Part VI…..The Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10 - Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
I want to firstly remind you that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:14 “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with TRUTH.”
The first piece of our armor and weapon that Paul speaks about is truth. In the scripture it says that the “truth will set you free.”
Ø We need to understand the truth about the demonic kingdom and its nature and characteristics.
Ø We need to understand the truth about the different areas in which demons work in our lives.
Ø We need to understand the truth about the weapons that the Holy Spirit has given us to overcome this demonic kingdom.
We need to gird our waist with the truth concerning Jesus and God’s purpose in Christ for our lives. Then we will be able to withstand and overcome the lies that demonic spirits put in our minds daily.
Ø This is the reason that we need to feed continually on the word of God.
Ø This is the reason we need to constantly seek the Holy Spirit for wisdom and revelation.
Ø This is the reason why there is a need to unveil the great truths that are taught in scripture on the kingdom of God
Ø This is the reason why there is a burden in my heart to learn and teach the truth concerning the demonic kingdom.
There has been a great spirit of fear and misunderstanding that has gripped the church whenever the word “demonic” is mentioned.
Ø It is because we don’t know who we are at war with
Ø It is because we don’t understand what our weapons are in this war.
What we understand we no longer fear.
For hundreds and possibly thousands of years the people of God have been weighed down.
Ø We are suffering from oppression
Ø We are always fighting depression
Now the Holy Spirit is beginning to teach us how to fight these things. The very teaching of these truths will bring us deliverance. We are about to “gird our waist with truth” and stand, finally, against the enemy.
Ephesians 6:14b - having put on the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
If we are not walking in holiness and righteousness, Satan, who is the “accuser of the brethren,” will begin to accuse and condemn us when we fall into temptation and sin.
Ø He will point out to us that we have failed God.
Ø He will tell us that we are no good in God’s eyes.
Ø He will try and convince us that there is no use in trying to live a Christian life anyway.
Ø When we come to pray we will begin to feel guilty and think that God is disappointed with us.
Ø We will not pray with any type of real faith that will move God’s hand.
Thus the power of God is robbed from our lives.
God gave His son Jesus to shed His blood on the cross for us because He knew that Satan would continually be tempting us, overcoming us and causing us to sin. Then Satan comes right back, pointing his accusing finger at us and says, “See, you’re no good. You’ve failed God again. You know God is displeased with you.”
The devil knows that as long as he can keep us under condemnation we will not have faith enough to go on to overcome our sins and weaknesses.
God gave us Christ, the cross and the blood so that we would know that our acceptance by God does not depend on what we do, but on what Jesus has done for us.
Ø We are clean before God, not by our actions, but by the blood of Jesus
Ø We are perfectly acceptable to our father, not by our own righteousness, but by the righteousness that comes only through the blood of Jesus.
When we wear this breastplate of His righteousness the enemy has no weapon in which to accuse us and separate us from God.
When you come to God in prayer and Satan has tricked you, tempted you and then has convinced you to commit some act of sin, then has the nerve to turn around and condemn you and tell you how unacceptable to God you really are:
Ø You can take the righteousness that is in the blood of Jesus and come and kneel and pray.
Ø Even though the enemy may have overcome you, you can say like Jesus “get thee behind me Satan. You are a liar. I am perfectly acceptable to my Father, not of my own, but because of the blood of His son, Jesus.”
The breastplate of righteousness and the blood of Jesus are the weapons in our armor that will break the power and control that sin has held over our lives.
Ø The power in the condemnation of Satan will be broken.
Ø We will pray with faith receiving the power of God in our lives.
Ø We will have the power to overcome the sins that so easily snare us.
Ø We can stand in Jesus’ righteousness that is given to us
Ø We will come into that perfect righteousness that God desires to lead us into.
Ephesians 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the GOSPEL OF PEACE;
Our feet in scripture always speak of our walk.
When we walk in Jesus' Gospel of peace we can stand right in the middle of all this hostility that is all around us, and still have peace in our hearts.
John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Jesus' peace that He gives is not the kind the world gives.
Ø The peace the world gives is a temporary feeling when things are going well financially, no one in the family is sick and we have plenty of material goods
Ø This type of peace lasts only for a little while.
