The Armor of God - Preparation for Battle - Part 4

"Put on the full armor of God that you may stand against the wiles of the devil." (Ephesians 6:11)

The last word that we want to look at in this verse is "wiles." Other terms for wiles are schemes and tactics. This word implies that the devil has organized plans. He does. The ultimate result that the devil has is to try to steal and to kill and to destroy. All his schemes are set on questioning God's truth(Gen 3), provoking our spirit(1 Chron 21:1), and tempting us(Matt 4:1).
In Genesis 3, the devil implanted doubt into man's mind. We never knew there was another opinion than God's. But the question we have to ask ourselves about the fall of man is why would we question God. What is in us that would doubt our Creator and Sustainer? One thing is man didn't stop to think who the authority in our life was. Humankind represented by Adam and Eve took the opportunity to go against what God said. We just didn't think or know there would be consequences.
The second scheme that Satan uses is to provide our spirit. In 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan used David to stand against Israel. What did Satan prompt David to do? Take a census. Why would a great King need to know how much God has blessed him? Pride. But this pride cost David 70,000 men.
The last of the schemes that we look at is him tempting us. In this way, the devil puts something before us that is not right but yet is a weakness of ours. This could be money, status, power, pornography, etc. Even though the devil can't make you do something, he can weaken you really bad.
We need to be aware of two things. First, God is our authority. He loves us and has our best intentions for us. And two, the devil wants to destroy you. He wants to destrot you any way he can.
Lord, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Armor of God - Preparation for Battle - Part 3

"Put on the full armor of God that you may stand against the wiles of the devil." (Ephesians 6:11)

The third word that needs to be examined is the word "full." In the King James version, the word "whole" is used. Searching an exhaustive concordance though, there are no references to the word "whole." So when in doubt, go to the original language, Greek. In the Greek, the word is (pan-op-lia) meaning full armor. This is probably the most important word in this verse, yet are that could be most overlooked.
Paul tells the Ephesians and to future disciples of Christ to "put on the full armor of God." He didn't tell them to put on just some of the armament, but all. Christians just can't prepare for battle with the principalities of darkness with selected pieces of armor of God provides. Christians must wear "all" of the armament to be effective.
Each of the pieces cover a different part of a Christian's body with the last, the sword being our source of weakening the enemy. The breastplate of righteousness protects a Christian's major organs that of faith, hope, and love. The helmet helps to protect the head. The helmet of faith protects the Christian from thoughts that can keep God's work of sanctification from being completed. And last, is the shield of faith. This is used to protect the Christian soldier by deflecting the full impact of the enemy's blow either from land, or by the air. The deadliest blow can be deflected. The shield of faith is trusting who God is and what He is doing when battling a mighty enemy such as Satan. Even though Satan is defeated, a Christian can never leave any part of himself open to be wounded by the enemy. For a wounded soldier is of little use to further the kingdom of God.

The Armor of God - Preparation for Battle - Part 2

"Put on the whole armor of God that you may stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

The second word that seems in consequatial is "stand." A quick note about the Bible containing words that aren't really significant. There isn't any. All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God (2 Timothy 2:16). In the Greek, the word for inspiration is God-breathed. God may not speak much, but when He does, things happen. Worlds are created and lives are changed. One of the duties of a disciple is to study every word of God.
The word "stand" does not connote any feelings of aggressiveness. In this passage of Ephesians, we are exploring words like battle, armor, and enemy. These are words of war, fighting, and aggression. Yet the culmination of a Christian putting on the armor is to simply stand. Stand denotes no movement. Christians are not to runaway, run at, or to side-step the devil's attack. This means the best way to beat the devil is not to run in fear nor run at him with aggressiveness nor even side-step around him. Christians are to stand with trust in the armament that God has provided and take what the devil wants to dish out. In this way, Christians are showing the enemy that the battle is the Lord's and that the victory is already completed.

