Discover Victory through the Armor of God

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At the start of our ladies meetings in September of last year, we were given a card with the armor of God biblical passage to memorize. I ended up placing this in my Bible cover and would read it through before starting my devotions. This passage–Ephesians 6:11-17–has become very dear to my heart this year. After really diving into what scripture is trying to tell us, the armor of God is something every Christian needs to understand!

Put on the Whole Armor of God

This introduction gives us three main truths we can glean and apply to our own lives. First, we put the armor on like we do our clothes. This is a daily task, just like reading your Bible. We equip ourselves in order to prepare for spiritual warfare. It’s a daily walk.

In my mind, this is the hardest part about being a Christian: consistency. It’s difficult for me to read my Bible and pray on a regular schedule, to control my thoughts, actions and emotions, and even to just do the right thing. To consistently do this each and every day on top? Practically impossible!

Notice the word “whole”? That means all of it. No one piece of armor is more important than the next. We would never show up somewhere half-dressed; some of us feel half naked if we’re not wearing our earrings or favorite necklace. In the same way, we must place equal value on each piece of armor.

Lastly, this verse tells us where we get our armor from–from God. The day we get saved, God equips us with the “tools of the trade” we need to grow our Christianity. We look to God for our strength, and he delivers every time. 2 Corinthians even tells us, “For when I am weak, then am I strong”. How? Because of Christ Jesus.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Where Our Fight Is

Paul needs to lay some groundwork before he dives into what the actual armor of God does. First, he wants us to understand where our fight is–against Satan and his demons. We’ve heard this before; hate the sin and not the sinner. God doesn’t want us to fight amongst ourselves, “flesh and blood”. He wants us to know we’re fighting the spiritual wickedness in this world.

My Role as a Wife

There’s two applications I can make in my own life about this. First, I can apply it to my role as a wife. The unfortunate, honest truth about Peter and I’s relationship is that we are both determined, strong-willed, and hotheaded. This works great when we are on the same page.

For example, when Peter decided he needed to get his commercial pilot’s license, we were together in that decision. All of our extra income went towards flying. I set a strict budget and I stuck to it. I was careful with grocery expenses, we didn’t eat out, I didn’t buy new clothes, we didn’t even celebrate Christmas that year! We see his pilot’s license as just as much my own accomplishment as it is his.

If we have a different mindset on how our family should look or the direction our lives should take, look out! I begin to get defensive. I take things personally. I feel attacked and then attack him. And a for sure cop out: I bring up his past failures just so I can “win”.

Thankfully, the Lord knew this about me before I got married. He gave me a book (at the hands of an Aunt and Uncle on our wedding day) entitled “The Most Important Year in a Woman’s Life”. I highly encourage you to get it. You can order yours here.

One of the chapters dealt with when you fight, and the concept has stuck with me for quite awhile. It’s this idea that when you fight, you’re not fighting against your spouse. It’s you and your spouse working together to attack the problem.

My Role as a Mother

When my child acts up, it’s easy for me to become upset at my child, rather than the underlying problem. It’s like putting a band-aid on a broken arm. My getting upset isn’t going to solve a thing. I’ve even heard some of us justify our anger towards our child. Jesus was upset and threw the money changers’ tables. I can show my anger towards my child too.

If we stop and ask ourselves why we’re actually angry, I think we would realize how we are sinning too. Am I angry at my child because he sinned against God, or because he embarrassed me in public? Am I angry at my child because there’s a heart issue going on with her, or is it because I’m on my period and didn’t get enough sleep and I just can’t handle this anymore.

Things are only going to get harder as our children get older. Our job is to use the whole armor to fight against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in our own lives and then teach our children how to battle this themselves as they get older.

Stand Firm with the Armor of God

Almost immediately, we realize in these next few verses (Ephesians 6:13-14) the word “stand” is repeated quite a bit. Of course it needs it’s own section here. To stand means immovable steadfastness in the face of a relentless, ruthless foe. I encourage you to reread that last sentence.

To stand is this idea of digging in for the long fight. We hear this a lot. Stand up for truth. Stand up for righteousness. Take a stand for what’s right. I think we hear this so much that we fool ourselves into thinking that we actually do stand firm every day.

It’s easy to take a stand in a Sunday School class where everyone agrees that the world is terrible. It’s easy to do it on the comment section when we forget that a whole world is reading our hateful comments. How are we actually supposed to take a stand?

Biblically, we take a stand by living in such a way that the Holy Spirit is not grieved or quenched and can then strengthen us. Our greatest weapon is not what we say to the devil (we can’t defeat him on our own). We live the Christ life. That’s how we defeat the devil. Then we encourage others-our friends, family, and neighbors-to do the same. We’re not going to win through politics, social media or voting the “right” politician in. We win in our own homes and lives and in the lives of those we affect around us.

Feel inspired? Read Part 2 here!