The Whole Armor of God

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.

What is the Armor of God? and how do we put it on? The Bible tells us that if we are going to stand against the trickery of the devil then we have to have the full armor of God on, not just part of it but all of it.

First, the armor of God is not the armor on man, neither is this armor an armor of works or  any self effort. The armor of God is an armor that God has already given to us in Christ.

The Armor of God is your new Identity in Christ, The Armor is who God in Christ has already created you to be (2 Corinthians 5:17). The armor of God has nothing to do with your own self efforts, but it has  everything to do with the finished work, Christ's obedience  and your perfection in Him. (1 Corinthians 1:29-31)

Now four times the scripture tells us to stand. It tells us to put on the full Armor so that we will be able to stand against the trickery, deception and lies of the devil.

The word to stand actually means to stand your ground or you could say "it means to stand or rest in the victory that is already yours in Christ.

The Bible tells us that we are already victorious in Christ, that we are already more then conquerers in Him, in other words, its a done deal! Romans 8:31-37

Today we are not fighting for victory, but we are fighting from victory!  The fact is that we are actually called to rest in the victory that is already ours In Christ.

Let me ask you a question, is Jesus still fighting the devil? No ! He defeated the devil  over 2000 years ago, He stripped and made a public display of him openly . Col 2:15

So today if we are In Christ and we are already seated with in heavenly places In Christ and we are His body, then everything thats under His feet is really under our feet as well. (Ephesians 2:6)

Everything that is under the feet of Jesus is also under our feet. This means the devil is already under our feet in a place of defeat!

So why are so many Christians today still fighting a battle that has already been won and an enemy that has already been defeated? The Bible  does not tell us to fight the devil, but  it tells us to stand on the victory ground that is already ours In Christ.

Our fight is not with the devil, our fight is really the fight of faith, it is to continue to believe that we are already complete and victorious In Christ. One of the greatest acts of faith is to rest and receive what has already been given to us in Christ.

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.(1Timothy 6:12)

Lay hold means to possess your possession, God has already given you eternal life so just possess what is already yours.

So what is the Armor? The Armor is our new position in Christ, It is our new Identity In Christ, Its who Christ has already made us to be In Him and we are to never allow the devil to convince us otherwise. We are to rest in Christ. Remember the devil is a liar! and the ultimate  con- artist. The armor keeps us from falling for his lies

So the first piece is the Belt of Truth. The Belt of Truth is the piece that holds all the  other pieces together and the belt of truth will also cause us to reproduce and to be fruitful in this life. The belt of truth has to do with us believing the truth about Christ and to never be swayed away from the simplicity that is In Christ. The truth is for us to embrace grace and the gospel of grace according to the new covenant. Col 2:8-10 . Again we are complete in Christ and we are never allow the devil to move us away from who we  simply are In Christ.

The Breastplate of Righteousness is to put on the gift of right standing with God. The Bible says that we have already been made the righteousness of God in Christ. We are in Right Standing with God, because of the obedience of Christ. As we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, we will then reign in this life through Christ.        (Romans 5:17) . 

Righteousness is a gift that can only be received and can never be achieved. 
Romans 10:3-4 . The truth is that a great exchange took place, Jesus, who knew no sin and then became sin, He took our sin and exchange He then gave us His righteousness. Romans 5:21

The Breastplate of right standing with God protects our hearts from the fear of judgment, condemnation and the accusation of the devil. 

Self righteousness will never protect our hearts from condemnation, in fact self righteousness will leave our hearts completely exposed to the condemnation and accusation of the devil.

Iv'e always said the one place that you need to make sure that you have the full armor of God on is in church. it sad, but true that most churches today are not preaching the good news, they re preaching more judgment and condemnation then they are peace.

To protect our feet, our feet must be kept shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 

Again, I remember back in the  good old legalistic days, I thought that unless I stomped on a bunch of toes and made people hobble out of church, that I wasn't really doing my Job.

I thought it was my job to make people unsure about their relationship with God, so most of my messages were more centered around " what are you doing for God?"The gospel that is being preached in most churches today is more of a performance centered gospel, then a cross centered gospel. 

But the gospel of Christ is not the gospel of judgment or anger, but of peace. 

The gospel of Christ ,tells us that God is no longer angry with us, but that we can be at peace with God because of the cross. Romans 5:1. 

The preparation of the gospel of peace means that we should always be prepared to share the almost to good to be true news with others. To let everyone know that God is not in the condemnation business, but He is in the forgiving, blessing and the loving business. 
John 3:16-17.

The helmet of salvation is to protect our mind ant  to protect our thoughts. We should always keep our thoughts on Christ and on the obedience of Christ. Every thought that tries to lead us away from the finished work of Christ and the cross is not from God, but is an evil thought, it is not according to the true knowledge of God and we are to cast it down  2 Corinthians 10:5 

Last, the Bible tells us that we should take up the shield of faith and as we do it will quench all the flaming darts or arrows of the wicked one. 

The shield of faith has to do with trusting God . As we choose to trust God and trust that His word is true, that God is faithful to complete in us what He began us and that all the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen, this trust will quench all the lies that the devil tries to throw at us. The shield of faith says " we trust in our God and through His unfailing love , we will not be moved or shaken!"

The shield of faith is kind of like the shield that captain kirk puts up around the star ship enterprise. as long as the shield is up then the enemy cannot affectively hit the target.