The armor (3/9/04)

Ephesians 6:10-20 talks about putting on the armor of God:

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. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

This Wednesday we are praying that we continue to learn how to put on this armor.

As Christians, we have a tendency to look at these verses and think we need to get ourselves on guard. Perhaps even isolate ourselves from the big bad evil world. The problem with this is that this same big bad evil stuff is also inside each of us. We can't run away from ourselves. We need to look upward instead of inward as we put verses like this into practice.

Take a close look at the attributes of the armor in the verses. It doesn't take long to realize Jesus is the armor. He is truth... He is righteousness... He is the gospel of peace… and so on. When we are putting on the armor, we are putting on Jesus. All of the characteristics of Jesus. Said another way - to put on the armor, we must be a disciple. We can't "stand firm" on our own but we can with Him. We can't walk unharmed through the temptations of the world alone but with Him, we are insulated. In short - Less of us, more of Him.

Pray that we learn to rely on him in ALL things.

Romans 8:31b - If God is for us, who can be against us?

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob