The Armor of God
By Acts 17:11 Bible Studies
Pr 20:18 (NIV) Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.
The purpose of this Bible Study is to consider and meditate on the Scriptural meaning
of each piece of the armor of God, so that we might stand firm
in the battles of life.
Eph 6:10-17 (NIV) ...Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full
armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
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. Therefore put on the full armour 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. Stand firm then, with the belt
of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness
in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel
of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God.
Why Spiritual Armor?
Rom 13:12 (NIV) The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us
lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Jer 46:3-4 (NIV) "Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for
battle! Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on!
Polish your spears, put on your armour!"
1 Cor 14:8 (GLT) For if a trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who will get himself
ready for war?
Stand!
Luke 21:36 (NIV) "Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape
all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of
Man."
Mal 3:2 (NAS) But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He
appears?..
1 Cor 10:12-13 (NIV) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you
don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is
faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you
are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under
it.
Jude 1:24 (Wey) But to Him who is able to keep you safe from stumbling, and cause
you to stand in the presence of His glory free from blemish and full of exultant
joy...
Jas 4:7 (NAS) Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The Belt of Truth
Eph 6:14 (NRS) ...fasten the belt of truth around your waist...
Isa 11:5 (NIV) Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash round his
waist.
Ex 12:11 (NIV) This is how you are to eat it [the passover lamb]: with your cloak
tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff
in your hand...
1 Kings 18:46 (NIV) The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak
into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Eph 4:25 (NKJ) Therefore, put away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with
his neighbor."
Ray Stedman: "No Christian has the right to a private life. Our lives are to be
lived openly before all men, transparent, a spectacle unto all the world. We have
no private lives and we must not expect to have. This is basically and fundamentally
wrong. Christians are to be demonstrations of the truth."
John 4:24 (NIV) "God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in
truth."
Col 3:8-10 (NIV) But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger,
rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to
each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put
on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
2 Th 2:10 (NIV) ...They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be
saved.
The Breastplate of Righteousness
Isa 59:16-17 (NAS) ...Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness
upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation
on His head...
Ex 28:15 (NIV) "Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions... Make it like the ephod..."
1Ki 3:9 (NIV) So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and
to distinguish between right and wrong.
Ps 94:15 (NIV) Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright
in heart will follow it.
Pr 2:7-8 (NIV) He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those
whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way
of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--every
good path.
Php 3:9 (NRS) ...Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but
one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
Standing on The Gospel
Eph 6:15 (NIV) ...your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel
of peace.
Eph 6:15 (Wey) ...as well as the shoes of the Good News of peace--a firm foundation
for your feet.
Rom 10:15 (KJV) ...As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"
Imagine yourself standing barefooted in a rocky climate, like in the Middle East.
You could move--ever so carefully--but without shoes you would be useless in battle.
The weight of the other pieces of armor would only make your feet more sensitive
if you had no protection. You would be a "push-over" for the enemy, as you would
have no agility and be wincing in pain every time you attempted to move. This is
why it is essential to have our "feet shod with the gospel of peace".
1 Cor 15:1-4 (Wey) But let me recall to you, brethren, the Good News [Gospel] which
I brought you, which you accepted, and on which you are standing, through
which also you are obtaining salvation, if you bear in mind the words in which I
proclaimed it--unless indeed your faith has been unreal from the very first...--
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that He
was buried; that He rose to life again on the third day in accordance
with the Scriptures.
This is the gospel as we have received it. It is foolishness to many, but life and
light to those who believe in it and are willing to follow and be "included
in" Christ's death. In practice, the Gospel means we are dead to our self-life with
all of its lusts and instincts, and alive with new life in Christ. The good news
is that by considering ourselves "dead men" in Christ, we can be put at peace
with God in Christ. If we have truly died to self, then over time our instincts
will be "dead" to the rocks and glass and thorns of this world which used to move
us. Those standing on the gospel will not react in the flesh. Instead,
we will move by God's Spirit with a protected disregard for such "fleshly"
considerations, being "readied" by the "shoes" of the "death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ", which is the Gospel that brings peace.
