Some Simple Mathematics
Before we get into the message, bear with me while I do some quick math with you. In this example we will assume the reader of this blog is 40 years old. Here's the question: How many time have you woken up and gotten yourself dressed in the morning over the course of 40 years?
Over their life, a 40 year old person would have woken up 14,600 times (40 years x 365 days). Add 10 more days due to leap-year occurring every 4 years, so the grand total is 14,610 times.
Subtraction #1 - For the first 5 years of your life, someone else got you dressed. So we subtract 1,825 days from our total.
Subtraction #2 - Due to being in the hospital or accounting for a lazy weekend, we will subtract another 100 days of your life you did not get up and get yourself dressed.
Calculations
Number of days you woke up over 40 years: 14,610
Subtraction #1: - 1,825
Subtraction #2: - 100
GRAND TOTAL: 12,685 days a 40 year old woke up and got themselves dressed in the morning.
Getting Dress in the Full Armor of God: Ephesians 6:10-18
By using our calculations above, how many days have your dressed yourself in the Full Armor of God in the morning? Probably not that much. First of all, why would we?
As you read the passage from Paul you will see it is clear that the reason is to protect yourself from what the devil wants to do to you that day. "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." - Ephesians 6:11
So here is the "ah-ha" moment. You might begin to understand and realize why you sometimes feel that the devil has defeated you most days of your life. Think about it. How often would our Marines win a battle if they failed to get dressed in the morning without their armor or without their weapons? They would never win. Never.
When you fail to take a moment in the morning and rush out the door to start your busy day, you are extremely vulnerable to the schemes of the devil if you have not armed yourself. This, I believe, is why so many people come home feeling defeated or that their day was 'unlucky'. I can assure you that the devil makes preparations ever single morning on how he plans to defeat you.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
So, here's the bad news. We, as Christians, look like yummy little antelopes that lions like to eat. In other words, there is a huge target on your back every morning when you wake up and head out the door.
Here's the good news. God gives us basic training and clear instructions on how we can arm ourselves every morning so you "can take your stand against the devil's schemes."
The First Piece of Armor - The Belt of Truth
There are a couple of interesting points to understand in the first piece of armor. You would think that swords and shields would have been mentioned first, but rather Paul tells us to place truth around our waist.
Think about this. If you start everyday with a few lies, even innocent lies, then you will likely have to spend the rest of your day covering those lies so you are not caught. How can we allow God to work with us if we are marinating ourselves in lies? Lying is a key personality trait of the devil. He is the Prince of Lies. Look at what John says about the devil and lying.
When he (Satan) lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. - John 8:44.
So, when we lie, we are basically confessing that we are on the devil's side. We are on his team because we are speaking his language. OUCH!
Start your day with truth. Don't speak the native language of the devil. Show the world and those around you whose team you are on. If the devil can get you to tell lies to others, then your talking in his language and allow him to control your day.
The Second Piece of Armor - The Breastplate of Righteousness
The main purpose of the breastplate is to protect your vital organs, your heart and your lungs. If your heart stops beating or your lungs stop breathing, your dead. So why would Paul want us to place righteousness over these vital organs? What exactly does it mean to be righteous?
From the dictionary, it mean qualities such as: moral, high-minded, honest, honorable to name a few. Here's a few definition that comes from the book of James and Romans.
"A man is called righteous by the things he does, not just by his faith." - James 2:24
"It is this belief in your heart that makes you righteous, but is's your mouth, when it confesses this, that brings salvation." - Romans 10:10
So, in essence, you are righteous according to your actions and the beliefs that you carry inside of you. When you ask for Jesus to come into your heart, you invited His perfect, sinless spirit to replace yours.
The purpose of a breastplate is to protect your from arrows and impacts to your chest. So, to tie these together, placing the breastplate of righteousness over your chest means your morals, integrity and honorable actions will protect you from the arrows that the devil will shoot at you during the course of the day.
To say it another way, your best defense against the schemes of the devil is a system of personal values containing high morals, integrity and honor.
The Third Piece of Armor - Feet Fitted with Readiness
This piece of armor is my favorite, I love what Paul does with this.
