"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6:10-17)
I have many days where my weakness seems to overwhelm every aspect of my life. It impacts my perspective, and worse, my relationships, including my relationship with God. If my perspective is tilted toward hopelessness, which has been my experience after seasons of weakness, the promises of God, a God who is supposedly for me, seem to grow more distant by the day.
None of this, of course, surprises our Father who created us. To guard against this becoming our normal mindset He gave us His Word which can unlock His power in our lives. You see, if I am dependent only upon my strength than I am going to fail. No question. But what if there exists a way that I can tap into the power and strength of the One who created me?
The short version of this answer is that there is! To discover how let's examine the example that God gave us in the verses above.
First of all, I must be able to see things as they are, in other words I need to be able to discern the truth. A great example that I heard in church one time was the importance of being able to ask two questions when facing conflict, 1) What is the truth about the situation? 2) What is the right response? Let's imagine that you give your daughter a curfew of midnight and she walks in the door at 2:30 am. To respond correctly you need to know the truth, the facts about her situation. Did her car break down? Was she helping a friend in need? Or was she merely flouting the rule that you had given her to obey? We see from this example that we have to be able to discern the truth (The belt of Truth) before we can respond in the right manner (The breastplate of righteousness). As with all things God breathed, there is a logic and purpose to the order of putting on the armor of God.
Up next is the importance of fitting our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Isn't it cool that God describes His gospel as bringing peace? He knew that we would all face conflict in this fallen world and so He wants us to understand the importance and priority of the gospel of peace in our lives. Our feet take us everywhere that we travel in this life and God is saying that no matter where we go we need to take His gospel of peace with us as we travel. This is not just for our benefit because God makes it clear that we are to love others before ourselves. So one of the blessings of walking in the knowledge of the gospel is the difference that it makes in how we treat others. We cease to see them as a means (or worse as a bother) and start to view them as creatures designed with the divine imprint of God! I don't know about you but without the injection of His gospel on a daily basis into my life, that is not my default perspective.
Okay, now we arrive at two more important defensive components in our armor, our shield and our helmet. Have you ever had thoughts enter your mind that were out of left field, and maybe even disgusted you in their language? I have. Sometimes those thoughts can originate from our flesh but oftentimes they are the result of an attack from the evil one. The Bible calls those thoughts fiery darts, and they can cause great damage if not properly blocked from entering our minds and hearts. Notice these are not ordinary arrows, these are arrows on fire. We are talking about weapons designed to invade, to permanently change us, not just inflict temporary damage. That is why God tells us to be prepared with our shield of faith. Remember the verse that says it is impossible to please God without faith? That is because faith is the cornerstone of our relationship with God. If we have faith in His promises, in His character, in His ability and motivation to fight on our behalf, that changes everything about the circumstances that we find ourselves facing. But when we doubt the goodness of God we have laid down our shield and our defenseless against the attacks of the evil one. That was never God's intent for His children. The helmet of salvation occupies an equally important defensive posture in that this is where the promises of God reside, it rests on our head, guarding our minds against untruths. This allows us to be constantly reminded of the faithfulness of God and the truth that our situations are temporary and will not last. He will have the last word! But just like our shield, if we take off our helmet we are open to the attacks of the world around us and we will not be victorious in the battle we are facing.
That brings us to the last piece of our armor, and our first weapon that is designed not just for defense but for offense as well, the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. The Bible tells us that no weapon has ever been formed that can defeat our sword, that we are guaranteed that each time we use this weapon that God will bring about victory! Do you see the awesome promises of God in these verses? He doesn't just desire for us to survive this life, He wants us to be victorious in all our situations. However this may be a good place to stop and ensure that we are not embracing bad theology. Putting on the armor of God does not mean that we are guaranteed prosperity, good health, and that no bad thing will ever overtake us, that is not the truth described by Jesus and His Word. What it does mean is that in every situation, every challenge, every battle, He will be with us and He will work out His purpose for our good, despite the attempts by the evil one to destroy us and our testimonies.
So we have discovered that we put on the armor of God by reading and applying the truth of God's Word. That is what changes our hearts, guards our minds, allows us to see clearly the situations around us, and gives us His power to walk in victory despite our daily battles. This is a lesson that I'm still learning but each renewed application brings me closer to the reality of understanding and embracing all the blessings that God desires for my life. My prayer is that this has helped unlock the power of God in your life as well.