The Armor of God - Preparation for Battle - Part 1

Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

There are four words that may seem inconsequential when this verse is first read. They are words that most would feel aren't worth saving in meditation because of a seemingly lack of a bountiful harvest. But true farmers will glean much fruit from these words. The first word is "put". In every translation that was viewed (KJV, NKJV, NIV, NLT, HCSB) this same word was used. The Greek word for "put" is enduno. The word, as used in the Greek, conveys "the sense of sinking into a garment(Strong's Concordance)." The action of sinking is a permeation or saturation of one thing into another. The author is writing to followers of Christ to saturate their spirits with the armor or protection that God has for us so that Christians may stand against the temptations of the devil. Although the devil is a strong opponent, our Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing(Eph 1:3) and given us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind(2 Tim 1:7).
The wisdom first exhibited must be the acknowledgement and utilization of the armament that God has placed at our disposal. The word "put" is a word communicating the vital action of engaging our protection, as well as, our trust in our Savior's strength.
May every day be stated with "putting forth" the "putting on" of God's Savior.

The Armor of God - The Abilities of Jesus-Part 10 of 10

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might."  Ephesians 6:10

The lasy ability of Jesus that we will focus on is Jesus' ability to set at liberty those who are oppessed. The first question that may arise in today's study is, "What is the difference between to proclaim liberty and to set at liberty? The difference is that to proclaim represents intentions where to set at liberty is the act of doing or already done.
Only twice has this phrase been used in the Bible. The second time is when Jesus proclaimed why God anointed Him(Luke 4:18). The first time is found in Jeremiah 34:16. In Jeremiah Chapter 34, the prophet warns King Zedekiah what is about to take place. The armies of Babylon are about to take over Jerusalem and the surrounding cities(v. 1). The King himself will be taken to Babylon(v. 3) and meet a peaceful death(v. 5). Others will not be so lucky (v. 20).
The reason that God is handing Judah over to the Babylonians is that they broke a covenant with God. When God freed their ancestors from bondage of the Egyptians, He told them that every seven years they must free their brothers who sold themselves to them(v. 14). They did not listen. The people under King Zedekiah's reignrehashed the covenant before God in His temple(v. 15) only to break the covenant once again. As the people of Judah reclaimed their slaves, God handed them over to their enemies to be enslaved themselves. God being the merciful One that He is made this covenant again. He has sent His Son, Jesus, who has not only been anointed to proclaim liberty for us, but also has come to set us at liberty from our oppression. What is our end of the covenant? First, we must be free from bondage of sin by committing ourselves to Christ(1 John 1:9). For a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever(John 8:35). Next, we must set free our brothers and sisters from the bondage of our selfish motives into the spirit for which was given to us by God by esteemimg them better than our selves(Phil 2:3-4). When we serve Jesus we are no longer slaves of sin(Rom 6:6) but just heirs(Rom 8:17) and together with Him will be glorified.

The Armor of God - The Abilities of Jesus - Part 9 of 10

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might."  Ephesians 6:10

The blowing of the shophar(horn or trumpet) in the Bible was used to call an army together (Judges 3:27; 6:34), to scare an enemy (Judges 7:18; 16:22), to end a battle (2 Samuel 18:16; 20:22), to acknowledge the presence of an enemy (Jerm 4:21; Hosea 5:8), to place the Ark in David's Tent (2 Sam 6:15) and to crown Kings (2 Sam 15:10; 2 Kings 9:13). The shophar was also used at an event called the Year of the Jubilee.
In the Year of Jubilee, the Israelites could work their lands for six years in a row, but on the seventh year they were not to do any work on the land. The Israelites and their animals could what grew, but could not work the land. This year that the land rested was called the sabbatical year. When seven sabbatical years had passed, the next year, the 50th year, was the Year of Jubilee. In this year, many things took place. This year marked a special celebration where Israelites were to forgive each other their debts, restore property to their original owners, and set free of all slaves. All this was started with the blowing of the shophar. This was the sound that proclaimed liberty to the inhabitants of the lands(Leviticus 25:10).
In Luke 4:18, Jesus states as one of the purposes for which God had anointed Him; to proclaim liberty to the captives. This is a quote from Isaiah 61. In this chapter, the interesting is not so much what Jesus will do, but the results that come from what He will do. Summing up all that He accomplishes in one word a person would have to use the word restoration. Just as the Year of Jubilee was a year of restoration of brother with brother, the same is true of the ability of Jesus to restore our relationship with the Father. His proclamation became a reality at Calvary and its effect has had eternal differences for us.
May we sound the shophar of salvation of Jesus Christ to those brothers and sisters who are still captive.

