WEDNESDAY July 24th
Ephesians 6:13–17
‘Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. . .’
We come now to consider the armour, and as I have looked over the verses, and an illustration that I have of the armour, I noticed first that there are six items or parts to this armour, four of which we must put on and two of which we need to take up and hold. The four to put on, starting from the head down to the feet are the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth and the gospel of peace on our feet. Then the two we take up and hold are the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. And of course, as we have seen already, the need to be ‘praying at all times’ (v18) in the Spirit. (see also ‘. . . pray without ceasing’ 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Is it not incredible to see that God who has called us to salvation has also made so much in the way of provision for us. I have already touched on this briefly, but I want to touch on it further. He has given first and foremost the very best for us in giving his one and only Son. And by coming to a saving knowledge, and I am quoting these things in no particular order, he has given to us the wonderful and powerful name of Jesus, the covering of his powerful and precious blood, there is also the power of our testimony, he has given to us his Spirit, he has given us his precious and powerful word, he has given us each other as brothers and sisters, adopting us into his family, he has given us the gift of fellowship, not only with the Father and the Son, but with each other as the body of Christ, he has given to us all that we need to live victoriously in our Christian life, and he has given us the armour to wear as we fight the good fight of the faith, to enable us to stand firm and to extinguish or bring to nothing all that the enemy will seek to throw at us.
In heavenly armour we’ll enter the land –
the battle belongs to the Lord;
no weapon that’s fashioned
Against us will stand –
The battle belongs to the Lord.
We sing glory, honour,
Power and strength to the Lord;
We sing glory, honour,
Power and strength to the Lord!