The Armor of God

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."  Ephesians 6:13 (NASB)

My last post was about the ways that Satan wants to break down a church.  Thankfully, God does not leave us without the ability to withstand the onslaught that Satan will bring.  But, we have to prepare ourselves with armor that neither belongs to us or comes naturally to us.  I do not wish to rehash the sermon that I just preached (although if you would like it is online through the website www.whitelakebaptist.com.  But I do want to make a few points about the verse that I listed above in particular. 

1. We are supposed to take up the full armor of God.  Not a part of the armor, but the full armor.  I cannot imagine that if we were going to war and defending ourselves with a suit of armor that we would intentionally leave off a part.  We need all of it.  We need truth and righteousness and the gospel and faith and salvation and the Word of God.  We cannot stand properly against everything that the devil throws at us without all of the armor - do not leave part of it behind!

2. Notice that as you put on the armor, you have two responsibilities.  One is to resist and the other is to stand firm.  At the end of it all God does not want us to storm the gates of hell and conquer Satan.  That would make no sense given that Satan is already defeated.  He does however know that the modus operandi that Satan has is to try and tear down believers through deception and lies until the day that Christ returns.  A deceived believer is useless to his Savior and a benefit to the opposition.  We instead are to simply hold our ground! 

3.  It is worth reminding ourselves of over and over again - the therefore is there for a reason and in this case the reason is the reminder that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against forces of darkness and wickedness (verse 12).  No matter what is happening in your life, your primary struggle is not against whatever it is.  It is not against cancer, it is not against people, it is not against politics.  Our primary struggle is against Satan.  This is not to say that Satan is behind every corner, but it does point out that he is the one with whom we war.  The funny thing about this is that the war that Satan knows he is fighting is ultimately pointless.  Satan has already lost and his doom is sure.  But he is not too happy with that and so he continues to fight rather than graciously accept his own defeat.  Praise God for the victory that we already have through the work of Christ!