Ephesians 6:10-20
Ephesians 6:10-20
New King James Version (NKJV)
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
My Thoughts:
- Let’s start with (v. 11) we read “11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
- We Paul coming to a conclusion in his letter here and he is describing this battle between good and evil, the great controversy that started in heaven.
- Paul compares the equipping of God’s people to the equipping of a Roman solider (Rom. 13:11-14), (1 Thess. 5:6-11). Paul is mimicking the OT battle speeches to energize the church (Deut. 20:2-4), Chr. 20:13-19). And we see the promise of Christ presence and strength, and the promise of victory, but not with sword and spear, but with the truth and righteousness of Christ.
- (v. 12) we read “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
- This is a list of agencies or powers or spirits that are a collection of satanic forces that battled against Christ (Col 2:15), (Rom. 8:38). This verse reminds us that this battle is not just of the earthly plane but a battle embracing to whole universe.
- Let’s finish with (vv. 16-17) “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”
- “take up the shield of faith” the sermon I preached today was about “building a faith to die for” and we looked at this verse, I see that when we hold on to our faith and we stand fast then there is soothing that can stop us.
- Then we move to the “sword of the spirit” we must hold tight to our Bibles, when we study our Bibles it is much harder for the devil to deceive us. So I see the combination of all these things I see a Christian that is well equipped to battle.
Thought of the Day
“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1John 4:4)
The ancient sport of falconry used trained hawks or falcons in the pursuit of wild game. When the “educated predator” was allowed to fly, however, it often rose too high for human eyes to see. So a hunter often carried a small caged bird called a shrike. By watching the antics of the little bird, the man could always tell where his hawk was, for the shrike instinctively feared the predator and cocked its head to keep it in view.
Christians desperately need an alert perception similar to that of the shrike to detect their spiritual enemy. Our adversary, Satan, “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Peter 5:8). Our responsibility, according to the apostle Peter, is to be sober and vigilant. In other words, we’re to be always on the alert.
It would be nice if God had giant sirens to warn us of an attack by the devil. But He doesn’t operate that way. Instead, we must read the Bible regularly, meditate on its truths, maintain a prayerful attitude throughout the day, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only then will we be sensitive to an imminent assault by the evil one, and be armed by grace to meet it. Mart De Haan
The devil is clever, deceiving us all,
He cunningly causes the strongest to fall;
But we his sly methods are sure to discern
By making God’s warnings our daily concern. D. De Haan
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- Are you equipped for the battle? If so how has God equipped you?
- What do you think of when you read about the shield of Faith?
- What other things do you see in the text?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Continue to have a prayer list and let the new people know you are praying for them.
- Pray with them and ask for the following;
- For God to equip you for the battle.
- For God to strengthen your relationships with others.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- For today’s prayer verse let’s use (vv. 19-20) and ask yourself if you are willing to speak, the mysteries of the gospel fearlessly.
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Being a christian in this day and age is not as difficult as it was in the past. There is coming a day when it will be extremely difficult to declare your love for the Saviour. These verses are to help us day to day but also to prepare us for the difficult times to come. We must pray and we must study God’s word. We must wear our armor for we need these defenses. Satan is going to attack in every way possible for his only aim is to hurt our Lord. When I don’t pray like I should and I dont’ read the bible like I should, that is when the devil has easy access to my mind. This is a moment by moment, second by second, defense that we must call on and use. God loves us and does not want us to fall. This is why He gives us this armor to use.
Rosi, I really appreciate how you make note of the need for “moment by moment, second by second” defense. That is exactly the reminder I needed today.
I preach sermons on how God’s will equip us for any and all battles that He call us to fight, but your right we must ask for this equipping every day.
Quite honestly, some days I feel equipped for battle, and others I don’t. Sometimes I even feel a mixture of readiness and unpreparedness. But I am learning more and more not to rely on these feelings, whatever they may be. What I have noticed is that I can feel weak, and then sin. I can also feel strong, and then sin.
I think it is obvious here that I am not the constant in this equation, Christ is. Perhaps this is why we are shown that we win the war only by being like Christ (taking on his attributes –faith, righteousness, truth, etc.)? This is such a wonderful way for Paul to reinforce his earlier words, “Therefore be imitators of God…” (Eph. 5:1). When I am in Christ’s armor, I am ready for war.
My sermon this week was on “5 steps to building a Faith to die for” here they are
1) We must be willing to receive the Holy Spirit
2) We must be willing to surrender to Christ (Unconditionally)
3) We must stand fact in our faith
4) We must hold on (to our Bibles, to our family and friend and most of all to Christ)
5) Prepare to fight. (We will win, because Christ defeated Satan at the cross)
We may not always feel like we are prepared, but if we hold to these 5 steps we will always have Christ by our side
God will not take us out of the fight or the world. There’s something far more valuable to gain from this war. To some this may seem cruel, to let his children not only fight but encourages us to fight the good fight to the very end, but they fail to see He, all his host, along with all his power fight with us. They far out number and out strenghten the enemie’s. Great examples of this are found through out the Bible (Elijah, Ester, Moses) so that we could claim with confidence, “if God is for us who could be against us.”
for me I look to (2 Chr.20:15) “He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s”.
He has his part, but we also have our part; they differ depending on the battle. We carry the sword for a reason, we need to claim the Word in faith and boldness knowing who is with us.
we forget that Christ is willing to stand with us until we hit bottom.