Put on Your Armor

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness, against spiritual strongholds in Heavenly places, therefore, put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist the evil day and having done all things, to stand. ~ Ephesians 6:12-13

My pastor knows I’m getting older. He’s trying to boost my brain power. He’s making me memorize scripture.

Ephesians 6:12-13 is a doozy. I mean, c’mon!

I’m a Type A. My memory cells have been killed with clutter and lack of sleep. How can he expect me to remember all those words?

A third grader helped me out. We worked on memorizing the verse Sunday. We started by arm wrestling. That was a good reminder. Then we pointed to our flesh and made a sign like we were “cutting” it. Get it?

“Flesh” and “Blood”. From there, it was a breeze to get the rest trapped in my brain.

The next challenge was to figure out what all this MEANS.

God is good. EUREKA! I am beginning to understand! Ephesians 6:12-13 is tucked right there in Ephesians after Paul gives us a whole BUNCH of instruction on the best way to live as Christ followers. In this handy little Bible Book, Paul tells us church folks to get along. He tells wives to respect their husbands. He tells husbands to be willing to die for their wives, and finally, he instructs kids to obey their parents!

There’s a lot of good stuff tucked into this Book. If you try to follow up with good stuff, the devil is bound to attack you.

Now — don’t start laughing here. Think about it. Have you and your husband ever experienced a great time of ministry only to come home and get into a snippy little fight?
Guess what? The devil is at work!

Ephesians 6:12 & 13 tells us to get this straight. We are not fighting each other. We are fighting the devil… the ruler of darkness.

Our enemy is the devil. He has come to lie, rob, kill and destroy. He wants to sell us his lie, rob us of joy, kill our relationships and destroy our families. If we are fighting among ourselves in church, bickering in our relationships, crabbing at our spouses, yelling at our kids….well….
The devil is pretty happy.

Who are you fighting? Ephesians 6 tells us it isn’t that obstinate hunk of flesh standing in front of us. We’re fighting a clever devil who wants to destroy all human relationships!

SOOOOOO…..

Put On YOUR Armor!

Ephesians 6:14 – 17 gives us a
list of what we need to “put on.”

In the end, I (a Type A rabble-rouser) need to remember who I am fighting. I need to rally my troops and step out into the world fully equipped.

Care to join me?