The Armor of God

Ephesians 6: 10 – 20 (NIV): 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.

We are at war. We have an enemy who wants to “steal, kill and destroy”. An enemy who wants to rob our joy and make us ineffective as witnesses. Paul says the devil is leading a whole army against us with the goal of destroying us. This battle is in the spiritual realm and so we must use spiritual weapons to win. Unfortunately, many Christians lose daily battles because they are not wearing their spiritual armor as described in this passage. The devil wants to knock us down; Paul wants us to stand firm.

Paul uses the illustration of armor that a Roman soldier would wear: the belt was important because it held everything in place. Our belt is truth. If we don't have the truth, we can't win the fight. The breastplate covers the heart. A lot of our mistakes come from acting on our emotions and not on wisdom. Righteousness will protect us from being defeated day after day. I would never fight barefooted, and our shoes are knowing and sharing the true gospel. The enemy army is shooting at us and a shield of faith will protect us. Without faith, we are dead already.

I believe the helmet is salvation is not just having salvation, but knowing that we do. I can fight because I know my salvation is safe and secure in God's hands and not my own. The only offensive weapon is God's Word, the sword of the Spirit. This is the one and only way we fight back.

And there is another piece of armor that often gets left out: prayer. Paul mentions praying five times in this passage. Wear your armor, fight back with the Word, and pray without ceasing. If we will do this, we will be victorious and live the abundant life that Jesus promised.

Prayer is Power

Matthew 6: 5 – 13 (NIV): And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. '

God created you for his pleasure. What he desires from you is a relationship – a friendship (Micah 6:8). You cannot have a true friendship with someone if you never speak to him. Prayer, then, is how we speak to God. He speaks to us through his Word and we speak to him in prayer. He wants us to pray in private because that means we're really focused on him.

Now, Jesus gives us the model prayer. All of our prayers should be modeled after this basic outline because it shows how to pray with a proper attitude. I like to think of the acrostic POWER to help me remember how we should pray:

P is for Praise. Jesus puts it right at the top for a reason. When we begin our prayers by praising God – stating that he is holy, set apart, worthy of praise – we infuse our prayers with power by recognizing who God truly is.

O is for Obey. When we ask for God's will to be done on earth, I like to think of this as a prayer to do our part. In other words, it's a prayer of commitment to trust and obey God in all things. We cannot please him without faith, and true faith will always lead to obedience.

W is for Wrongs. Here we are asking God to forgive us of our sins and mistakes. As we pray, we recall where we have failed him and ask for forgiveness. As our part in this, we also forgive those who have sinned against us. Jesus said we must do this. Jesus also showed us to ask God for the power to overcome evil and the temptation to sin.

E is for Entreat. This means to ask. Jesus tells us to ask for our basic needs every single day. We ask today and we ask again tomorrow. This keeps us in prayer and keeps us from taking God for granted or becoming apathetic. We also pray for others, just as Jesus did.

R is for Remember. Jesus doesn't mention being thankful in this model, but Paul adds it in Philippians 4: 6-7. This is when we thank God for his goodness to us and remember to thank him for answering past prayers.