The Armor of God - The Abilities of Jesus - Part 8 of 10

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might."  Epsians 6:10

One day, one of my sons had fallen on a piece of glass. The piece of glass slashed a cut into him that was pretty deep. My boy was little then, and I was much younger. I picked him up with much urgency in order to get him to an emergency room so a doctor could make him better. When we reached the emergency room, the doctor started treating the slash. The first thing they did was to cleanse the area to fight off any infection. The next thing the doctors did was to bind up the wound with a few stitches. This held the skin together as to let the two sidesto heal and grow back together. And last, the doctor put a bandage on the wound. This kept any other infection out and allowed the wound to heal without any outside interference.
God does the same for us when we allow Him(Psalm 147:3). The eighth ability of Jesus that we should focus on is His ability to heal the brokenhearted.That is one of the reasons why He came (Luke 4:18). We must take our burdens to Him (Matthew 11:28) and lay them at His feet. He will treat us like the doctor treated my son(Matthew 2:17). But remember that sometimes the treatment can be as painful as the ailment, but in the end we will be on the road to recovery. The healing process takes time, but He will heal us. Even in the end, when we are fully recovered there still may be a scar. May we not only take all our burdens to the One that heals, but may we allow all our scars be a witness and to glorify His greatness.

Armor of God-The Abilities of Jesus-Part 7 of 10

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might." Ephesians 6:10

There is a verse where a distinction was made that Jesus preached to the poor(Matthew 11:4). Why didn't God's Word say that He preached to all? Did Christ not die for all? Yet, when the disciples of John the Baptist were requesting to give a report to their master about Jesus' messiahship, Jesus told them among other things, about giving the Good News to the poor. Why did He specify?
Don't the rich need to hear the Gospel? Or is it the rich can't hear the Gospel? The Bible does say that it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God(Matthew 19:24). Why is it that Jesus specified preaching to the poor? The Greek word for poor is ptochos. The word denotes an absolute or public mendicancy. This means that they were reliant totally on others and in the habit of begging for most everything. Jesus came to fill their hunger and quench their thirst(Matthew 5:6) with the hope(1 Thessalonians 2:19) as the Person having authority(Matthew 7:29). When our cup is filled or being filled with the world and its trappings (Matthew 6:19), we cannot hear our Savior's Word. We have ears to hear(Mark 4:9) when the realization comes that the riches of the world offer nothing but temporal relief. But when we give ourselves to Jesus He will quench our thirst(John 4:14).

The Armor of God - The Abilities of Jesus - Part 6 of 10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." Ephesians 6:10

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ(by grace you have been saved) and raised up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2: 1-9
In the sixth ability of Jesus that helps to empower us is His ability to raise the dead. This ability summarizes all the physical senses that we have and combine them into one. If you think about this, a person who is dead has no sense of smell, taste, sight, sound, or touch. These senses would be useless. What does a dead person need with senses? But when Christ gives us life, our senses come alive. We become alive in Christ (Phil 1:21). Everything becomes new. We are new creations (2 Corn 5:17). When Christ enters our life, He raises the dead (John 5:21).
We are alive! We are alive! We are...alive!