Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor 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 armor 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.
-Ephesians 6:10-13
Sunday night, I knew that I needed to spend some time, for the first time in my life, really investigating what it means to put on the full armor of God.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around 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. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
-Ephesians 6:14-18a
Many of these seem pretty obvious, but I know that there is so much more to understand about the armor of God, so I'm planning to study this passage even more in depth, possibly using a book or commentary.
But one thing really struck me. Of the seven pieces of armor, six of them are meant to protect. One is meant to attack: the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Back then, when men would fight in wars, their armor was meant to protect them from the attacks of their enemy/opponent, but they didn't just hang on to their swords to look pretty. No. They used their sword to attack. To wound. To weaken. To kill. If they chose not to use their sword, they would have a hard time standing firm, because a mortal body can only handle so many blows and attacks before they start to weaken and fall.
The sword weakens the enemy.
The Word of God weakens the Enemy of God.
I spent some time reflecting on what this means to me. What is God asking of me? Obviously, a part of that is to study His Word and meditate on it. But I felt as if God was telling me that there is even more that I can do.
Since the Enemy is constantly at war with us, I knew that I needed to be intentional about fighting him and weakening him as often throughout the day as possible. And since the Enemy can't hear my thoughts, does it weaken him when I only meditate on scripture without speaking it out loud? I'm not sure it does. It protects, strengthens, and edifies me to think and meditate on scripture, but speaking it out loud is where the real damage is done to Satan. Jesus set this example for us in Matthew 4:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Now, I'm not much into violence, blood, and killing, but when it comes to Satan and his Demons, I'll stab, maim, mutilate, and kill without so much as an ounce of regret. Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy and I'll fight him until my dying breath.
So I've been arming ourselves with the Word of God. I've been searching God's Word for scripture to place throughout our house, and I've found some for every room in our house, and then some.
I printed the scripture on cardstock and cut them apart, and they're placed strategically all over the house. And the idea is that whenever any of us sees the scripture cards, we read - or pray - the scripture out loud.
For example, in places where washing occurs (shower, sinks, laundry room), we will read (or turn into a prayer) any or all of the following:
Psalm 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Isaiah 64:6a All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
Hebrews 10:22-23 Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
In places where we get dressed, we can read (or turn into prayer) the following:
Ephesians 6:11-17 Put on the full armor 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 armor 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 around 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.
1 Peter 5:5-6 …Be clothed with humility, for “ God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
And in the kids' bedrooms I've placed these verses for them to say, but also for Chris and me to say and turn into a prayer for the future of our children:
Philippians 2:14-15 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.
Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 119:10-12 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, LORD; teach me your decrees.
There are many more, for the kitchen, near televisions, computers, in vehicles, on mirrors, by the toilet (heehee!), and more.
{I've uploaded my "Scripture-Saturated Home" cards so that you can also download them and print them off if you'd like. (You can click on the link just above or you can copy and paste this link: http://www.4shared.com/document/L2FwYgrM/Scripture-Saturated_Home.html) You don't need an account, and when you click to download, it will make you wait 20 seconds or so (their way of trying to get you to upgrade to a Premium account), so be aware of that. The link will also be located on my Freebies page. You can get there by clicking on the tab towards the top of the page.}
Admittedly, I feel a bit, um, stupid that all of this didn't occur to me before, but oh how I'm praising God for teaching me now. He is so good.
And now, watch out Satan. We're armed and dangerous.
