The Armor of God
In Ephesians Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God. Paul continues by telling what each piece of armor is. At the time Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians he was under house arrest, so he had a Roman soldier guarding him at all times. This is probably why we often hear the armor compared to the armor of a Roman soldier. I have also compared the armor with the armor of God with that of today’s police officers in my post “Faith in God”
Have you ever wondered why Paul calls it “God’s” armor? Rather than spiritual armor? Or the armor of the Christian soldier? We often miss the truth of God giving to us His own armor for us to do spiritual battle with. Paul is referencing Isaiah 59:17 where Isaiah is speaking of God’s coming judgment.
“For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.”
Isa 59:17
WOW! The fact that God trusts me with His armor…mind blowing. Good thing there are instructions.
Putting on the Armor of God
Has anyone ever asked you if you put on the armor of God daily? The idea behind this is that we remember daily that God has provided us with adequate armor to protect and fight in the battles that come our way. I read Ephesians 6:10-18 every morning and as I do, I mentally go through and put on the armor. As I have done this for a few years now I have noticed some overlaps in the different pieces of armor and how they work. As I see it the armor can be boiled down from six pieces to four.
By “boiled down” I don’t mean watered down. Think more along the lines of reducing a sauce. The longer it simmers the less there is in the pan, concentrating the flavors. You have less sauce and somehow the taste is so much more. I hope you will agree that in my way of boiling it down it actually helps us see the full power. Before I start explaining the four let’s remember the six pieces;
The Belt of Truth
The Breastplate of Righteousness
The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace
The Shield of Faith
The Helmet of Salvation
The Sword of the Spirt
The four I see in my boiled down version are;
Prayer
God’s Word
Faith
Grace
Prayer
Although prayer is not listed as a piece of the armor of God, it is clear that Paul intended prayer to be an invaluable part of winning in any spiritual battle.
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit…”
Ephesians 6:18
Throughout the letter to the Ephesians Paul talks about heavenly places, and in verse 12 Paul says that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Earlier Paul said that God “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ” Ephesians 1:3 Paul would not have told us that we have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places if we didn’t have any way to access them. Prayer is how we gain access to these spiritual blessings. Prayer is our “lifeline” to Christ. And prayer activates the armor of God in our battles.
“…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
James 5:16
God’s Word
Many of the pieces of the armor of God boil down to the His Word. Most obvious may be the sword of the spirit which Paul tells us is the Word of God. God’s Word is also the belt of truth. After all what is truth? Truth is what God says it is. Righteousness and the gospel of peace are also learned through God’s Word. It is through God’s Word that we hear the truth, know in faith and receive salvation.
“So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17 (ESV)
Faith
“Above all, Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
Ephesians 6:16
Faith quenches the “fiery darts of the wicked.” Faith can be strengthened through prayer and by reading the Word of God. However, faith must start with me and you.
Each of us at some point must choose to believe and trust God or choose to reject Him. Choosing to believe is the first step in picking up the shield of faith. We choose to believe that every word of God is true. To pick up and carry the shield of faith we must choose each moment of each day to believe. This may sound relatively simple, until something happens and our emotions try to tell us it is not true. Which is a lie, a fiery dart of the enemy. In this case our feelings become fiery darts that can be hard to recognize for what they are. We need to understand before our emotions kick in that our feelings can be liars.
Shift in wording
You may notice in reading the nine verses (Eph 6:10-18) that there is a slight shift in the wording between the first three pieces of armor and the second three pieces. The belt, breastplate, and shoes we wear, they are part of our daily garments. We must have faith to wear the belt, breastplate, and shoes; while the faith we need to take up the shield, helmet, and sword is a more active faith, it requires daily action. A helmet of salvation is not going to offer much protection to our head (thoughts) if we have any doubt in our salvation through Jesus. If we don’t trust God’s Word as truth our sword isn’t going to be very strong. I get the mental picture of a rubber sword that is soft and slowly bends over when picked up, NOT an effective weapon.
Grace
Grace is God’s undeserved favor. The gospel is the truth of Jesus, Emmanuel – God is with us. It is only by God’s grace that He sent His Son to die for our sins.
“For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
Eph 2:18
Jesus fulfilled the law and brought grace. Grace does what the law couldn’t do. It gives sinful humans the ability to be righteous before God. The law points to our sin and condemns. Grace points to Jesus and forgives.
