Put On The Full Armor Of God, So That You Can Take Your Stand Against The Devil's Schemes
We Do Not Wrestle Against Flesh & Blood
EPHESIANS 6:10-17
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 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;
”Ephesians 6:10-17 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/eph.6.10-17.nkj
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In our Christian life we will constantly come under attack from the enemy. These are not flesh and blood enemies, but rather the devil’s army of principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual host of wickedness, demonic beings and evil spirits.
They are vicious fighters (see PETER 5:8), their purpose is to steal, and to kill, and destroy (JOHN 10:10). They, if allowed will bring curses and deceit, pain, suffering, and ultimately death.
We cannot withstand these attacks in our own strength, but rather, we must put on every piece of God’s armor and depend on His strength.
Paul’s words apply to every believer of Jesus Christ.
We are all individual parts of the body of Christ, and the whole body needs to be dressed in the whole armor of God.
If any one part of one’s body was not covered by its immune system, God’s Word and faith, would in time become infected and would not heal, and the infection would spread and can affect the whole body (1 CORINTHIANS 12:26), which is why so many are not healed by Jesus stripes as is written in ISAIAH 53:5.
When we sin, we are separated from God, and lose our protection or immunity and can even become demonised.
Sin is more than simply stealing, lying, or sexual immorality; we commit sin when we believe false doctrines or walk in the wrong direction.
My beloved, we cannot be right with God in our own strength and abilities, but only by total submission to the Holy Spirit and faith.
Without faith, we cannot please God (HEBREWS 11:6).
Repentance, brings us close to God and our immune system becomes operational. But like viruses, these devil’s don’t simply leave; they may become inactive only to rise again and again when our defences are under attack.
To be totally healed, we must evict them in their entirety out of our bodies. Therefore, deliverance is key to a changed life and healing.
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.”
I Peter 4:12-14 NKJV
We will all face these trials one after another, but God has given us every provision to withstand the attacks and defeat the devil.
But if we are going to be victorious, we must take the battles out of physical into the spiritual and fight on our knees.
Therefore, “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.”
1 Peter 3:9 NLT
Your battle is not with flesh and blood, so take the battle into God’s garden, the spiritual realms by “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (EPHESIANS 6:18).
I encourage you, whatever trials you are facing, the victory is already yours through Christ if you believe (1 CORINTHIANS 15:57) “for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’”
Deuteronomy 20:4 NKJV
He goes before you to make a way, and then He’s with you through it all (DEUTERONOMY 31:8), and that includes your impossible situation that you are facing today.
Whatever is humanly impossible is possible with God (LUKE 18:27; MATHEW 19:26).
But if we are going to withstand these fiery trials, we must stand in truth and not be sucked in by the lies of the devil, false Prophets, teachers, and the doctrines of man. Therefore, test the spirits, the source of the information you hear (1 JOHN 4:1-5).
Having girded your waist with truth, put on the breast plate of righteousness; live right before God; separate from the sin of this world and give no place to the devil. It is sin that lets him in. ”Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.“
James 4:7-10 NKJV
Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; not just read the gospels, but chew it over, ask God for understand and speak it over yourself and establish your peace.
The devil will always whisper into your soul, your mind, will, and emotions, like the fake news media, he is aiming for your emotions to get a reaction, fear, anger, rage, and such through his lies and deceit.
It is our emotions that cause us to believe his lies and respond inappropriately in our situations, which ultimately open doors through our wrong actions, thoughts and words. Once in, he will mislead and manipulate our thinking, and responses even more.
Emotions were never designed to give us discernment, truth comes only from Jesus who is the Truth (JOHN 14:6)
Fear is one of the devil’s major weapons and is the opposite of faith, the food of depression.
When fear is removed, anxiety/ depression cannot survive and will leave.
Therefore, take every thought captive, ”For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.“
II Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV
My beloved, remove all negativity, killing every negative thought by placing it at the cross and put on the new man in the likeness of Christ (EPHESIANS 4:24) and let the Holy Spirit rule in your life.
Speak negativity no more, for what you speak whether over others or ones self is either a blessing or a curse (JAMES 3:10), for ”Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.“
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV
Above all, take the shield of faith and stand firm on the promises of God and remove those mountains in your life.
Jesus said, ”For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.“
Mark 11:23 NKJV
Like David, we all face giants. But David picked up five smooth stones (1 SAMUEL 17:40), which represents the five fold ministry of Christ (EPHESIANS 4:11).
Without fear, full of faith in Christ, he took his stone, the corner stone (Jesus) (1 PETER 2:4-6) and from his sling, hurled the stone, hitting this giant in the head, taking him down and killed him.
Like David, by faith in Jesus, take down the Goliaths in your life. But you must first allow God to prepare you for the coming battles (1 SAMUEL 17).
Take note, God did not give us a back plate to protect us as we run away, but rather a breast plate so that we can confront our enemies and bring them down.
David grew up as a shepherd, protecting sheep from wild beasts; in this he was being prepared for his battle.
God is the shepherd of we His sheep, and He has put before you good food to take in, and like sheep in a field, we must take it in and chew over (chewing the cud) that will prepare us for future battles.
But why do we so quickly look at fast food, books and human teachers that so often prove to be damaging to our health. God's word is the only word to be trusted.
You can trust Him completely, for “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
Psalms 23:1-6 NKJV
The shepherd within the five fold ministry is the Pastor, it is his place to shepherd his flock, to host, not control, and protect his sheep from those beasts of darkness. It is through his experiences as a Pastor that he and his flock shall grow in preparation to stand against the ever growing Goliath’s of this world that come to steal, kill, and destroy (JOHN 10:10).
We believers all fall into at least one category of the five fold ministry of Christ, Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Pastors, and Evangelist (EPHESIANS 4:11), and should be operating within the body of Christ in unity with the whole body, using one’s spiritual gifts to edify one another, taking in the Word, and gathering together in love and faith by the leading of the head, Jesus Christ, that we grow up into mature believers, prepared and ready to bring down the giants in our lives and of this dark world.
It is under the heal of the woman (the church) that the serpents head is crushed (GENISIS 3:15).
Like David, we need five smooth stones the whole body of Christ and the signs and wonders, the power of God that come with it to grow into mature believers of Christ and operate in His truth and defeat our spiritual enemies.
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.“
Ephesians 4:1-16 NKJV
James told us, “when we have troubles”, not “if”. They will keep coming, but all with good purpose.
Therefore, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
James 1:2-4 NKJV
God, through your trials and tribulations is building your patience, perseverance, and faith, that you will become perfect and complete and needing nothing.
“This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.”
Lamentations 3:21-26 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
