Armor Of God

Ephesians 6:10-17
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.


What a rich passage of scripture this is! It never fails to teach me something each and every time I read it. Let’s see what we can discover today, shall we?

First, I love that it tells us that we need to put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes – when, not if. So, first, we need to know and always keep in mind that the day of evil will come. A day when we are called to stand "against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil."

This passage tells us that with the full armor, having done everything, we will stand. But there are no promises if we only manage to get on one or two pieces of the armor. We must have in our lives truth, righteousness, readiness with the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. They all work together, complementing and completing each other. Is there anything you’re missing? This is definitely one check-list we should double and triple check!

Second, I love how this passage tells us that the shield of faith can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one – not some, or even most, but all – every single one. There is nothing that Satan can throw our direction that faith cannot extinguish. Yes, faith is that important.

Third, I notice that everything on this list is defensive, to protect us, apart from one item – the "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." That is the only item that is a weapon – the only thing we have for our use that can aid us in fighting off Satan. We can actually fight back with the Word of God. Ah, but we cannot use it if we do not know it, can we?

This is where I think that so many Christians are lacking these days – we do not know the Word. We know parts of it – I bet every single one of us could quote John 3:16, but we do not know it. We need to know its stories, its insights, its precepts, how it all weaves together. We need to be able to see the broad strokes and the finite little details. We must get to know the Word of God, the Bible, and in the process we will get to know the Word made flesh, Christ. It is in knowing the Word that we will have at our use, in our scabbard, so to speak, a weapon so powerful that Satan doesn’t stand a chance against us!

So, let’s dig in, and build our arsenal – Satan won’t know what hit him!