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.