LIVING FOR GOD6

Resist means “to be in obedience to.” Once we have fully submitted to the Lordship of Christ, we are ready to don the armor of God spoken of in Ephesians 6:10-17. Why do we need this armor? Because as Christians we have been drafted into a war with a foe who is powerful, tireless, and crafty.

As Paul wrote about the armor of God he was chained to a Roman soldier. No doubt his familiarity with Roman armor gave him the idea of using the imagery of Christian armor.

Roman armor was designed to protect the soldier’s body from the enemy’s weapons. Christian armor is designed to protect the soul. God does not hurl us unprotected into the battle against Satan’s empire. He has provided everything we need to protect our mind, heart, soul, spirit, conscience and will.

Paul writes that we must be protected from the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11). “Wiles” is the word meth-od-i'-ah, meaning “schemes, well-crafted trickery.”

Satan is a chess player. He plans his wicked tricks over time, laying carefully constructed snares. Without God we would never win against him. So God commands us to put on the armor He has provided so that we can stand against Satan’s plots.

Ephesians further reveals that our enemies are not people. We must see beyond people. Satan may use people to persecute us, lie to us, betray us, cheat on us, or even kill us. But our real enemy lurks in the shadows of the unseen world, moving people as pawns on the chessboard of time.

Paul lists four distinct Satanic orders we wrestle with that we also touched on last time: principalities, powers, the rulers of this world’s darkness, and wicked spirits in high places. Clearly, these reveal ranks in a hierarchical structure in the spirit realm. Let’s look at them more closely.

PRINCIPALITIES: This word comes from the Greek word (ar-khay’) which literally means “chief ruler” or “magistrate.” The principalities of Satan are his high princes who rule over the nations of the earth in the spirit world.

For instance, Daniel mentions “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” and “the prince of Grecia” as examples of these mighty minions of Satan (Dan. 10:13, 20).

Daniel writes that when God sent Gabriel with an answer to one of his prayers, Gabriel testified that he had been hindered for three full weeks by these beings.

No doubt, over the nations of our world today, Satan has placed his demonic servants to carry out his plans and purposes. His evil organization is superb, his leadership is wickedly skillful, and his aides are nearly countless. Yet remember, they are defeated foes!

POWERS: This refers to those who exercise authority that Satan has delegated to them. These “powers” likely control the forces of nature. We read in the book of Job how Satanic forces brought both fire from heaven (likely lightning), burning up his sheep and servants, and a sudden storm that brought the roof of his house down on his children. Both times Satan was clearly to blame.

THE RULERS OF THIS WORLD’S DARKNESS: These seem to be Satan’s agents responsible for holding men in spiritual darkness. 2 Cor. 4:3-4 says, “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.”

It is a source of constant wonder the weird and wicked things people believe, say, and do. In the name of religion people can be persuaded to believe that pain and death are not real. They can be convinced to pray to dead people, or to bow down and worship a stone statue. False philosophy, false religions, false political agendas, mind-expanding or addictive drugs—all of these are ways in which these “powers” deceive the minds of men.

WICKED SPIRITS IN HIGH PLACES: The word for “wickedness” means “depravity.” This final category is likely the depraved demon spirits Jesus so often encountered while ministering to people. They are disembodied spirits with a craving to possess the bodies of human beings (Matt. 8:16; Luke 8:2-3). Jesus taught that it was their nature, once having left a body, to return “seven times worse than before” (Matt. 12:45).

In light of these formidable enemies, Christians are to clothe themselves in the full armor of God.

THE ARMOR (6:14-17)

The first piece of armor is PROTECTION FOR WHAT WE SOW (6:14):

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth…”

The Roman soldier’s belt or girdle held in place the armor that protected the lower parts of the body—the seat of vital organs and the organs of life-creating force.

ARMOR PRINCIPLE #1: We need truth’s protection at the source of our spiritual procreative power so that Satan cannot tamper with what we sow.

We must be sure that the seed we sow is the truth of God. We must all be careful with what we sow because “that which is born of flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). The Bible teaches that we are to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15).

Look around you at all of the spewing and spouting of endless words tainted with the seeds of hate, deceit, and rebellion. This is the very thing the “belt of truth” prevents.

The second piece of armor is PROTECTION FOR WHAT WE SHOW (6:14):

“…having put on the breastplate of righteousness…”

The Roman soldier’s breastplate protected his upper vital organs, particularly the lungs and heart. Proverbs 4:23 urges us to “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it flow the issues of life.”

Jesus made powerful statements about the heart. “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matt. 15:18-19).

Satan tries to corrupt the hearts of believers so that they will display ugly passions instead of the love of Christ. Righteousness must be the guardian of our hearts.

