Bible Reading
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.
Ephesians 6:10-17
Ephesians 6:10-17
Devotional
One of the ancient Greek mythical heroes of old who became a god within the Roman Pantheon was Achilles, the famous warrior from the Trojan Wars. The death of Achilles became infamous because he was shot in the heel with an arrow which led to his death. His heel was the only part of his body not covered and protected by armor, which is where the term Achilles' heel comes from, to denote a weak point of something that is otherwise strong. It's amazing how much this story relates to Paul's description of spiritual warfare and the armor we wear.
The first word of today's passage is "finally". Paul is referring back to everything he has written so far and using that to emphasize a final idea. Another way of saying, "finally" would be "in light of". In light of all that God has done for you. In light of the glorious standing, you have as a child of God. In light of His great plan for the ages, of which God has made you part. In light of the plan for Christian maturity and growth He provides. In light of life God calls every believer to live. In light of the filling of the Spirit and our walk in the Spirit. In light of all this, there is a battle to fight in the Christian life. There are three main commands Paul urges every Christian to practice when it comes to facing evil. The first is to be strong in the Lord, not in anything else. We are not to find strength in our own skills and in our own talents and gifts, but only to find strength in the Lord. The second command is to put on the full armor. The key word here is full, not partial armor. There should be no weak points in the armor because that is where the enemy will strike and that weak point in the armor is an opening that could eventually cause your downfall. The third command is to stand firm. Don't cower or be intimidated. The spiritual enemy you are facing should be more scared of you than you are of them. So often, Christians fall. Those in powerful positions fall because of greed, abuse, or adultery. This question arises every single time we read in the news of a respected leader's moral failure; why did this happen? How could it have been prevented? What can be done about it? The answer can be found in today's passage. They didn't stand firm. They didn't find their strength in God and they didn't put on the full armor of God. They were attacked and tempted by the chink in their armor and like Achilles, even the smallest opening can be exploited and used against them. The Greek term for struggle or wrestle found in verse 12 is the Greek word 'Pale'. This particular word is not used anywhere else in the New Testament. It has a meaning that is very intimate and up close, indicating that spiritual war is very close and personal. Intense spiritual warfare could involve the person next to us or someone within our family or crew. Notice that Paul did not call the believer to enter into spiritual warfare. He simply announced it as a fact and reality of life that is already happening and that you are already involved in it to some degree. You are in a spiritual battle, whether you like it or not. And If you are ignorant or ignore that fact, there is a good chance you aren’t winning the battle.
With that in mind, we should seek to be fully armored in a spiritual sense. Paul references 6 pieces of spiritual armor and with each piece of armor, he goes back to the Old Testament and references the words of the prophet Isaiah. We do not have time to go through and give a detailed description of each of the six pieces of armor, but they are as follows: The Helmet of Salvation, The Breastplate of Righteousness, The Shield of Faith, The Belt of Truth, Feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace, and The Sword of the Spirit. The story of Jesus in the wilderness is a great example of what it looks like to be fully armored. Jesus was physically weakened after 40 days of no food or water, but he was strong in the spirit. Jesus was fully armored and prepared for what came next. Every temptation was thwarted, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, all because of the protection the armor gave. Jesus even used the word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, in response to each of the temptations of the Devil. In this way, Jesus became a model for us and in the same way that Jesus was armored, we too can go through life fully armored in Christ.
The first word of today's passage is "finally". Paul is referring back to everything he has written so far and using that to emphasize a final idea. Another way of saying, "finally" would be "in light of". In light of all that God has done for you. In light of the glorious standing, you have as a child of God. In light of His great plan for the ages, of which God has made you part. In light of the plan for Christian maturity and growth He provides. In light of life God calls every believer to live. In light of the filling of the Spirit and our walk in the Spirit. In light of all this, there is a battle to fight in the Christian life. There are three main commands Paul urges every Christian to practice when it comes to facing evil. The first is to be strong in the Lord, not in anything else. We are not to find strength in our own skills and in our own talents and gifts, but only to find strength in the Lord. The second command is to put on the full armor. The key word here is full, not partial armor. There should be no weak points in the armor because that is where the enemy will strike and that weak point in the armor is an opening that could eventually cause your downfall. The third command is to stand firm. Don't cower or be intimidated. The spiritual enemy you are facing should be more scared of you than you are of them. So often, Christians fall. Those in powerful positions fall because of greed, abuse, or adultery. This question arises every single time we read in the news of a respected leader's moral failure; why did this happen? How could it have been prevented? What can be done about it? The answer can be found in today's passage. They didn't stand firm. They didn't find their strength in God and they didn't put on the full armor of God. They were attacked and tempted by the chink in their armor and like Achilles, even the smallest opening can be exploited and used against them. The Greek term for struggle or wrestle found in verse 12 is the Greek word 'Pale'. This particular word is not used anywhere else in the New Testament. It has a meaning that is very intimate and up close, indicating that spiritual war is very close and personal. Intense spiritual warfare could involve the person next to us or someone within our family or crew. Notice that Paul did not call the believer to enter into spiritual warfare. He simply announced it as a fact and reality of life that is already happening and that you are already involved in it to some degree. You are in a spiritual battle, whether you like it or not. And If you are ignorant or ignore that fact, there is a good chance you aren’t winning the battle.
With that in mind, we should seek to be fully armored in a spiritual sense. Paul references 6 pieces of spiritual armor and with each piece of armor, he goes back to the Old Testament and references the words of the prophet Isaiah. We do not have time to go through and give a detailed description of each of the six pieces of armor, but they are as follows: The Helmet of Salvation, The Breastplate of Righteousness, The Shield of Faith, The Belt of Truth, Feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace, and The Sword of the Spirit. The story of Jesus in the wilderness is a great example of what it looks like to be fully armored. Jesus was physically weakened after 40 days of no food or water, but he was strong in the spirit. Jesus was fully armored and prepared for what came next. Every temptation was thwarted, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, all because of the protection the armor gave. Jesus even used the word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, in response to each of the temptations of the Devil. In this way, Jesus became a model for us and in the same way that Jesus was armored, we too can go through life fully armored in Christ.