Sit, Walk and Stand based on Grace and His Finished Work (15)

Put on the Full Armor of God (8) – The Sword of the Spirit

The 6th piece of the armor is an offensive weapon, it is a sword! Paul likens the Word of God to a sword. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;” ( Ephesians 6:17 NKJ). This brings to mind another verse in Hebrews where Paul uses the same powerful imagery to depict the Word of God : “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” ( Hebrews 4:12)

The sword of the Spirit is no ordinary sword, it is so effective that Jesus Himself used it against the devil and caused him to flee when He was tempted in the wilderness. “And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
⁴ But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
⁵ Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written,‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ (Luke 4:1-8 NKJ)

In the next verse, the devil quoted scripture against Jesus! "For it is written:
‘ He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’ and, ‘ In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”. (Luke 10,11 NKJ)

But what did Jesus say to counteract the devil's cunning tactic of misquoting the Word? Jesus answered back with the Word : "And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’” (Luke 4:12 NKJ)

Take note that the devil knows how to quote scriptures too but he usually misquotes them to use against us. That is why it is so important that we study the Word. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV) Every time the evil one came against Jesus with his lies and insinuations, Jesus immediately retorted with “it is written”. What is written where? Jesus was referring to the Word of God written in the Torah, which in our context is the Bible. Jesus, being fully God and fully man, could have defeated the devil in many other ways when He was tempted but He chose to quote the Word of God. Surely, that is something for us to emulate! No wonder 1 John 2:14 tells us : “I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one. (NKJ) Isn’t this powerful? When the Word of God abides in us, we have overcome the wicked one!

It is vital to note that in John 1:1 the Bible likens Jesus to be synonymous with God’s Word : “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NKJ) Revelation tells us : “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” (Revelations 19:13 NKJ). The Word of God and Jesus cannot be separated, they are one! This is why there is so much power in the Scriptures. Evil spirits tremble and flee when the Word of God is spoken with authority against them by God’s children because they know that the Word represents the very essence of Jesus Himself, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The Word carries all the backing of Almighty God. That is how powerful the Word of God is and also the reason why Paul tells us to take the sword of the Spirit in our battle against the evil one.

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Sit, Walk and Stand based on Grace and His Finished Work (14)

Put on the Full Armor of God (7) – The Helmet of Salvation

Paul beseeches us in Ephesians 6:17 to take the helmet of salvation which is the next piece of the armor of God. “The word “helmet” in Greek is taken from the Greek word perkephalaia, and it is a compound of the words peri and kephale. The word peri means around, and the word kephale is the Greek word for the head. When you compound these two words into one, you discover that the word perkepha laia denotes a piece of armor that fits very tightly around the head….The helmet was made of bronze and was equipped with pieces of armor that were specifically designed to protect the cheeks and jaws. It was extremely heavy; therefore, the interior of the helmet was lined with sponge in order to soften its weight on the soldier’s head. This piece of armor was so strong, so massive, and so heavy that nothing could pierce it - not even a hammer or a battle-ax.” (Source:http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/Sparkling%20Gems/11607137/)

Salvation is likened to the soldier’s helmet because the most likely place for the enemy to attack us is the arena of our minds. In the analogy of the Roman soldier, the helmet is worn tightly around his head because the enemy carries a battle ax that will guarantee to chop off the soldier’s head if he had not worn his helmet tightly on his head. Similarly for believers, if the helmet of salvation was not worn tightly on our heads, the devil will come along and shoot doubts into our minds, especially when we sin or miss the mark. It is therefore of utmost importance that we know what salvation means for us as believers.

The word "SAVE" transliterated as sōzō in Greek means σώζω
sōzō
Thayer Definition:
1) to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction
1a) one (from injury or peril)
1a1) to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health
1b1) to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue
1b) to save in the technical biblical sense
1b1) negatively
1b1a) to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment
1b1b) to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance

As believers, not only have we been saved from our sins (past, present and future), through Christ’s finished work on the cross, we have also been saved from sickness, poverty and danger.

