Devotional

Ephesians 6:10-18

New International Version (NIV)

The Armor of God

 ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² 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. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ 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 Lord’s people.

The discussion of betrayal and forgiveness and truth and trust occurred in my last two blogs. Referring to the scripture above, we can see that we need to be strong in God's power, not our own. No where in the scripture does it say that we are to resort to our own power, wisdom and truth. Nor does it say that we are to cloak the full armor of God in such pride. That is one good reason for paying close attention to this passage.

We also see that spiritual warfare is a very real occurrence that the Lord is instructing and warning us to stand against. It is described, specifically, as the devil's schemes; the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world; and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. If we think that the devil takes a day of sick leave or goes on vacation, we are sadly mistaken. The day of evil has been with us since the serpent came on the scene in the Garden, and we need to armor up each day to stand our ground. We will discuss this scripture more in additional blogs. We will look more closely at each of the individual elements of the armor God provided for us.

Father, God: We thank you for the gift of your word, salvation and instruction about your armor. Dear Lord, please help us not to take lightly that evil is very real everyday in our world. Please also help us not to give the devil more than he is due. Help us to remember that you are greater in us than the devil is in this world. Help us to take seriously your warning to be ready to stand against him. Thank you for giving us the tools to do just that and do it well. We love you, Lord, and want to serve you and follow your will in all things. In the precious, holy name of Jesus, we pray, and by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen.