and his mind is incapable of discerning between spiritual truth and spiritual deception. 

Verse 17 interprets itself as to the meaning of the sword of the Spirit—it is the Word of God. While all the other pieces of spiritual armor are defensive in nature, the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon in the armor of God. It speaks of the holiness and power of the Word of God. A greater spiritual weapon is not conceivable. In Jesus' temptations in the desert, the Word of God was always His overpowering response to Satan. What a blessing that the same Word is available to us!

Think about the sword of the Spirit this way. Each particular relevant individual scripture is a sword unto itself and very effective in battling Satan and temptation. Think about it, not one sword, but thousands of swords. Pick the verse best for the temptation, the best sword for that battle. It’s just like golf, you have to pick the right club for the swing.

How does this effect you, you need to get up and get dressed in the full armor of God, every day. What, you say that you already accepted Christ. Well that’s great, your a naked body with a great big helmet. Oh, you read the bible everyday too, terrific, now your a naked body with a helmet and a big sword. No my friends, you need to put on the full armor of God. This is why, we need to win the lost, and defend ourself against our enemy.

Accepting Christ is just the beginning. God can change a man or women in an instant, but it takes time to build character. All six pieces of armor are imperative to another.The only part of the body that is not protected from this armor is the back, and Paul has a great explanation for that. We are never running away form our battle, we are always on the offensive facing our battle and enemies head on.

As we previously heard, the sword in the only offensive weapon that we have. However, the sword can only extend as far as our hand can reach, so we need a few weapons of our own. Let me give you four.

Number one is prayer. The most powerful and lethal weapon that we have is prayer. And if you have the ability, you need to pray in the spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually. This is one of the two verses in the bible that it only two words long.

Number two is praise. Praise and worship will silence Satan.

Number three is the preaching of Gods word. Read 2 Timothy 4:1-4. Even Jeremiah 23:29 says, “Is not my word like a fire?” By preaching, our word is like a hammer that can break a heart of stone. Do you know anybody with a hardened hear?

Number four is our testimony. We need supernatural power to witness with our testimony. With God, we have that supernatural power.

In closing my friends, we need to ware the full armor of God everyday if we are going to win this was. Who’s side are you fighting for?