Ø Children do get sick, financial problems will arise and demons will sweep in with all sorts of divisions in our family and in our church bodies.
Ø This worldly peace is immediately gone because it is a worldly thing and does not last.
The peace that Jesus gives is not the kind of peace that gives only comfort when things are going well.
Ø The peace that Jesus gives comes from our knowing that whatever testing we are going through; our Heavenly Father is changing us to the image of Christ.
Ø It enables us to stand right in the midst of hostility, when things are raging all around us, knowing that He is with us even unto the end of this world.
Ø The peace that Jesus gives will remain in our souls even when demons are stirring around us.
The purpose of the demonic kingdom has always been to bring divisions, strife and warfare.
Ø It desires to cause hostility between all the peoples of the world as well as between Christians.
Ø This Demonic kingdom strives to always keep us in an atmosphere of strife and misery so that they can continually weaken our minds, and spirits and our faith.
Ø These demons desire to get a hold on us and completely possess us.
Ephesians 6: 16 above all, taking the SHEILD OF FAITH with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
When the enemy begins to project his fiery darts of doubt, unbelief, and lies into our minds; we can hold this shield of faith in front of us.
Ø Faith in the Word of God,
Ø Faith in the promises of God,
Ø Faith in the power that is in the blood of Jesus,
Ø Faith that He is always with us,
Ø Faith to know that He will do all that He said He will do.
Then we can use our shield of faith and slam the enemy back where he belongs.
Ephesians 6: 17 And take the HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
A helmet protects your head from receiving a serious head injury during a battle.
Ø The Holy Spirit has revealed to us that we are saved through the blood of Jesus.
Ø Our salvation is complete and is done in the heart and mind of God.
Ø It is nothing that we have done on our own. We only need to walk out our salvation daily.
Ø We are saved once and for all and forever, only through the blood of Jesus
With this helmet of salvation protecting our minds; all the tricks and the lies that the demons use on us to try to stop us from believing truth, will not keep us from going on to that place that God has prepared for us.
Ephesians 6: 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, which is the word of God;
When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus took the Word of God and used it as a sword against him.
Satan said, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Jesus answered him saying, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
There is a point I want to make here concerning the use of the Word of God in these scriptures, which needs to be made very clear.
How often have we heard Christians say, "Jesus defeated Satan by quoting to him the Word of God”?
You do not defeat Satan by "quoting" him the Word of God.
Ø Satan does not care how much we quote the Word of God to him. He laughs in our face, and the demons will laugh in our faces when we quote it.
Ø They don’t believe it.
Ø They will never receive it.
Ø They have gone past the point of no return.
Ø Satan doesn’t care how much we quote the Word as long as we do not feed upon it and believe it ourselves.
Ø You defeat Satan by feeding upon the Word of God yourself.
Ø Feeding on the Word makes Satan and his demons tremble.
When Jesus said, "it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God":
Ø He was pouring into His own mind that scripture.
Ø He was building up His own faith in that truth.
Ø He knew that God had said to him "Do not quote the Word to Satan, but eat of the Word yourself."
Ø At the moment he did faith began to build up in his heart and
Ø The power of God began to work in His life.
We must feed upon the Word of God ourselves.
Ø Then all of the demons' lies will have no effect on us.
Ø Then the power of the Almighty God, at that moment, will begin to work in our lives.
Ø Then we can give it out to others in order that they may feed upon it and
Ø All of us will then feed upon the word of God and believe it and stand upon it
The word of God becomes the sword of the Spirit in our lives that will defeat the demoniac kingdom
All the other weapons that have been mentioned here:
Ø Waist gird with the truth,
Ø Breastplate of righteousness,
Ø Helmet of salvation,
Ø Feet shod with the gospel of peace,
Ø The shield of faith
These are all defensive weapons used to resist the attack of the enemy.
The SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, which is the WORD OF GOD, is an offensive weapon. With this weapon we can go forth into battle against the enemy.
The sword of the Spirit, the word of God in our heart and in our mind, is a weapon that the enemy cannot stand against.
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