Six Things God Wants You to Have to Win Your Battles
The Armor of God, described in Ephesians 6, contains six items which we need to win our battles. Three of them — the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth — all pertain to your soul. The helmet protects your thought-life. The breastplate protects your emotional life. The belt protects two items that are around your “loins.” The belt of truth covers the part of you that creates children because God wants us to have sons and daughters, either of our flesh or of the spirit of Christ, who are grounded on the truth. That same belt covers your “gut”, or area of will-power, which is involved with the choices you make.
Paul calls us to put on the FULL armor of God, not just a few of the pieces. Why? Because the thoughts, feelings, and will of our soul are interactive, one influencing the other. We need to protect all aspects of our soul in order to stay victorious.
Then the Word goes on and reminds us of the importance of having shoes put on to prepare us for the battle of peace. We need to carry the shield of faith and the sword of God. Jesus is depicted in Revelation 19 as the Lamb of God who carries a sword in his mouth in order to defeat the enemy. The letters: G O D S W O R D, can spell both God’s Word or God Sword. Either way, declaring the Word or brandishing the sword who is Jesus is a sure way to gain the victory in any battle.
I propose that we should put our armor on once when we become Born-again, and not take it off. Because it is a spiritual garment, it is light and airy and can be slept in. Our only responsibility is to check in with the Holy Spirit and be sure there is not a rip or tear, or cut or stain that God needs to patch up or clean out. If so, ask Holy Spirit to do the repair.
So, go forward, Dear Soldier of the Kingdom of God, and win those battles.
Blessings,
P.S. For an excellent description of being “shod” with the shoes in this Armor of God, watch to Laura Dudek's video blog. Click here to watch.