1 Pet 2:11 (NAS) Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly
lusts which wage war against the soul.
Gal 5:16-17 (NAS) But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry
out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that
you may not do the things that you please.
Rom 8:5-13 (NAS) For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. ...the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject
itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in
the flesh cannot please God... But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren,
we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if
you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are
putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Isa 52:6-7 (NIV) "Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they
will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I. How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"
The Helmet Of Salvation [Jesus]
Isa 59:16-17 (KJV) And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was
no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness,
it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of
salvation upon his head...
1 Th 5:8 (NAS) But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate
of faith and love; and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
Ps 140:7 (NAS) "O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my
head in the day of battle."
Jesus--Yeshua in Hebrew--means "Salvation". Salvation is Jesus Christ.
Col 1:18 (NKJ) And He is the head of the body, the church...
1 Cor 2:16 (NIV) "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.
Php 2:5 (NKJ) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus...
1 Pet 4:1 (NKJ) Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased
from sin.
2 Cor 10:3-5 (NRS) Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according
to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they
have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every
proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every
thought captive to obey Christ.
Eph 4:14-16 (NKJ) ...We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness
of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things
into Him who is the head--Christ--from whom the whole body, joined and knit together
by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every
part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The Sword of The Spirit - The Word of God
Isa 49:2 (NAS) He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand
He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in
His quiver.
Matthew Henry: "To the Christian armed for defense in battle, the apostle recommends
only one weapon of attack; but it is enough, the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God. It subdues and mortifies evil desires and blasphemous thoughts as they
rise within; and answers unbelief and error as they assault from without. A single
text, well understood, and rightly applied, at once destroys a temptation or an
objection, and subdues the most formidable adversary."
Heb 4:12-13 (NKJ) 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. And there
is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes
of Him to whom we must give account.
2 Cor 6:7 (NIV) ...in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness
in the right hand and in the left...
Ps 149:4-6 (NIV) For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble
with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.
May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands.
The Shield of Faith
Eph 6:16 (Wey) ...take the great shield of faith, on which you will be able to quench
all the flaming darts of the Wicked one.
Ps 35:1-3,9 (NIV) Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against
those who fight against me. Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid.
Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to my soul, "I am your
salvation."... Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation
[yes, Yeshua again].
Ps 3:2-3 (GLT) Many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God.
Selah. But You, O Jehovah, are a shield around me; [you are] my glory and He who
lifts up my head.
1 Pet 1:5 (NAS) ...who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Ps 33:20 (NIV) We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
1 Tim 6:12 (NIV) Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life
to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many
witnesses.
1 John 5:4-5 (Wey) For every child of God overcomes the world; and the victorious
principle which has overcome the world is our faith. Who but the man that
believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world?
Pr 30:5 (NIV) "Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge
in him."
Be Strong In The Lord, By the Power of Grace
1 Cor 16:13 (NIV) Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage;
be strong.
2 Tim 2:1 (GLT) ...Be empowered by grace in Christ Jesus.
Eph 3:7 (GLT) ...I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given to me, according to the working of His power.
2 Cor 9:8 (NIV) And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all
things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Col 1:11 (Wey) Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength
of every kind, and be prepared...
Php 4:13 (NAS) I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
The Battle is The Lord's
1 Sam 17:47 (NKJ) [David, speaking to Goliath] "Then all this assembly shall know
that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's,
and He will give you into our hands."
Deut 20:3-4 (NIV) ..."Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your
enemies. Do not be faint-hearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic
before them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you
against your enemies to give you victory."
Ps 18:32-35 (NIV) It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the
heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give
me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make
me great.
Zec 4:6 (NIV) ..."'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty."
Rom 11:36 (GLT) Because of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him
be the glory forever! Amen.