When we do not put on the helmet of salvation, we are leaving the vulnerable arena of our mind unprotected and making it an easy target for the enemy.
“By exposing their unprotected minds to the devil’s insinuations, they place themselves in a position to be severely attacked and possibly deceived…

You see, the devil knows that if he can seize your mind and fill it with lies, he can then begin to operate from this lofty position in your life. He can try to manipulate your emotions, send signals of sickness and disease into your body, and so on. To protect you from such attacks is the very reason God has given you the “helmet of salvation.”

The fact that Paul likens our salvation to a helmet means that we must know all that our salvation includes inside and out. We must spend time studying what the Bible has to say about healing, about our deliverance from evil powers, about God’s desire to bless and prosper us, and about the consequences of our redemption in our everyday lives.

Our intellectual comprehension of all that salvation encompasses must be ingrained in our minds. When our minds are convinced of these realities - in other words, when our minds are trained and taught to think correctly in terms of our salvation - that solid knowledge becomes a helmet in our lives!

At that point, it doesn’t matter how hard the devil tries to hack away at our spiritual foundation; we know beyond a shadow of doubt what Jesus’ death and resurrection purchased for us. This knowledge has become a part of us, preventing the enemy from attacking our minds as he did in the past. That’s how the full knowledge of our salvation puts a helmet on our heads!” (Source : http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/Sparkling%20Gems/11607137/)

When we put on the helmet of salvation, not only are we putting on the knowledge of our salvation, more importantly, we are putting on Jesus as our salvation. His very name (Yeshua in Hebrew) means He will save, ““… You shall call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 NKJ). Doubts and fears are the most common arrows that the devil shoots into our minds. That is why Isaiah 12:2 tells us “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid, For Yah, the Lord is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation." NKJ). When we have Jesus as our helmet of salvation resting firmly on our heads, we will be immune to the devil’s arrows of doubt and fear because Psalm 140:7 assures us that Jesus, our salvation will protect our minds : “O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.” (NKJ)

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Sit, Walk and Stand based on Grace and His Finished Work (13)

Put on the Full Armor of God (6) – The Shield of Faith

In Ephesians 6:16, Paul says “ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” The next piece of the armor is the shield of faith. “The large curved shield which Paul refers to was about four feet tall and two feet wide. It was made of layers of laminated wood covered by linen and leather. A brass or bronze rim covered every edge as protection against sword attack. The only protection against the flaming arrows that rained down from the sky in ancient warfare was the shield.” (Source :http://www.realarmorofgod.com/armor-of-god.html

Paul says we are to take up our faith which is pictured as a shield here to protect ourselves from the fiery darts of the enemy. In fact it can even quench all the flaming darts that the devil throws at us! Why is faith pictured as a shield? Charles Spurgeon says it very well :

As the shield enveloped the entire man, so faith envelops the entire man, protecting him from all missiles wherever they may be aimed against him. Faith protects the whole man. Let the assault of Satan be against the head, let Satan try to deceive us with unsettled notions in theology, let him tempt us to doubt those things that we have truly received. Unsettledness in our thoughts generally springs from a weakness of faith. A man who has strong faith in Christ has a hand that gets such a grip of the doctrines of grace that you could not unclasp it, do what you would. He knows what he has believed. He understands what he has received. He could not and would not give up what he knows to be the truth of God, though all the schemes that men devise should assail him with their most treacherous art.
Source : http://members.cox.net/spw1942/spiritual_warfare3.html

