The Whole Armor OF God

Eph 6:10-18

1. Have your loins girt about with truth.

What does this mean?
This means you must have a firm foundation on which to stand. You get a firm foundation by studying the word, and meditating on the word of God, and getting it in your heart. So when trouble comes along you will not be so easily shaken.
Your loins are a very sensitive, and vulnerable area, and to girt it with truth means to make sure you are protected by having the word of God hidden strongly within you. It protects you from any harm the enemy might throw your way.
Everything you do needs to be of the truth and needs to line up with the word of God.

2. Next we need to have on the breastplate of righteousness.

What is righteousness?
Righteousness is what God requires of us to enter into Heaven. We receive righteousness through faith that Jesus is the son of God and died for us on the cross and rose again on the third day. All so we could be saved from a devil's Hell.
Without righteousness we could not survive the slightest blow. . Righteousness is right moral living, being free from sin. The breastplate of righteousness covers our heart and lungs. BUT you cannot have this without the shedding of the blood of Jesus. Without this, you have no protection from attacks of the enemy which is satan. You have to be in right standing with God and have no sin at all in your life. We do this by daily repentance, and whenever needed.

3. Next, you must have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

What does this mean? What is the gospel of peace?
The gospel of peace is having peace from within which comes from knowing God's word and being able to share the gospel whenever the opportunity arises. We must be a light and a witness to people.
 It is also being able to live free from worry or fear of what is to come. You get this peace from knowing God's word and be assured that God's word will stand when all else fails.
You see your shoes protect your feet and allow you to travel where ever you need or want to go without fear of stumbling or falling. Without shoes, you are more apt to stumble or fall.
When you don't have that inner peace and you are troubled on the inside it makes it harder to hear God's voice. How can you walk without knowing what to do and where to go. God directs us in which way to go and when we are troubled inside it makes it hard for us to know what to do and it also makes it much harder to witness to people and to share the gospel cause we now have our minds off of God and on the problem. NEVER take your focus off of God. That is the main cause of Satan's attacks. There are to steal our peace so we can not hear from God! KEEP YOUR FOCUS ON GOD AND OFF THE PROBLEM !!!!!!!!!

4. We must PUT ON the shield of Faith.

The shield of faith is something we must choose to take up. We are to raise our shield of faith up and use it when the devil comes at us with doubt and discouragement and whatever other trick he might be using.
Faith is believing something even though we have not seen it yet. The shield of faith covers almost our whole body. Faith is trusting God no matter what the circumstances are. . Trusting God no matter what comes along. Trust God that he will do what he says he will do no matter what.

We must take up our shield of faith and say NO satan! You're a liar. God's word says this .......That is taking up our shield of faith. In Jesse Duplatis's words, we must doubt satans doubt!

5. Now we must have on the Helmet of Salvation.

What is salvation and what does it have to do with wearing a helmet. Well whether you want to believe it or not we are in a war between good and evil and if you go into battle in a war without a helmet, odds are you are going to get killed.

Salvation means to be saved from sin, and from going to hell. Salvation is a gift from God that you must accept and believe before you can receive it. If you repent and confess your sins, and ask God to forgive you of your sins, and believe and confess Jesus Christ is the son of God, and that He died on the cross and rose again the third day so you could be saved and believe it in your heart then you can have the gift/helmet of salvation. Eph 2:4-8, 1Cor 1:18

Hope and great comfort come from knowing what Jesus did for us on that cross. You see hope works like a helmet to protect our minds from discouragement and despair in the world. Hope in Jesus helps us when the enemy comes at our minds with various temptations and disappointments.  That is why it is so important to renew our minds daily with the word of God.

Without the helmet of salvation, we do not know what the future holds. We do not have that security that salvation and knowing God's word offers us.  We are then run over with the cares of this world, and we are overwhelmed.

To hold on to our helmet of salvation we must be fully committed to God and obey Him and His word, doing his will and we can never lose a battle by doing this!

6. The sword of the spirit is next.

The sword of the spirit is the word of God. It is God who gives us the victory and Hid sword/word will deliver us. God's word allows us to attack what needs to be done. Got a loved one that needs to be saved? Attack it with the word of God. This means to stand on the word of God for their salvation no matter how bad the circumstances look. Trust God that he is not a liar and that He will do what he says he will do, and HE will. God is not a God that can lie !!!!!!!!!!!! Need healing? Attack it with the word of God. By His stripes, ye are healed !!!!!!!!!!!! 1 Peter 2:²⁴ Who his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 

The word of God illuminates dark places. It shows the good from the bad. It divides and separates. It shows us how to live right and what paths we need to take. We should be ready to answer any questions others may have and to share the gospel. Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God uncovers the truth.

When God's word shows us something in our lives that is not good then we need to use His word as a sword to remove any bad thoughts or actions that are there. Jesus told satan we live not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

We will go through trials and tribulations, but armed with the word of God we can swiftly defeat our enemy by using the word of God effectively. By standing on the promises of God, and not backing down when the winds and the rains come. If God says He will do it, then He will do it !!!!!!!!!!! Isaiah 46:11

Prayer and Supplication

The Bible says in James 5: 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. . If we don't pray we will be defeated. The Bible also says in James 4: 3 ye have not because ye ask not. Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you Matthew 7:7

If we are soldiers in the army of the Lord, then who is our commander? 

God is, and how can we go into a battle without first talking to our commander. God alone knows how to bring victory. It sure isn't us !!!!!!!!!
Praying always means having a mind of prayer, a prayerful heart, and going to God with everything in prayer. Bringing him our worries our concerns our needs and yes our desires. For he says if we delight ourselves in Him then he will give us the desires of our heart. Psalms 37:4 The key is delighting ourselves in Him. We should never give up on prayer. Be consistent with it. 

Sometimes we don't always know what to pray, and that is why we have the Holy Spirit living in us to help us to know what to pray during times like these.

By: Bernice Bowling