Most teachings I have heard about the full armor of God begin at verse 13 of the following passage where Paul begins with “Therefore…†Whenever you see a therefore you need to figure out what it is “there forâ€. So we are going to take a verse by verse look at this passage. Please read the whole passage in context:
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“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; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.†(Ephesians 6:10-20)
By the way as God’s Providence would have it Dr. David Jeremiah is doing a much more detailed study on this passage on his radio ministry of which I highly recommend. So let’s look at the first verse in this passage:
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“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.†(Ephesians 6:10)
“Finally…†The Apostle Paul must be finishing something up here. If you look at the Book of Ephesians it was not written because of some heresy inside the Church of Ephesus; that would come later from Jesus in Revelation 2 for losing their love for Him. Paul is writing to the Ephesians to expand their theological horizons and teach them some important Christian doctrine.
In Ephesians 1 he teaches that Christ is the Head of the Church and only He deserves the glory and that Christians would come to an understanding of the God’s purpose for the Church and the power available to it. Paul teaches in Ephesians 2 that we are saved by grace alone and the truth that we are one in Christ. Chapter 3 explains how the Church the church is responsible for revealing God’s wisdom and Paul prays that we would “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.†Ephesians 4 shows how the Church is to conduct itself and in chapter 5 Christians are taught how to conduct themselves personally to aid in the unity of the Body, ending with the much familiar admonition to husbands and wives. Chapter 6 begins with an important teaching of how parents and children are to act with each other and how slaves and earthly masters are to treat one another. And then comes verse 10.
Therefore, if you want to be able to do all of these things I’ve taught, Paul is saying that it is only possible through the strength and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you daily getting your behind whipped by Satan? Are you following the advice of these fools on television who says I am going to defeat Satan by the blood of Jesus and in the name of Christ?
If that is you, please do me one favor. Go find in the Bible where it teaches to you to personally fight Satan with Jesus’ blood and in His name. I’ll wait…well actually none of us has that kind of time. If you are taking this unbiblical approach to standing against Satan you are no doubt getting a daily devilish pounding!
We are to pray in Jesus name, both individually and corporately. We are also victors in Christ because of His shed blood. But we are not to enter the holy battlefield with only His name on our lips and His blood covering our sins.
No, we are told “to be strong in the Lord.†The Greek verb for “be strong†is endynamoo and it means to be given strength or to be strengthened. Its usage is as a present active participle which means it is happening presently and it is to take place repeatedly.
Is that you? Are you right now being strong in the Lord? Are you being strong in the Lord over and over and over? No? Hence the hellish beat down.
I know I said yesterday we would begin getting our issue of the full armor of God, but before I ever fired an M16 rifle in Basic Combat Training my drill sergeant taught me everything there was to know about my rifle, how to tear it down and put it back together, and how it would save my life if I took care of it, all the while in a classroom. I was not allowed near a firing range until I understood what my weapon was for.
The mighty power of Jesus Christ is how I am to stand daily, not in my own inadequate efforts. Jesus power is invincible and mine is impotent.
Now that we know why we need the full of armor of God, tomorrow we will learn why we should put it on.
In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4
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