Put On The Full Armour Of God!
Put on the full armour of God! (By Nigel Williams)
Ephesians 6:10 – 18
In Ephesians Chap 6 we read ‘Put on the full armour of God’. Notice Paul did not say put on some of the armour, but the full armour of God!
Our battle, our struggle is not against flesh and blood i.e. people, but we are in a spiritual battle.
I don’t suppose anyone of us would consider fighting a battle with swords or guns without putting on our armour or protection? In fact it would be very foolish to go into battle without protecting ourselves from the enemy!
How many of us go into spiritual battle without the armour of God i.e. the word of God; truth; readiness; righteousness; faith; salvation; prayer? We’ve all done it at times, I have but we need to train our selves to be spiritual.
Spiritual – means that we are equipped to fight the spiritual battle that we are in!
Boot camp / Army training – Let’s get fit lets get serious about our mission.
Vs 13 the armour is on even when things are going great.
We are to have our armour on so that ‘when the day of evil comes’. We are then prepared to stand against the attack of the enemy.
1.Belt of truth
2.Breastplate of righteousness
3.Feet that are ready
4.Shield of Faith
5.Helmet of salvation
6.Sword of the Spirit (Word Of God)
7.Pray in the Spirit
1.The Belt of Truth
Psalm 51:6 God desires truth in the inner parts
The Holy Spirit will guide us into all Truth (John 16:13 He the Spirit of Truth comes)
That’s why spiritual things including the word of God can only be discerned by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us revelation.
2 Cor 3:6 the letter Kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Many non-Christians have read the bible but to them it’s a history book a dead letter. But the Holy Spirit causes the Word of God to come to life!
Isn’t it great when God gives you revelation from the Word of God and it’s confirmed by another Christian? Or someone teaching / preaching.
2.Breastplate of Righteousness
There is no one righteous not one Rom 3:10Isaiah 64:6 all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (In God’s sight)
Phil 3:9 ‘Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith’.
Our righteousness is from God. The breastplate protects us from the enemies accusations!
3.Readiness
Are we ready with our shoes/ trainers on? BOLDNESS
When soldiers are in the midst of a battle they don’t take their boots off because there is an anticipation and preparation for defence and attack against the enemy!
Are we ready to go – submitted to the gospel (good news) of peace.
Jesus commissioned us to go into all the world – to preach / teach / tell our friends & neighbours the Good News of the kingdom of God. And to live a life which demonstrates to the world the kingdom of God (the authority of God).
We have good news for a hurting dieing world! Its good news because Jesus has come to give us life! To give us hope, life, a future, peace, love and blessings beyond our needs!
4.Shield Of Faith
Eph 2:8 ‘For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast.’
Without faith it is impossible to please God Rom 1:17 ‘the righteous will live by faith’.
It is when we trust God in our circumstances that we are saying, I’m trusting in God’s provision or His healing power or answer to my prayer.
We are raising our shield of faith – which will what?
Extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
The devil is out to stop us to distract us to make us ineffective in the kingdom of God.
By faith – Hebrews 11
What is faith? ‘It is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’.
We should and can encourage each other / build each other up in our faith.
Let’s speak words of encouragement to each other!
With God nothing is impossible!
5.Helmet Of Salvation
Isaiah 59:17 the helmet of salvation on his head
We have accepted the salvation of God through Jesus Christ; we have been saved from the curse and entered the glorious liberty of the sons of God!
Our hope (Our assurance of salvation is our helmet of protection).
We have received the Holy Spirit as a deposit which guarantees our salvation.
(READ) 1 Thes 5: 4-11 the hope of salvation as a helmet.
6.Sword of the Spirit (The Word of God)
The sword is used to defend and attack (our weapon of advancement).
The sword of the Spirit and praying in the spirit go very much hand in hand.
The Spirit will bring to our remembrance the Word of God when we need it to defend our selves and also to attack the enemy in the spirit.
In order for the Holy Spirit to be able to bring His Word to our remembrance then we must learn the Word, memorise the Word and meditate on the Word.
His word is sharper than a double edged sword.
Heb 4:12
The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
7.Praying In The Spirit
We should pray in the spirit every day.
When we pray in tongues we edify ourselves i.e. we build ourselves up in our spirit. 1 Cor 14:14 Pray in tongues, in the Spirit everyday.
When we pray in the Spirit the Holy Spirit will guide us to pray / declare the part of the Word of God which is key to demolishing strongholds.
The Word of God tells us that, ‘what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, what we loose on earth will be loosed in the heavens! Matt 16:19
Jesus said that these were the KEYS of the Kingdom of God!
We need to wear our armour for each other! Why?
Because we are all part of the body and we support each other. When one part is weak then another part can support and encourage that part.
But that can only happen when we are protected with the armour of God!
Every part of the body is important! 1 Cor 12:18-21 ‘The eye cannot say to the hand, I don’t need you!’
Let’s not forget we are in a battle and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit – So that we are filled with:-
•Filled with The spirit of truth
•Filled with righteousness
•Filled with Boldness
•Filled with the hope of salvation
•Filled with the word of God (which is the Spirit of God)
