Stand Up! Stand Firm! Part 2

 

In Ephesians 6:13-17, Paul talks about the “Armor of God”. As I told you in Part 1, I had no idea how important this armor was until recently. We are told over and over in scripture that we are in a battle. We are also told in scripture that God has given us all we need for every good work. Standing firm in battle is one of those things God has equipped us to do. But we will never know how well he has equipped us until we take a closer look at the armor.

We already talked about how we need to be standing up and in Ephesians 6:13 we see why we need to stand up… so that we can resist the devil. In James 4:7 we are told that if we resist the devil he will flee from us. But what does this mean? Let’s keep going and find out.

The first piece of armor is the Belt of Truth. Most of the time we women think of a belt as an accessory, but in military situations the belt is used to stabilize. It holds the weapons and gear the soldier might need for battle. In Roman times the belt also held up the soldiers robe so he wouldn’t trip in battle. In our spiritual armor, the Belt of Truth is designed to stabilize our armor and put it into proper order. It is God’s Truth that should be wrapped around our waste. When our feelings do not line up with God’s Truth, we must choose to believe what God tells us to be true over our feelings.

A second aspect of the Belt of Truth is that we must be truthful with ourselves and with God. God’s truth must resonate in our souls before it can be validated externally in our lives. One of the ways the enemy gets access to us is through offering us “counterfeit truths” (or lies). From the time we are conceived, the enemy starts to offer us ways to “ease” our pain due to life’s circumstances. These counterfeit truths are designed to cause us to question God’s love. The Belt of Truth stabilizes by giving us our plumb line of comparison.

The second piece of armor, Breastplate of Righteousness, is designed to protect our hearts (the well-spring of life) and our spirits (the relational part of us where our spirit and the Holy Spirit reside) which pumps the Truth of God into our souls (our minds, wills, and emotions). It is only by living in Christ’s righteousness that we are made righteous. It is His righteousness (not what we do or don’t do) that guards our hearts. Confessing to the Lord our unrighteousness and living in Christ’s righteousness allows us to live in complete freedom and open relationship with God. This open relationship allows the Holy Spirit the freedom to release God’s love in us towards others. By wearing the Breastplate of Righteousness we are able to be loving so that we can act loving towards others, even in the midst of being attacked and hurt. The Breastplate of Righteousness points out the incongruences between our actions and emotions and the actions and emotions desired of us by God.

The third piece of armor, the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace, are designed to keep us standing firm in complete peace when the world around us says we should be running, fixing, controlling, and or stressing out. Because we are wearing the Belt of Truth giving us our stability and the Breastplate of Righteousness which points out the incongruences of our soul when compared to God’s, our mind, will, and emotions are then able to align with God’s giving us peace in the midst of chaos of battle. In Philippians 4:7 we know that this peace guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace align our hearts and our minds with God’s Truth (we begin to feel truth as well as know truth).

The fourth piece of armor is the Shield of Faith and is one that we “take up” and use when needed rather than “putting on.” The first three pieces get us ready to go into any battle and should be warn at all times to guard us. The last three pieces are used during an actual fight to protect us. The Shield is designed to protect us from the deceptive strategies of the enemy. He attacks us in our mind with half-truths and lies. Because the shield is connected to the Belt of Truth, we can test those fiery messages we are sent. Many times the enemy will use our knowledge, background, experience, and education to send us messages. Because God’s wisdom seems like foolishness to man (1 Corinthians 2:14), we must put all of this “worldly wisdom” behind the truth of God. We must act on God’s Truth no matter what the world says is true. This action on God’s Truth is Faith. Faith is the access point to God’s power in our lives and is the secret to living a victorious life in the midst of spiritual warfare. The Shield of Faith shields us and allows us to live victoriously.

The Helmet of Salvation is the fifth piece of armor. It is designed to protect our minds, which is the control center of the will and emotions. God wants us to operate our lives by grace, through faith, for the purpose of good works. Many times we get confused and start doing all these “good works” for God but we are doing them without grace and faith. The Helmet of Salvation brings about the work of sanctification in the life of the believer. Just as faith without works is dead, works without faith are meaningless. Allowing the Holy Spirit to sanctify us (make us more like Christ in the way we love God and Others) keeps us living in grace, acting in faith, and doing good works for the glory of the Father. The Helmet of Salvation allows us to live in grace through faith and bring God glory.

(Stand Up! Stand Firm! – Part 2 continued)  The last piece of armor is the Sword of the Spirit. This is the piece of armor that we have but that we should not try to control. It is the only offensive weapon we have. The sword belongs to the Spirit and should be used only as the Spirit leads us to use it. The verses in Ephesians tell us that the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. As we use in combination the other pieces of armor, our spirit aligns with God’s Spirit and He gives us the scripture to use at the precise time it will bring us victory in battle. The Sword of the Spirit is the death-blow to the enemy during battle.

The death-blow is really the enemy fleeing from us. Once he realizes he cannot defeat us because we are standing firm and resisting his lies, he has to flee. We can win ANY and EVERY battle just by putting on the three pieces that guard us and using the three pieces that protect us. When our spirits and souls are aligned with God’s Truth we can live in the peace that passes all understanding even when the attacks are fierce and the battle is long.

Stand up, Ladies and Stand Firm knowing that “the Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.” (Deut 20:4)

Praying as we stand up and stand firm!

Dr. A

Adapted from Tony Evans “Victory in Spiritual Warfare”.