In my personal quiet time, I just finished reading Ephesians. In the final chapter of Ephesians Paul introduces the Armor of God. The Armor of God is what you are to put on in order to be strong in the Lord, and fight the enemy, Satan.
Ephesians 6:13-18 says:
"Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”
The Armor of God consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes fitted with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Now obviously the Armor of God is not something you physically go get from your closet and put on every morning. The Armor of God is the way in which you should live your life every day, in order to strengthen yourself in the Lord so you can fight any temptation or trial that Satan throws your way.
In this first part, I want to tackle the first three pieces of the Armor of God and in the next part I will discuss the final three.
The first piece is the belt of truth. But what is the truth? In today’s society there are a lot of things that are argued to be true. Many people believe they determine what is true for themselves, and others determine what is true for them. As Christian’s we know that God determined the truth.
In order to wear the belt of truth we have to surround ourselves with truth. How do we do that? We do this by spending time in God’s word. The Bible is the truth that should guide our lives. God already established the truth for our life thousands of years ago. So, in order to live in truth, we have to seek and surround ourselves with the truth that we can find in the Bible. Read what God has proclaimed to be true about you and about Himself. If we know the truth we will not easily fall for the lies Satan throws our way.
“Every other piece of the full armor of God is attached to the belt of truth. If you don’t begin with truth, you’ll never defeat the enemy. And Jesus said God’s Word is true.” -David Chadwick
The next piece is the breastplate of righteousness. I was once told righteousness means being in right standing with God. I always used to wonder how do I do this. We do this by listening and obeying God. We must surrender every part of our lives in obedience to God. Satan loves to attack us where we are weak, so if we do not have a certain area of our lives surrendered to God he will attack. If we are constantly doing things our way it is easy to get tangled up in sin. When we live a life of obedience it makes it harder for Satan to attack and make us stumble. We have to wake up every single day and choose to obey what God has called us to do.
The third, and final piece I am going to address in this part, is shoes fitted with the gospel of peace. The way to ready yourself with the gospel of peace, is understanding the good news and what Christ did on the cross, and sharing it with others. Once you know the truth of salvation we are called to share that with others. This is what we were created to do.
As Christians, God has called us to be peacemakers. Another way to exhibit the gospel of peace is by extending forgiveness and grace to others, just as God does for us. Forgiveness is not always the easiest thing to do, but God has called us to do it so we need to obey.
These three parts of the Armor of God really all come down to knowing the truth of salvation, and obeying God’s word. Growing in these areas is vital in becoming strong in the Lord
By: Peyton Thompson
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