You have to imagine that back in Paul's time, the ability to win a battle was a direct result of how well prepared an army or a solider was. If you could move fast, you could get into the defenses of the enemy quickly, cause your damage, and get out quickly. You can't do this if you are not ready.
Other translations have the word readiness replaced with the word preparation. Paul is clearly instructing us to be on our toes and prepared to do battle however, you will see that this preparation comes from the gospel of peace. Through the gospel of Christ is how we are to prepare and ready ourselves to battle the evil one.
The Gospel is the amazing story of the miraculous birth of Jesus, His teachings of the new covenant, His crucifixion for our eternal salvation and His resurrection as the living God. Without the Gospel and these important events, we would still be subject to the laws that were given to Moses. The Church which is the bride of Christ is based upon the Gospel. The writings of Paul, Peter and John in the New Testament are the divine explanation of how we are to use and apply the Gospel to our lives.
The Fourth Piece of Armor - The Shield of Faith
We are all familiar with what a shield does for someone in battle. It is what you hold up when you are under attack. We see here in verse 16 that we are under attack with flaming arrows. The purpose of a flaming arrow is to hit its target then spread damage to the things around the target. This should start to sound familiar. The devil wants to attack you and while doing that he wants those around you to be damaged at the same time. He wants to create confusion for your life as well as for those around you. I believe that the most damage he can create for us is doubt.
If he can cause you to doubt yourself or God's purpose for your life, then he has cause great damage in your life. Maybe this is where you are? If so, then let's see what Paul tells us to use to extinguish these arrows. He instructs you to use faith to defend yourself.
Faith is a very interesting topic and concept. I have hear many sermons on faith and seen it used multiple times throughout the Bible. One scenario was Peter. He walked on water yet when he lost faith and began to doubt, he started to sink. Jesus had mercy on him and reached in and pulled him out, yet Peter missed out on an amazing miracle because he lost faith and began to doubt.
Faith can be describe many ways, yet to me faith can be summed up with this: Faith in God is both patience and trust in Him to allow my purpose to be fulfilled. Satan tries to encourage me to become impatient and to doubt (the flaming arrows), yet if I remain faithful, I am protected from his schemes.
The Fifth & Sixth Piece of Armor - The Helmet of Salvation & Sword of the Spirit
The last two pieces of the Armor of God are a helmet and a sword. The helmet protects your head, that's pretty obvious, but why does Paul want our heads protected with salvation?
To me salvation is the exemption of all consequences that you deserve. The gift of salvation is wrapped in grace and given to us through our acceptance of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of this concept is why I think Paul wanted salvation to cover our head, because this is where we make our decisions.
If you are protecting your thoughts and are making all your decisions based upon the gift of salvation, then your mind is ready and prepared to understand the schemes of the devil.
The sword of the spirit is the final piece of the armor outfit. This is also the only piece of the armor that you fight with. We saw Jesus fight Satan with the word of God in the desert when He was led there to be tempted by the devil. Three times Satan tempted and tested Jesus and all three times, Jesus used scripture as His response (as His sword). This should be all the example that we need.
However, the sharper your sword the more dangerous and effective weapon it will be. If you only depend upon the Bible verses you learned in Sunday School and what you may hear during a Church service, then your offense will be weak. If you have a weak offense, then you are at the mercy of your defense to stay in the battle and not be defeated.
The scripture is your offense. You must hone and sharpen your sword by reading your Bible and gaining its knowledge. Hidden inside the scripture are dramatic ways in which you can defeat Satan and his schemes. You will learn his weaknesses and you will see how others have defeated him in the past. The knowledge of the Bible will give you the advantage.
In summary, we have to understand a few simple concepts through Paul's passage in Ephesians. First, you must arm yourself everyday to protect yourself from the schemes of the devil. Second, you have to understand what each of the pieces mean. Finally, you have to use the power of prayer to understand how each of the pieces apply to your life. We are all unique and made for a specific purpose. Find our how the Armor of God can be used to help you defend yourself as you fulfill your purpose to glorify Him.
We'd love to hear from you and your ideas about the Armor of God. You can either fill out a comment below or email us direct at info@fansforJesus.org - Amen!
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