The Armor

    First of all, we look at the belt of truth.
    The truth of God needs to wrapped around us like a belt.  Truth is the very nature of God; it is an absolute fact or idea.  Without God we have no truth and we would be left with a changing untrustworthy world.  We would not know what to expect from nature.
    John 14:6 Jesus said “I am truth”.  The very foundation of the world has been based on truth.  Our daily lives should also be based on truth.
    When we have truth wrapped around us as a belt, all of our dealings will be truthful and honest.
    How do we wrap truth around us?  Dig into the truth, apply it to our life, and live it every day.
John 1:1
Psalm 119:1-16
3 John 4
    The joy that God gives us when we follow His commands is unmatched by any other, and it will only come from doing His will.  We can just obey His commands or we can obey them from the deepest part of our hearts.
    Are we just trying to get by the ensuing death or do you really want to follow God in gratefulness for the escape He provided.
     The truth of God is absolute and can not be changed, so are we going to go along with it or are we going to ignore it.
  Proverbs 23:23
    Too many times we compromise the truth because it doesn't fit into our agenda.  When we do this we are walking in a lie, and God can not bless our spiritual life.  Our agenda needs to be yielded to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
    Moving now to another area, we now will look at the shoes of the gospel of peace.
    Having God as your passion will protect your feet from slipping.  As we stand and wield the word of God  against the devil, we must have our passions in the right place or we will slip and fall.
Isaiah 52:7
Proverbs 16:17
    When our desire for God does not direct our ways, we need to re-ignite the passion.
Proverbs 3:6
Luke 2:14

    The initial birth announcement of Jesus included peace and goodwill to all men.  After Jesus went back to Heaven the only ones left to carry this message are His followers that He left here.  Are we extending God’s peace and goodwill to those around us?

Colossians 3:15,16

    The peace that we extend to others must first come from God, then be real in our own lives and through this peace we will be able to encourage our contemporaries.

John 14:27

    Satan has worked very hard to destroy our message of peace.  In many cases, the peace in our hearts, the peace in our homes, and the peace in our churches either does not exist or there is very 

little of it. Somewhere along the line people have taken off their shoes of peace, maybe even thinking they didn’t need it right then.  I appeal, if this is where you find yourself, put the shoes of the gospel of peace back on; and re-instate a peaceful atmosphere in your life, home, and church.

    The Breastplate of Righteousness is given to us by God as a protection as well.  Righteousness is something we all like to appear to have.  Most of  the time it comes from within ourselves and this merely amounts to dirty clothes that are torn.

Isaiah 64:6

    The implication is very clear that we need a higher grade of righteousness than we can muster up ourselves.

    Jesus Christ has offered us His righteousness, and only His righteousness will do.  The righteousness of Jesus Christ be ours if we allow it to take the place of our sin.  Abraham, in the Old Testament, had faith in God’s promises and because of that; God endowed him with His righteousness, thus making him fit for the kingdom of Heaven

    The example of Abraham, if followed will result in us receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which will in turn for our ungodliness, make us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. 

    The righteousness of Jesus Christ, will make us lovely to those around us, and they will see that we are different than people in general.  In order to see how the righteousness of Jesus will change us, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which will produce the fruit of the Spirit in our life.  We can take a look at this list in Galatians 5 and see if it has been an all-consuming part of our life.

Philippians 4:8

    Positive thinking will aid you in your defense against Satan.  Jesus had no intentions of us dwelling on the sorrows of life.  We need to look to Jesus as our savior and King all the while seeking to lift our hearts and others in praise to Him which will encourage others who are downcast.  By praising Him I do not necessarily mean singing, but lifting up His name for all. 

                                                                         

          

The Shield of Faith 

    The Roman soldiers had shield that went the entire length of their bodies.  They were able to hide behind them and fight.  The shield we use against the devil can be small yet large enough to work.  It can be easily grown to cover the vulnerable areas.

Luke 17:6

Romans 10:17

    Faith is an invisible shield that is efficient and well able to ward off the darts that Satan throws our way.

    When we hold up our faith as a shield to protect us, nothing can break through that barrier.  The gift of faith is precious and not to be taken lightly, but to be used to further our resolve in Jesus Christ.  We are not forced to take this gift, but rather choose to take it, for without it no one will please God. 

Hebrews 11:6

    Satan can not stand unwavering faith in God and will have to concede defeat, at least for the time-being.

    Our faith in Jesus Christ will result in His righteousness being given to us in place of our own, that we may have a deep relationship with Him.
     The fiery darts that the devil throws our way act as distractions so we end up not truly fighting the real battle of the mind.
     In the days on Daniel Boone the Indians would attack using arrows that were dipped in oil then lit on fire and shot at the buildings inside the fort causing fire to break out, thus they had to fight fires as well as Indians.
This is the same tactic the devil uses today in the battles against us.  Use the shield of faith, it is designed to cover all areas of our life protecting us from the attacks of Satan.

The Helmet of Salvation

    Our conscience is both vulnerable and a protectant for the rest of the areas in our life.  We can not just

rely on our conscience to keep us safe, but must keep it polished and toned by reading the word of God.  Satan loves to mess with this area making it less effective in protecting the rest of our life.

    There are times when we do sin and Satan wants to use these times to further destroy you.  He wants to deceive you and others by causing your conscience to lose feeling.

1 Timothy 4:2

     The power of God to save is able to protect our consciences from becoming dull.  We must keep it firmly on our control panel ( the head of our spiritual lives).

John 10:28,29

Jesus and His Father will not let anyone come and just take any of their sheep, but will hang onto them if the sheep want protection.  If we have allowed the devil to draw us away he will patiently draw us back.

The Sword of Truth

Hebrews 4:12

    The sword of truth is alive.  I picture it as shooting white flames of truth to the enemy.  It is able to swallow those fiery darts that Satan shoots in mid-air.  What happens if we turn a sword like this toward a soldier at our side?  God Forbid, that we would ever use it wrongly.  It is meant for combat with the devil and should remain that way.

Judges 7:20-22

    The power of the sword of the Lord should not be undermined.  When we properly use it, the devil will leave in defeat.  Matthew 4:10,11

Pray for every one

    Praying for yourself and other is often left out of God’s armor, but it is listed along with it, and thus it is important.  It is the method of tuning your armor and other people’s armor as well.  It help to strengthen you and the ones you pray for.

Isaiah 62:6

Prayer and meditating is what keeps all the armor in top shape (like a tune-up).  Being in tune with the Spirit will give direction on how to apply the weapons God has provided.

If we feel that we can’t hear the Holy Spirit speaking, we need to quiet our lives… get rid or fast from the things causing the noise and draw close to God.  This being said, we also need patience.  I have prayed for a few years for something that I now have the answer.

Draw close to God by:

Bible meditation

Prayer

Sacrifice your ambitions

Complete obedience

Love of others

Etc…

We need to use the fruit of the Spirit chart in Galatians 5:22,23  as a thermometer of our walk with God.  We can  always grow spiritually, but if we are missing some of this fruit, then we have work to do.  If the Holy Spirit is not bearing fruit in our lives, something is wrong.  We have a reserved idol that stands in the way of God speaking to you.

The sword of the Lord is meant to be used against the devil, and if we use the sword properly; we will have an open heart.  Our heart will be wide open to allowing the Holy Spirit bear fruit in our lives.