The Armor of God

In Ephesians 6, Paul writes about the armor of God. We often misuse this text to motivate believers in other ways than what is stated in the verses. The admonishment is to simply resist and stand against Satan. We have all heard sermons and teachings using this text. We have heard the six pieces of armor. I will list them and a brief description of their purpose.

· Gird your loins with truth-the loins were described as the “seat of emotions". The writer encourages us to gird, wrap up for action, our emotions as Satan’s first line of attack is in that area. Our emotions are tossed about and we begin to doubt God and His Word. When our emotions tell us one thing, we need to counter them with the truth of a matter.

· The breastplate of righteousness-this piece covers the heart. Satan shoots arrows of doubt and deception and thoughts of guilt. We need to cover the heart with the righteousness that we stand in, reminding ourselves that our “righteousness is as filthy rags” but He is now our righteousness.

· Shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace-we often use this verse as a motivator to witness but it actually is another admonition to “stand firm”, not to go out and witness. The verse in the original language is related to putting on shoes with cleats. The cleats cause us to “dig in” when we are hit by the enemy. This is to insure that we remain upright when we stand on the slippery slopes of the evil one. The “gospel of peace” is the good news that we are at peace with God. This is another of the enemy’s tactics, to make you feel ill at ease with Him.

· Take up the shield of faith-its purpose is to extinguish the all the flaming missiles of the evil one. Satan’s goal is to get to the heart, as mentioned above. This is a second layer of defense.

· The helmet of salvation-Satan wants you to believe that you are not saved. If that doesn’t work, then he will hope that at least, you will doubt the stability of your place in Christ. One of the greatest stumbling blocks in the Christian's life is the belief that he can lose his salvation. If you do, Satan wins. The helmet protects your thoughts when you start thinking that you are not saved or you can lose your salvation. These thoughts create an uneasiness in the believer and an insecurity as to his position in Christ.

· The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Jesus used this when He was tempted in the wilderness.

There they are, the six. But wait, the Bible has a theme running from Genesis to Revelations. Six is an incomplete number. Seven is the number of perfection. To be a complete list, one that is  perfect, it must have seven principles of standing firm. Where is the seventh?