The word “righteousness” in Eph. 6:14 is found ninety-two times in the N.T. (thirty times in Romans). The theme of Romans is righteousness. Paul spoke of righteousness revealed (1:17), righteousness required (1:18), righteousness received (4:5), and righteousness reproduced (6:12-23).

The beauty of the gospel is that God does not ask us to achieve His level of righteousness, for we could never do that. Instead, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

ARMOR PRINCIPLE#2: God has given us His righteous nature by regeneration, and has given us the Holy Spirit to reproduce Christ’s righteousness in us and through us that we might SHOW it to a lost world.

The righteousness of Christ is glorious armor for us to wear in a world filled with wickedness and corruption. It will protect our hearts—the innermost springs of our beings—from corruption.

The third piece of armor is PROTECTION FOR WHERE WE GO (6:15):

“…and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace…” (vs. 15)

There are some places where Christians must not go. There are some doors we must never open unless we are encased in the full armor of God and our feet are protected by the gospel of peace. Every place we go, we should be soldiers of the King, ambassadors for Christ.

There are doors the Christian may walk through from which he might not return without a miracle. Other doors will bring shame and regret. Still others may bring bondage the believer never anticipated.

The bottom line is: when God says “don’t open that door!” put on the gospel sandals and walk away. Go to places where your faith will be built; where you might share “the gospel of peace” with others. Go through doors you know that God can “amen.” Spend your time preparing yourself for usefulness in His kingdom. Proverbs advises, “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet” (4:26).

ARMOR PRINCIPLE #3: The pathways you choose to walk down today will decide all your tomorrows.

The fourth piece of armor is PROTECTION FOR WHAT WE DO (6:16)

“…above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

Paul had seen the shields Roman soldiers carried into war. The shields were made so that a wall of soldiers could lock shield to shield, forming a wall of impenetrable iron. The shield was big enough to cover the soldier’s entire body. Darts and arrows hurled at them fell harmless to the ground.

The “fiery darts” Paul mentions is artillery designed to appeal to the “lust of the eyes,” the “lust of the flesh,” or “the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Satan is a master psychologist. He has a whole arsenal of darts that can set the senses aflame. He knows how to appeal to appetites, the love of applause, and the lure of ambition.

The devil’s darts almost always come as a thought. The battlefield of life is the mind. While we will never be out of range of Satan’s fiery darts, they can be quenched and rendered harmless by the shield of determined, living, dynamic faith in God.

ARMOR PRINCIPLE #4: Our faith in God should be so alive and active that we never question the circumstances in which we find ourselves, the limitations He has placed on us, or His right to dictate the terms of our lives.

Because of our faith we will shrink from sin because it offends Him, grieves His heart, and inevitably brings into our lives the consequences He says it will.

The fifth piece of armor is PROTECTION FOR WHAT WE KNOW (6:17)

“And take the helmet of salvation…”

Soldiers wore a helmet because a blow to the head could be fatal. The head is the site of a person’s intellectual powers, the part of man that separates him from the beasts. Only a human being can think and express thoughts in an organized, verbal, and articulate way.

God gives us a helmet to protect our thoughts from Satanic influence. As already stated, Satan usually goes after the mind. Paul told his friends at Corinth that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of those that do not believe” (2 Cor. 4:4).

The helmet of salvation protects the Christian from Satan’s deceptions, denials, and distortions.

ARMOR PRINCIPLE #5: Without the helmet, even the most brilliant among us are open to the destructive influence of Satan’s rulers of darkness.

We put on the helmet of salvation by filling our minds with the Word of God. Remember, the mind is Satan’s favorite point of attack. He goes after the mind to influence our thoughts, then words, and finally our deeds. The more we wear the helmet of salvation, the more we will think about the things of God, and the more we will be protected from Satan’s lures and lies.

And finally, the sixth piece of armor is for OUR SUCCESS IN THE BATTLE (6:17b)

“…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

So far each piece of armor that the Holy Spirit has named has been for defense, not offense. Now He names the Sword that enables us to attack the enemy. Napoleon once said, “The best form of defense is attack.”

ARMOR PRINCIPLE #6: Neither the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, nor the spiritual wickedness in high places can withstand the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

God’s word is like a sword. “The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). It is living. It pulsates with the power of God. It is alive with God’s authority. The best answer to every solitary attack of the enemy is the Word of God. It cuts through all the ranks, deceptions, and devices of hell.

We are to use the Sword of the Spirit when we face our problems, circumstances, needs and temptations.

The whole armor of God provides DEFENSIVE PROTECTION for:

WHAT WE SOW

WHAT WE SHOW

WHERE WE GO

WHAT WE DO

WHAT WE KNOW

And OFFENSIVE WEAPONRY FOR ATTACKING OUR FOE

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