Inspiration—God’s Armor Scripture Reading—Ephesians 6:10-20
- Paul says, if we want to be strong in the Lord, and be able to stand in His power:
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- Verse 11—we must “put on the whole armor of God”
- Verse 14—we must “Stand therefore”
- What are we to stand against?
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- Verse 11—“The wiles of the devil!”
- Paul said we “wrestle not against flesh and blood”—meaning specific human beings:
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- But we wrestle against EVIL SPIRITS identified by their rank:
- Principalities—principal rulers of darkness
- Powers—beings on earth to whom evil power is given
- Rulers of darkness—those who preside over the evil of the world
- Spiritual hosts of wickedness—those who use “good” positions of influence (false preacher/teachers/etc) for “evil” purposes.
- Paul lists the whole armor of God as: (Verses 13-17)
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- “Loins girt about with truth”—that which holds up the other parts of the armor—it is imperative that a believer knows the truth about what they believe, and how to defend it in the face of opposition.
- “Breastplate of righteousness”—a life of integrity, honesty, purity, and sincerity—we live what we truly believe—the rest is just religion. As Christians, we have lost every battle we have faced in the last century, because of the lack of righteousness among our own people.
- “Feet shot with the gospel of peace”—the true soldier does not fight for his own cause, but for the cause of another. We do not defend our own right to believe what we believe; we defend what we believe as the only truth.
- “Shield of faith”—again, if we are fighting for something we do not have confidence in ourselves we will turn and run at the first skirmish.
- “Helmet of salvation”—we must know that we know that we know we are truly born again!
- “The sword of the Spirit”—we must have a working knowledge of the word of God and know how to use it against the lies of the evil one.
Application—Repent
- Do you know the of God’s Word?
- Do you have enough CONFIDENCE in your knowledge of God’s Word to stand firm in your faith, if and when you are challenged?
Application—Return
- List the six items of “armor” on a sheet of paper.
- As a part of your prayer time today, ask God to put those six pieces of armor on your life, one by one; giving Him freedom to remove anything from your life that would hinder you from being prepared for battle.
- Ask God to make you more alert to spiritual dangers.
I invite you back tomorrow for DAY TWENTY-EIGHT of “REDISCOVERING YOUR FIRST LOVE!”