“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For 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.13 Therefore 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 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. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And 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 Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Do you know that there is a spiritual war going on all around us? The above scriptures point to this. It talks about putting on the full armor of God to be able to stand your ground. I think this is such a great illustration! First off, to put on armor means that we are soldiers…soldiers in God’s army, fighting the good fight right?! Secondly, there is a breakdown of each piece of armor that gives the significance of each piece. Let’s take some time to highlight three of the pieces:

~Shield of FAITH: The text says to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. In war, the shield is used defensively to block advances of your opponent so in turn, our faith is a means to block attacks from Satan in essence. Can you see how important our faith must be to block the attacks? Ask yourself…what kind of shield would you want in battle? A little one? A damaged one? Well, liken it to your faith…when life comes at you, where is your faith? Is it little? Damaged?

~Feet fitted with READINESS: Readiness for what? To go share the Good news of course. 1 Peter 3:13 states, ‘And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.’ If we are standing on the Word of God this will not only prepare us for battle but what do feet do…they GO!

~Sword of the Word of God: My favorite! If you notice, the only piece of armor that is offensive is your weapon, the Word of God. Everything else is for defense but God’s Word is what you use to fight back against Satan’s schemes. Let’s think about when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)…how did he handle Satan? With scripture! Also, note that Jesus wasn’t the only one using scripture, Satan was too. Difference between them was that Satan was twisting scripture (think confusion, lies, deceit). John 8:44 says, ‘When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.’ In 2 Cor. 11:14, ‘But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.’ Jesus’ only weapon was knowing it for himself, in proper context and thoroughly. So what can we learn from this? We better know the Word of God because our opponent is gonna try to use it against us!

Lastly, I want to bring up a one last point that Melvin made while we were talking about this passage. Verse 13 speaks about put on the full armor so WHEN the day of evil comes we will be prepared. This is a call for preparation/training not wait until the war is knocking at your front door to start loading on the armor…NO! Just like soldiers, we train ourselves…like athletes, make our bodies our slave (1 Cor. 9:27)! Preparation is KEY!!!

Anywho, that’s all I got! As always, thank you all for following us on this journey! What are your thoughts about spiritual warfare? Let’s keep the conversation going!