The Armour of God. Equipping Christians

General Eva Booth of the Salvation Army said once that the army needs to preach two messages, one of salvation for saving souls, and the other of how to live a Christian life.
Today we shall be looking at the second message how to live a Christian life.

As Paul says in the second letter to the Corinthians I have fed you with milk not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 1 Corinthians 3:2.
Today I will grind and pulp the meat to you so that you may be able to swallow it.



How do we live by faith and walk that elusive Christian walk?
Christ said that they shall know us by your fruits. If we exhibit the fruits of the spirit they shall know that we are the children of God.

Do we exhibit customs and life practices that make us stand out to the world?
Are we really living like, “Jesus could come at any minute” “Prepare yourselves for the judgement seat of Christ is upon us” Do we live like that?
We should because the fathers of the faith did, they tirelessly spread the word of God till they physically could no more.

Not all of the early church members went out and took the message to new cities or countries but they lived the life that Jesus would have been proud of.
Paul exhorts us to in Ephesians 4:22 to put off our former conduct, the way the world operates, the way he world see things and put on a new pattern of behaviour. One that is renewed in the spirit constantly, a new man that is created according to the plan God has for you.

So in a sense Put off the old man and put on the new man.

So how do we go about living a life that Jesus would be proud of?
What must we do to be clothed in the white garments of purity?

The disciples asked Jesus this same question in John 6:28-29
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Is that simple or what? I don’t know about you but being asked to believe is pretty easy.
Believe that God will work in you.
Believe that God will use you to lead people to Christ.
Believe that God will help you to overcome the world.
Believe that God will deliver you out of the problems that you have.
Believe that God will work through you to cause a revival in the minds and attitudes of people that you meet.

Who can say that they have that much faith?
Jesus said in Matthew 21:21-21, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
I don’t know about you but that sounds like something we can bank on.

Yeah I know the statement we all say after hearing that, but I don’t have enough faith.

Well how much faith do you need?

Mustard Seeds

Jesus answered this on also in Luke 17:6 “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Now I don’t know about you but I haven’t actually seen a mustard seed. So I did some research and a mustard seed could be placed on the tip of your finger easily. It is 1/30th of an inch in size. for those that don't understand imperial that is about .84mm. Which is pretty small. So you only need a small amount of faith to be able to move mountains and see great things happen.

Have you got enough faith in God to trust him with your soul?

If the answer is yes then you have enough faith to see God at work in you life and enough faith to step out in faith to do the works of God. Believe.

Now, that we have enough faith in Christ to trust him to lead us, what now?

Don’t think that because you have your trust in God that you can just sit back and rest on your laurels. For the Devil is about and he wants to destroy the followers of Christ SO we must now protect ourselves from the wiles of the Devil.

So how do we do this?

Now we put off the old man the sinful man and put new man and gird yourselves for war. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

If our adversary is not a physical being we need to prepare a spiritual defence.

So put on the whole armour of God.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints Ephesians 6:14-18

If we look at the armour closely we will notice a few interesting things.

1) The first piece of the armour to be mentioned is the belt of truth so first we need to come to an understanding of truth.

Sword of the spirit

What truth?
The truth that God has given us, through his word, the bible
 this we must know without a shadow of doubt that Jesus came and died for us so that we might one day live with him in paradise.

The truth that without Christ we are hopeless sinners caught in a never-ending spiral of destruction and doom.

2) The next piece is the breastplate of righteousness, but how do we become righteous?

Well to become righteous one must take up the righteousness of Christ and the only way to do that is become saved. But becoming saved does not mean that the breastplate is on all the time we need to take careful watch over ourselves so that we don’t discard the righteousness of Christ.

3) The Sandals of peace are needed to protect your feet.

We need to watch and enquire of God when we move that we stay in his will. If we trust in Christ and maintain the piece of God in everything we do we will be safe from the snares that the Devils places in our path.

4) Take up the shield of faith, only the faith that you have placed in Christ for guidance and safety can protect you from the darts of the Devil.

He will come at you with everything he has got and he will not let up so lock your shield in place and trust in God for your protection and salvation.

This shield concept that we have here is one from the Roman legionary his shield was big enough to protect his entire body on times of peril and from ranged weapons that their enemies would throw their way. In a sense it was big enough to hide behind.

5) The Helmet of salvation this helmet is designed to protect you head or your mind.

It goes to show that the helmet is vital to protecting your mind and your thoughts if you have had your mind washed and have renewed your mind in Christ Jesus you would be able to avoid wrong thoughts that contaminate your thinking and distract you from your purpose in God.

6) The last piece is the sword of the spirit that is the word of God It is the only offensive weapon we have.

The Roman Legionary sword was a short sword about 58 cm in length, and was double edged.
Which means that this sword was about to cut through both ways and was used for close combat fighting. The weapon we have been given requires us to get in close to the enemy and stick him with the word of God. Only the word of God was effective enough to cut through the flesh and bone and right to the spirit and soul. Only the word of God is effective enough to vanquish the Devil at the end.
What do we put on the armour of God for?
We put the armour of God on to resist the devil and to stand firm in the grace of God. We have to equip ourselves in this armour of God because we will come up against enemy.

In Ephesians 6:14 and 18 Paul uses statements like stand therefore and watching. Here Paul mentions in passing what all Christians at that time would know for certain that persecution is about us and is coming.

Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

These verses illustrate the point that the wiles of the devil include deception and persecution.

Note a soldier would NEVER attempt to fight a battle by himself, he would ask for reinforcements. So with us, we must never try to fight alone, Satan can easily pick us off. Get with other Christians and ask for help! As Christians, we should ALWAYS be prepared to help a fellow brother who is in need. (1 John 3:16-18, James 4:17)

Believe and God will do great things through his people who believe.

Do you trust God? If not, then you are vulnerable to the attacks of Satan.

Ask for reinforcements here.

Signing off,

Peter