If you grew up in church, or even spent much time there as an adult, you have talked about the armor of God. You made the craft in Sunday school. You were in the skit where you put on the oversized helmet. You have heard it. But what does it mean?
The first three chapters in Ephesians are all about who Jesus is and what He’s done for us. There are no moral commands in Ephesians 1–3. It is all about Jesus. Then we get to Ephesians 4 and 5, and the word repeated over and over is walk. Walk in this way. This is how we walk as followers of Jesus. Finally, when we get to Ephesians 6, the repeated word is stand. Whenever we’re talking about the spiritual war that we are in, Scripture is constantly commanding, exhorting, and admonishing us to stand firm. To hold our ground and to not be moved.
Ephesians 6:10–12 reads,
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.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, was saying to the church in Ephesus, “Nero is not your enemy. The Sanhedrin is not your enemy. The Pharisees are not your enemy. Rome is not your enemy. You have one Enemy, and he is the devil. Satan!” We need to be reminded that our enemy is not the Democrats and it’s not the Republicans. The enemy is not your boss, and it is not your angry neighbor. It’s not the guy on the road who flipped you off.
You only have one Enemy, and he operates through people to discourage you.
If you can just get your head and heart around that idea, you’ll fight differently. You’ll start to realize, Oh, this person who just yelled at me and is giving me a piece of their mind with their finger in my chest is not my enemy. There is someone greater than them working through them to discourage me. I have one Enemy, and that is Satan, and the battle is not of flesh and blood. This is a paradigm-shifting idea for us to understand.
Once Paul told us to put on the “full armor of God,” he rattled off a list of what we should do. Reading the list, it can feel abstract. But think about it: Most likely, as he wrote, Paul was chained to some Roman soldier, and he was grappling for an illustration. As he sat imprisoned, he looked at the soldier’s armor and started to attach it to ideas to help Christians win the battle. Let’s read what he said.
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 Lord’s people. — Ephesians 6:14–18
Paul was saying that when the day of evil comes and when the Enemy attacks you, you can do these things to defeat the Enemy. When he comes after you, you will be able to stand your ground. If you want to win against the Enemy, do these things.
Friends, this is the classic spiritual warfare chapter. It is a helpful framework and checklist for you to think through as you fight the Enemy. If you ask any mature Christian familiar with the Bible where it talks about spiritual warfare, they will typically take you to Ephesians 6. This biblical chapter is intense. It is important. And it all begins with knowing the truth.
The Belt of Truth
The first instruction is to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. This is Paul saying, “You need to know what is true and what is not.” Many battles have been fought over real estate — an effort to control a territory. The spiritual war is fought over the real estate of your mind. The Enemy is after your thinking. He wants to bend the truth and distort the facts. The Enemy’s MO is to discourage you — to remove courage from you.
If the villain and his forces can discourage you, you are weak and unable to fight back. You are impotent and not a threat to him any longer. You will be on the sidelines. A weapon he uses here is the weapon of guilt and shame. He comes behind you and says, “You don’t belong in a church. You can’t sing that song. You can’t pray that prayer. You can’t read your Bible, you hypocrite. Don’t you remember what you did last night (or last week, or last year)?” At our worst, we believe it. And it is not the truth.
- This is something I am so passionate about: Your Sunday morning worship service is not enough.
Your quiet time is not a passive thirty-minute Bible study as you sip your coffee. Reorienting your mind around what is true cannot be contained to small chunks of time; it has to be a constant, daily process where you are filling your mind with truth. The scriptures you read, the podcasts you listen to, and the worship songs you sing as you go about your day are all helpful tools as you focus your mind on the things of God.
This is what it means to wear the belt of truth.
Gain a Heart of Righteousness
The breastplate protects the vital organ of the heart. Paul was telling us here what we need in order to gain a heart of righteousness. We, as Christians, believe that Christ’s righteousness is imputed upon us. Imputed is a churchy word that just means “attributed.” Think about it in school terms: If we are turning in a term paper, we are turning in Jesus’ grade. We get to point to His report card. We believe that we are going to be measured by Jesus’ work, right? And so we have His righteousness. It is mind-blowing!
This begs the question, How should we live? Well, we follow the ways of Jesus. We do what Jesus would have us do. This is so important in every situation for the rest of our lives. For as long as we live, no matter how hard it is, no matter what it costs us or how difficult, we just do what Jesus would have us do. Simple concept. There is a reason those WWJD bracelets exploded in popularity back in the day like they did. We need reminders of what righteousness looks like: Jesus. To be righteous is to conduct ourselves in the same way that Jesus would. Oftentimes in Scripture, righteousness and wickedness are used as contrasting ideas.
Some people on earth are committed to doing wrong. They see the world as their playground. These people have no regard for others. They use others for their own advantage. They will exploit people and situations to get a leg up on the competition. They just want to be happy and experience their own pleasure. And you are just a pawn on their chessboard, right? Not so with followers of Jesus.
We serve people. We love people. We use everything that has been entrusted to us to care for people.
We open our homes and show hospitality to everyone. We care for widows and orphans. We don’t view relationships as transactional, but as opportunities to see life transformation happen. Some of you may be thinking, I have never met someone like that. Then maybe you have never met a Christian. I don’t know what else to tell you. That is simply how followers of Jesus lived back then, and it is how we are to live today.
When you gain a heart of righteousness, it changes your life.
Excerpted with permission from Your Story Has a Villain by Jonathan “JP” Pokluda, copyright Jonathan Pokluda.
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Your Turn
We need to put on the full armor of God every day! It’s not just a Sunday school song with arm motions; it’s for all of us. Every day, we’re going to face spiritual warfare, some which we’ll recognize or some which can confuse and confound us. With the armor of God and the Holy Spirit within us, we can fight effectively and prevail. ~ Devotionals Daily