I like what Spurgeon says which is that a man who has strong faith in Christ has such a strong grip of the doctrines of grace that he knows what he has believed ( the finished work of Jesus on the cross) and he understands what he has received (everything that Christ’s death and resurrection have given us). As New Covenant believers, we walk by faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and not by sight on the natural things and circumstances of this world. The enemy may throw darts at us in the form of adverse situations that make us doubt what Christ has achieved for us through His finished work on the cross. Very often, he will try to make us focus on the “mountains” in our lives and rob us of our faith. Doubts can cause us to respond to situations like the way the 10 spies did in Numbers 13. God had promised the land to the people of Israel but the 10 spies saw the giants and said “we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:33 NKJ). The other 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit, they had the spirit of faith. They saw the land with the same giants that the other 10 spies saw but notice the great difference in their response: “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”(Numbers 13:30 NKJ). Eventually, only Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land because they believed that the land was given by God and they spoke words of faith that corresponded with what they believed “Let us go up at once and take possession…”

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:13 : “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,”^[a]we also believe and therefore speak,” Faith is believing and speaking! It is believing in what Jesus has achieved for us on the cross and speaking and confessing this truth. When the devil throws the fiery darts of lying symptoms in our bodies, we believe in Jesus’ finished work on the cross and we speak and confess that by His Stripes we are healed! When we do that, we are taking the shield of faith and quenching the fiery darts of the evil one.

1 John 5:4 boldly declares : “For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.”

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Sit, Walk and Stand based on Grace and His Finished Work (12)

Put on the Full Armor of God (5) – The Shoes of The Gospel of Peace

After having girded our waist with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 :15 : ”and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” (NKJ). The New Living Translation says it like this : “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.”

The shoes worn by the Romans soldiers during Paul’s time were actually sandals. “ The shoes worn by the Roman warrior generally came in the “sandal” variety. They had thick leather soles that were studded with small nails to provide stability in hand–to–hand combat. The sandals came up above the ankle and were held securely to the foot by extensive leather straps.”
Source :http://www.realarmorofgod.com/armor-of-god.html

Some have interpreted Ephesians 6:15 as Paul telling us to go and preach the Gospel of Peace ( Romans10:15 : “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” ) However I believe that the picture here is of the Christian standing his ground against the devil in spiritual warfare. Paul in Ephesians 6:10 says “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (NKJ) When we stand, the part of our body that comes into contact with the ground is our feet. Paul says we need to put on our feet “the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.” What is this peace that comes with the Good News and what is this Good News? Romans 5:1,2 tell us “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (NKJ) The Good News is that we have been made righteous and now have peace with God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross! The peace that comes with this Good News is that Christ has done it all for us, we don’t have to slog to earn it with hard work or any form of self effort.

Why is it so important to protect our feet with this Good News of peace? The kind of shoes we wear will determine if our stand is stable. To stand against the wiles of the devil, Paul says we have to put on our feet the peace that comes with the Good News which is we have been made righteous in God’s sight by faith and we now have peace with God “because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” This right standing with God is by faith and we have peace with God not because of what we have done but because of what Christ has achieved for us on the cross. It is so vital that we are standing on the foundation of His finished work and not our own efforts. When we stand on our own works, it is like putting on the wrong shoes eg. wearing bathroom slippers to play soccer . When the devil attacks us with storms in our lives, we will never be able to prevail. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He tries to steal our peace by causing us to focus on our own works and self effort to earn points with God which often leads to fatigue and frustration. When our feet are shod with the Good News of peace, we will be able to stand securely, we will not slip or slide and fall when the devil attacks us in the evil day.

The most important aspect of the Gospel of peace I believe is that when we put on the shoes of peace, we are putting on Christ Himself. The Bible calls Jesus the Prince of Peace “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) When we put on Christ (our Peace) as our shoes, the devil cannot attack our feet and cause us to fall.

How do we put on Christ as our shoes? When Noah and his family were in the ark, the storm came. Even when Noah fell, he fell in the ark. He did not fall into the overwhelming waters of the flood. When Christ is our peace, we rest in the certainty that even when we fall in our Christian life, we fall in the Ark (Christ). We have been made forever righteous in Christ. When our feet are shod with this revelation, the devil cannot use our failures and shortcoming to steal our peace. We can stand victorious with our feet in the Prince of Peace and He will crush Satan under our feet. “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. ..” (Romans 16:20 NKJ)

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