The Armor of God (Part 2)

Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's scheme".

Here we are instructed to "put on the full armor". We are told this for a reason. If we only include one or two items, or none at all, then we are setting ourselves up for defeat. God supplies this divine armor and by using it we will succeed in our battle and be invulnerable to Satan's attacks.

Matthew Henry's commentary online says: "It is called the armor of God because he both prepares and bestows it. We have no armor of our own that will be armor of proof in a trying time. Nothing will stand for us in stead but the armor of God." In other words, anything we use of our own power to shield and protect us from Satan's attacks will not work. We must have the armor of God on at all times!

The word 'devil' comes from the Greek word diabolos. Thayer's Greek Definitions defines the 'devil' as being a deceiver, lyer, slanderer and false accuser. These are the very ways that he will use to attack us. He will try to cause rifts between us and God, or between us and our fellow Christians. The Bible tells us in Luke 11:17 "...any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall". We need to be prepared for this - to know when he is using these things against us. He will be sneaky, he will cause doubt...the devil (satan) will use any ploy he can think of to attempt to destroy and divide us; to try to cause us to fall!

Be on your guard my brothers and sisters, but rest assured that this battle has already been won and satan has been defeated on the Cross. The victory belongs to Christ! However, this battle is still ours to fight on the spiritual realm. But with God on our side, and being completely dressed in the full armor of God, we will succeed!