Ephesians 6:14-16 “Put on truth as a belt to strengthen you to stand in triumph. Put on holiness as the protective armor that covers your heart. Stand on your feet alert, then you'll always be ready to share the blessings of peace. In every battle, take faith as your wrap-around shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows coming from the evil one!” Yesterday I talked about how we would be victorious when we put on the armor of God. Today I am explaining what that armor is and how we can put it on. I did not cover all the pieces of armor as I didn't want to make the episode too long. I will finish up the rest of the armor on Monday in part 2. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God’s Armor (Part 1)
Ephesians 6:14-16 “Put on truth as a belt to strengthen you to stand in triumph. Put on holiness as the protective armor that covers your heart. Stand on your feet alert, then you'll always be ready to share the blessings of peace. In every battle, take faith as your wrap-around shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows coming from the evil one!”
Yesterday, I talked about how we will be victorious and how important it is to put on all the armor that God has given us. Today, I thought I would go over what that armor is because it can be hard to put something on if we don’t know what it is. The verse above tells us to put on truth as a belt to strengthen us to stand in triumph. We have truth on our side. God is truth, and the enemy is a liar. We must stand in that truth. We must know the truth, and we must also tell the truth. Our actions can either make it possible for the enemy to gain a foothold in our lives or keep him out, and it is up to us to decide. I said yesterday that the enemy is bound by free will. He can’t come in unless we open a door for him. Sometimes, we leave a door open by accident. Sometimes, we do wrong things, and we don’t know that by doing so, we are making an opening for the enemy to come in.
We not only need to stand in the truth, but we also need to tell the truth always. Lying will open a door to the enemy in so many ways. If you lie about something, the enemy will call you a liar. He will use that lie to make you think you are a liar. He will make you nervous that someone will learn about that lie. He will make you feel bad about that lie and then start telling you lies. He will tell you you are not good enough for God’s love because you are a liar. He will tell you God won’t forgive you because you are a liar. He will tell you others will find out you lied, and then they won’t like you either. He will tell you that the person you lied to will find out, and they won’t like you either. Do you see how we are opening a door to the enemy when we lie? The enemy is the liar. He is the one who is not worthy of God’s love. We need to put on the belt of truth because telling the truth will not only strengthen us but also protect us from opening the door to the enemy.
The next piece of armor is the breastplate. The scripture instructs us to wear holiness as the protective armor that shields our hearts. We must guard our hearts. The enemy takes pleasure in assaulting our hearts with his deceitful lies. He revels in telling us we're unworthy, inadequate, unloved. He spins so many falsehoods. But your heavenly Father loves you unconditionally, regardless of your actions. Even if you weren’t worthy, He would still love you. But you are worthy because Jesus made you worthy when He died for you. This is the power of holiness, a shield that assures us of God's unwavering love and protection.
So, what does it mean to wear holiness as a breastplate to protect our hearts? Does this mean we need to be perfect? No, it means we need to be close to God. We should do what we can to grow closer to the Lord daily. We must strive to do the right thing and live the right way. Remember, our actions give the enemy a way into our lives. He will take any opening, no matter how big or small. We don’t want to give him an opening. If we stay close to the Lord, He can protect us. If we try to grow in holiness more each day, the breastplate protecting our hearts will grow stronger and stronger.
I just looked up at the wall in front of me, and I have post-it notes and pictures hanging on that wall. When I looked up, I saw a post-it note that said, “Holiness is saying yes to the will of God.” We are all called to live a life of holiness, and sometimes we can shy away from that because we think that means it is calling us to a life of perfection. It isn’t. God asks us daily to learn to say yes to His will instead of our own. He knows we are not perfect and that it will be a lifelong goal, and yet he is still asking it of us. He is not expecting us to get it right each time. He is just asking that we try to say yes to Him more than we say yes to ourselves. Since He is God and knows what is best for us, can you see how if we grow in holiness, saying yes to His will, His perfect will, then we will protect our hearts?
Next, the verse says, “Stand on your feet alert, then you'll always be ready to share the blessings of peace.” It is important to be alert. The enemy will come more easily if we are sleepy, distracted, or not paying attention. I like this one because we get to share a blessing of peace. Did you know you had the power to impart peace to other people? This is one of my favorite things to do. I pray for peace over people. There is so much worry and anxiety in this world, and peace can combat it. It is not a worldly peace but the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding. If you see a loved one struggling, pray that the peace of Christ fills them up. If you see a stranger and you can see they could use some peace, pray for them. The peace of Christ is unlimited. It will never run out. We don’t have to conserve it or use it sparingly. There is an endless supply, and if you see someone that needs peace, pray for them.
Next, it says, “In every battle, take faith as your wrap-around shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows coming from the evil one!” Faith is important. Faith can make all the difference. I just looked up the definition of faith to make sure we are all on the same page. The first definition I found was “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” Do we have complete trust in God and in His promises? If we do, we can wrap that faith around us, and the enemy won’t be able to get in. As we talked about yesterday, God says we will be victorious. So, if we have complete trust in what God says, then the enemy can’t touch us because we know that God has us covered.
The second definition I found is found in Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is similar but goes into a bit more detail. This means that we have complete trust that God is in the things that we hope for and also that we can believe even if we can’t see. We can believe in God, even if we can’t see Him. We can assume that our hopes and dreams will come true even before they do. This is so powerful against the enemy because He doesn’t understand why we would believe without seeing. He doesn’t know how we can have faith when all looks like it is going wrong if we wrap that faith around us like a blanket and trust the Lord, no matter what, then the enemy's flaming arrows will bounce right off of us.
When I started this episode this morning, I was going to go over all the armor of God today. However, this episode is getting long, and I really don’t want to have to rush through the last two verses, as they are also significant. I will end here for today and pick back up on Monday morning with the last pieces of armor. On Monday, I will cover the helmet, the sword, and prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each of us listening to this episode. Lord, show us how to put on this armor and defeat the enemy. Teach each of us in a way that we can understand how each piece of armor fits in our lives. Show us how we need to change. Lord, help us grow in holiness. Help us to say yes to your will more than we say yes to our own will. Help us spread Christ's peace to all who need it. Lord, help us to be truthful. Put on our hearts anywhere in our lives that we are being less than truthful and help us remedy the situation. We love you so much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I am so excited that some of you have already clicked the link below and signed up for the “Come as You Are” Retreat in October. Registration just opened on Wednesday, and it is exciting to see people signing up. It will be a fantastic weekend, and I hope you will join us. There is a link below with all the details.
I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day, and may the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Living water I give to you, my children. You call me font of all holiness. And that is true. That is who I am. And I give to you the water that flows from that font. For you truly are a holy people. A people set apart to be different. Not that you may boast of your difference, but that you may share your difference. Because your difference will lead people to my heart, to my font of holiness, of life-giving water. And that I long for more than you can ever imagine or dream about. I once again this morning pour out upon you my living water. I ask only that you open your hearts and allow it to flow freely to others.”