Taking Up the Whole Armor of God

Ephesians 6:11-20

When you read “armor of God” what comes to mind?  Did you say to yourself, “Oh here we go again”?  Did you think to yourself that you know all about the armor of God?  I must admit when I decided to teach on this topic a few months ago I thought I knew all about it.  There is a saying, “to teach is to learn and to learn is to teach”.  As I was researching and preparing for the study, God saw fit to teach me some things that I needed to learn and in the process share with my study group. So I encourage you to keep an open mind and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you as we delve into the importance of the armor.

Paul tells us to take up the whole armor of God.

         But what is this armor, and how do we put it on?

         Is it still relevant for Christians today?

         What Do We Need Armor for, Anyway?

Living for two years with soldiers of the Roman army, Paul saw the soldiers’ armor enough times to become very well acquainted with it, as a result he   understood the function of each piece, what purpose it served and why it was important.

Just as the Roman soldiers required physical armor to fight their wars, Paul saw the need for Christians to have spiritual armor to successfully fight our war.  As the pieces fell into place for Paul, he saw that each piece of Roman armor had a powerful correlation with our own spiritual defenses.

The armor of God is an amazing metaphor for the action we need to take in our spiritual lives.  We are fighting a war!  Our enemy is not flesh and blood, no human enemy; we fight against a much more fearsome opponent.  Our adversary, Satan the devil, and his host of demons have a single, driving purpose: Obliterate the children of God. We can easily forget about the severity of this battle when faced with the cares of this world day to day.

In Ephesians 6:13, Paul gives the call to arms. “…put on every piece of God’s armor”; starting with the belt of truth; breastplate of righteousness; feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace; the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation; and the sword of the Spirit.  Without these, we are helpless—but with it, we are soldiers of the living God, and “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

So, next time we will explore the different pieces of armor and how we are to put them on.  Have you ever wondered why the belt of truth is first on the list?  Stay tuned to the answer….

There is a message to the overcomer,

Rev. Rosita Dozier