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
Romans 8:3
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
Galatians 2:21
Righteousness comes through grace, not through the law. Without the grace of God, we would never be able to wear God’s armor. It is by His grace that we can be forgiven and washed clean of every sin stain.
Grace is God forgiving and saying, ‘I love you; I care about you, I see you and I believe in you. You are perfect in my eyes and I will vouch for you.’ In a way His armor is His voucher. While the armor may not be a visible factor in our world of flesh, it is visible in the spiritual realm. May we always remember that our battle is in the spiritual realm. Make no mistake the armor we wear is very impactful where it needs to be.
Standing in His Grace
In order to stand in God’s grace, we must understand that it is done completely by His strength our strength is worthless. Our desire to be able in our own strength comes from our pride, and grace and pride don’t mix. Grace and pride are like two magnets opposing each other, they can’t come together.
Grace says “I can do all things through Christ” (Phil 4:13) In grace it is all about Jesus and what He has done. Standing in grace I want nothing more than to glorify Him.
Pride says, “yea, but look at what I did. Look at what I can do. I deserve some credit for all this, don’t I?”
Grace says “I am standing in God’s undeserved favor and there is nothing I can do in order to deserve credit.”
Grace and pride are incompatible and can in no way occupy the same space.
Because of God’s great grace we can stand firm and be worthy to wear God’s armor. Even though in the law we are unworthy. Don’t waste time and energy trying to be worthy, accept the truth of grace and receive it with humility. Then praise God for His amazing grace. Our greatest joy comes in praising God, because we were created to praise Him.
“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord, praise ye the Lord.”
Psalm 150:6
What is your most used piece of armor? Please share in the comment section below.
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Grace and Peace
Debra Jean
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I love Ephesians! Thank you for your insight. It’s so powerful to be reminded that the armor is God’s and that He has given us what we need to face each day and each challenge. God bless you!
His armor is powerful and yes He has given us all that we need. Thanks for stopping by today 🙂
Ephesians is one of my favorites! I did an Ephesians Challenge where we read the whole book in one sitting every day for 21 days! It is definitely life changing! We are warriors and need His armor daily!
I love Ephesians too… trying to memorize it- finding that is so much harder as I get older. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment 😃
I love the point you made about the armor being God’s armor! Thanks for the reminder that we do not handle this life in our own will power, but trust in God and His provisions for us!
Yes Cindy, when it comes down to it- it is all about Jesus and we have been given useful tools to navigate through this life and it’s dangers. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Great post about the Armor of God. Certainly, prayer should be one of those pieces we put on daily, although it’s not specifically mentioned here in this passage. Pinned. Thanks for linking up at InstaEncouragements!
Thank you Patsy! For stopping by and sharing your thoughts. 😁
Thanks for the breakdown on those features we wear and those we actively use. I have heard this verse for years, but never fully comprehended how it could actually be effective.
Yes, we need to remember that there is a battle going on, we can engage or we can let Satan derail us. Thanks so much for stopping by today. 😊
This passage has been a life-changer for me. I, too, pray through it regularly and have come to see God’s armor as an absolute necessity for living a victorious Christian life. But without intentionally “putting it on”, I end up vulnerable, weak, defenseless, and before I know it, I’m nearly defeated and flat on my face.
I absolutely loved this post. Thank you for so clearly walking us through this passage.
Thank you Jana! I too have found myself on my face when I forget the armor. I appreciate you stopping by to read it.
Dear Debra, excellent post. It’s inspired me to consider spending some extra time studying the armor. My most used pieces are the shield and the sword. It’s been a challenging year for our family, so I am often reciting verses and then trusting God will carry us safely through this season. He is good.
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
I know that He will carry you through Wendy! 2 very useful pieces of armor, they will do you a lot of good throughout difficult times. Thanks for stopping by. God Bless!
Thank you so much. I needed this lesson this morning. For me, my faith has taken a battering and your message has helped me back on the right track. Bless you and praise God.
Bless you Sandra, we all have trials in our faith, they can work to strengthen our faith in the long run. I’m praying your faith is strengthened.
Amen, it’s His armor. I’ve always loved how Ephesians 6 directly points back to that passage in Isaiah.
Yes! Thanks so much for stopping by Karen 🙂