Unleash Your Warrior with the Armor of God

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Once you discover you can have actual victory through the armor of God, you need to learn what the armor of God actually is in order to unleash your warrior. Learning what each piece’s unique purpose is for will enable us to make sure we are using each tool effectively. God gave us this armor in order to defend ourselves against the Devil’s attacks. Knowing what it is he equipped us with is going to help us immensely in our Christian walk. Let’s get started learning about the tools of the trade.

*This is Part 2 of a series. Read Part 1 here.

Gird Up Your Loins with Truth to Unleash Your Warrior

It’s no secret that in Bible times, the clothing item of the day was loose fitting and free flowing. Whenever the Bible talks about a character girding up their loins, they did this in order to freely move. They were preparing for battle or possibly for a race–something that they needed to move quickly for.

This is the foundation of our armor. Every other piece of armor builds off of this one piece–truth. To have truth means that we have no uncertainty or doubt. We have complete clarification and no questions. It means we are ready to give an answer.

This doesn’t mean we have the answer only for ourselves. It’s so we can answer our children who question why it is we believe what we believe. We can answer the “religious”, like-minded friend who doesn’t understand why you go to the church you go to and worship the way you worship. It’s so you can explain the hope that you have in Christ Jesus.

A lot of times in the world, we hear that we need to know our truth. I would argue that we need to know Biblical truth. And, we need to be willing to change our opinions when it goes against the word of God.

Unleash your Warrior with the Breastplate of Righteousness

The Breastplate is what protects your vital organs in battle. I would argue that your most vital organ (both physically and spiritually) is the heart. The Bible tells us to guard our hearts, for out of it flow the issues of life. We are told the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.

How exactly do we guard our hearts? With righteousness. Righteousness is one of those words that when someone mentions it in church, I immediately have to look the word up in order to fully understand what it means. Righteousness means to be free from guilt or sin. It is virtuous, honorable and morally right and it is only found in Christ Jesus.

We know that no one is righteous (Rom 3:10), but the Bible uses the word “righteous” to describe certain characters. People like Noah, Daniel, Job, Joseph of Arimathea, and Cornelius just to name a few. These men were not perfect, but they made the choice (daily) to put God first and not sin. The Bible tells us they “walked blamelessly”, “found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, and “walk with God”. This is not a sprint. They walked daily and consistently.

The devil attacks our hearts and emotions. He constantly causes us to question foundational truths. Truths like:

Is God Good? And Other Questions

Is God good when my loved one dies? When I’m going through a custody battle and might lose my kids? What about when my husband is in an accident and can’t walk for 5 months? Is God good when I’m struggling with infertility?

Am I worthy of God’s love? Is God fair? Does God care about the little things? Does God really answer prayer? You see, we all know the answers in our head, but our hearts tell us a different story. Our hearts lie to us through grief or guilt. Maybe it’s when we feel discontent or have feelings of unfairness that we question God’s goodness the most. Some of us get jealous or angry or we deal with immense pain and regret and question these foundational truths.

So how do we overcome this? Through God’s righteousness. His righteousness ensures our approval. He sent his son to die for us and because of this, we walk daily in his righteousness, we rejoice in his forgiveness, and we can trust even when we don’t understand why.

Gospel of Peace

We are a living testimony. What Christ has done in our lives compels us to share with others. As women, God gave us a voice and we need to find our voices. The Good News brings peace. Peace is that feeling of completion. It’s the one thing our souls yearn for. We need to share that with others.

Finding my voice has been one of the hardest things to do after going through a tragic death of a loved one. It’s something I’ve tried to escape or bury in the years following his death. However, what Christ has done in my life through and because of his death has caused me to open up to others about it. Why? Because it brings peace and this feeling of completion to others.

Unleash Your Warrior with the Shield of Faith

The shield of faith is much like the breastplate. The devil sends setbacks and failures at us (usually in the form of temptations we succumb to either in the past or present). Having the shield of faith gives us the idea that before those fiery darts (of setbacks and failures) even reach us, we can quench them. Because of our faith, we can have complete trust and confidence in God working in and through our lives. The fiery darts are effectively put out before they even touch us.

Put on the Helmet of Salvation

The helmet is for our head and mind. This is for when we become tired or exhausted in the Christian walk. Paul tells us to not be weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9). This is not so much a fight against the devil but a fight for the cause of Christ.

You need your helmet when you’re volunteering in church, even when you don’t feel like it. The helmet is for saying no to what’s not your ministry so that you can say yes to what your calling is. You use it to focus on what you can do, rather than looking at how another person is serving and thinking “I could never do that”.

The helmet of salvation encourages us to reach out to the new visitor to make them feel welcome. It urges us to shake a teen’s hand and tell them “I’m glad you’re here today” (trust me, they don’t hear that a lot).

When we get discouraged, tired, or burnt out, we remember why we do what we do: the salvation from Christ Jesus. If Jesus did all of this for us, we can show that love and service to others.

Sword of the Spirit

Lastly, we are given the only offensive weapon we have: the word of God. This is how we actually fight the devil. Jesus is the actual word (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God) and He is the only effectual weapon against the devil.

Furthermore, we ward off the devil through Scripture. After 40 days of fasting and praying when Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus fought off him through Scripture.

It Sounds Simple

So that’s it! A breakdown of the armor of God. To me, this sounds impossible; one of those too good to be true, might work for you, but I’m me type things. I can be consistent for a day, maybe. Possibly even two, but for the rest of my Christian life? No way!

It’s important to realize that we need to start small. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was a strong Christian. Get into the word of God. Start to memorize more Scripture. Surround yourself with the RIGHT Christian friends–the ones who sharpen your iron with their own. Pray for God’s help as you seek to put on the armor of God daily.

Lastly, remember that this is a daily walk, not a sprint. Look to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Never forget that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).