The Armor of God III

Wiles of the Devil

We have seen the strategies of satan. How he tries to deceive you into sinning like he did to Eve.  How he brings back memories of our past sin and tries to make us feel unworthy to be a worker for God.

       Paul tells us we need to have on the armor of God to be able to stand against satan.

Ephesians 6:10–13 (LSB)

We need to stand firm against satan.  But this cant be done in our own power.  We need the might of His strength.

       We have studied the belt of truth. And the breastplate of righteousness

       The shoes of the gospel of peace is what is next on the list of armor that a child of God needs.

Good Footwear

Ephesians 6:15 (LSB)

     To stand firm, you must have secure footing.   The roman soldier had sandals with spikes at the bottom like a runner has on his shoes

       These spikes give him secure footing when he is going against the enemy. When they are standing there with the pressure of the hoards of enemy soldiers pushing against them

       The firm footing is the Gospel of peace.  The solid footing that we need is to remember who we are.  We are a child of God this gospel brought us peace with God.

       We are no longer afraid of death. Jesus conquered death on the cross He died and was buried then rose again. 

       Knowing that Jesus died to give us peace gives us confidence to stand before the enemy with a heart that is not afraid.

       Satan will try to keep us defeated if he could make us think that as Christians, we are hated by the state.

We are hated by the world

and forget we are not of this world, but we have a citizenship in heaven

       So, we must keep reminding ourselves of who we are.  We are loved by our creator, redeemer.

       We have been given value. We are being made in the image of Jesus.

       There is a place being built for us in the city of God for us to live in for eternity with our Groom Jesus

       We have been found not guilty by the Judge of the universe.  Therefore, we have peace with God because of this God and I are not enemies. But Father and son.

       With this knowledge we can stand firm in our knowledge of who we are and what God has done for us.

       Next, we want to pick up the

Shield Of Faith

Ephesians 6:16 (LSB)

We have already seen these flaming arrows that satan wans to see what will stick.  But now we have the shield of faith to help block those arrows

       Our job is to stand firm.  But we can only do this with the armor that God has given to us

       When David went up against the giant, he proclaimed his faith in God

Faith tells us that we are a child of God

faith tells us that we are the Bride of Christ

Faith tells us that we have been redeemed

Faith tells us that we are justified

1 Samuel 17:37 LSB

And David said, “Yahweh, who delivered me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may Yahweh be with you.”

We think of David as very brave to go up against Goliath. But it was his faith in God that caused him to stand firm. 

He went knowing that God would kill the giant.

He picked up 5 stones not thinking that he would miss. but, he would have enought for others

       next we have three boys who would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.

turn to Daniel 3:8–15 (LSB)

  These men are standing before the king. He has the power over them to kill, or grant a pardon.  All of the rulers of the kingdom are there watching, and hating these Jews that have defied the king. 

       These other leaders also want to put the three in their place by wanting them killed. What tremendous pressure that is being applied to these young men. 

Can you see the darts that satan is shooting at them with to comply with everybody else?

       But these young men have almighty God as their God.  And they have the shield of faith that they are stopping all arrows from hitting them.

       Nebuchadnezzar asks who can save you from my hands?

Daniel 3:16–18 (LSB)

These young men stood strong against the evil one with their armor on.

       Again, this courage was from their faith in God not just hoping that it will work out. 

Their faith gave them the trust in the almighty

  This is the shield of faith we use to stand firm with the attack from satan.  Not to compromise for the safer alternative. 

       If God has brought us to a situation that we can hold up the shield of faith trusting.  Saying with the 3 against Nebuchadnezzar I don’t know if God will save us, I know he can. We will not bow down to you. 

       Or, we compromise and put our shield down then bow because we are afraid. 

David had confidence because The Almighty helped him kill the bear and a lion

this Giant was going to be no different

       God gives us the armor to be able to stand firm.

God gives us small things like bears and lions before he gives us the giants

this armor is strengthend gradually as he gives us bigger giants to face.

the armor you have now is sufficient to handle anything satan shoots at you.

over time battle after bigger battle God makes our faith stronger

1 Corinthians 10:13 LSB

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

God does not allow satan to to send the really big arrows until we have mastered the small arrows

but, we have to stand firm against these small arrows. and keep the shield up