The Armor Of God.

As Paul is composing the end of his letter to the Ephesians, he begins to write about the unity in the body of the Christ (4:1-16), living a holy, Christ-imitating life (4:17-5:21) then goes on to apply the Truths of the Gospel to marriage (5:22-33), parenting, (6:1-4), and servitude (6:5-6:9) and finally he writes about those facing temptations from Satan. God has really used this passage in my life recently in regards to my fight with sin, so I thought we’d walk through what Paul has to say about the “Armor of God”. Let us begin today with verses 10 & 11.

”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. “

When we see a word like “finally” in the Bible (much like therefore and many other phrases) we need to consider the context. We see the importance of the words to following because of how general the statement is. In the passages before he refers to wives (5:22), husbands (5:25), children (6:1), fathers, (6:4), slaves (6:5) and masters (5:9), but this “finally seems to have a unifying effect as he gives the command “be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.”

He is making statement about the power of those receiving his letter. It doesn’t say, “be mighty in your power!” or “You can do it guys! I believe in you!” This seems to carry a much different effect. He is saying, “Guys, you can’t do this on your own, don’t even try.” Much like Jesus statements through out the Gospel, but especially in John 15 where He says, “Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Then Paul gives the command, “Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. “

Paul seems to carry with him two reasons why this command is given.

1) So they can be “strong in the Lord”

2) So they can “take there stand against the devil’s schemes.”

How much more is this important for the Christian of today? Don’t realize that Satan seeks to destroy you (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8)? We need to be on alert.

The only question left too ask is, “Are you ready for Battle?”

Most of the Church is too caught up in the world to worry about the war, which is just where the enemy wants them, in a comfortable Christianity that makes no advance in the kingdom of God and makes no assault on the kingdom of Darkness.

Over several posts, we will look at what Paul supscribes in the Armor of God to help us fight Satan, our temptations, and to kill personal sin in our lives.