The ARMOUR of God

So, because I know all of you will hold me accountable for talking about The Armour of God in Shielded and not talking about it again, I thought I’d do this. :)

Let’s dive in:

(WARNING NOTE!!! Uh, so, my Bible is ESV [whatever that stands for can go in here], so it’ll look different than if you use NIV or KJV, etc. etc. )

Ephesians 6:10-20: The Whole Amor of God: ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 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, 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, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in the opening my mouth boldly to proclaim that mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.’

Wow, that was awesome. There is nothing like the Truth. It’s not like other books. It’s not a story. This is a history book, a time-travel novel if you will. But it’s not fiction; it’s not non-fiction. This is Truth. You will never find another book like this. Why, you ask. Well, everything makes sense, but because it’s a sword. It’s a Gospel of peace. There’s nothing more important than truth.

I know this verse was a little confusing, so I’ll try to break it into understandable pieces. The verses I want to focus most on are the ones with similies and metaphors in them.

There are so many pieces in here it was almost overwhelming. Let’s take a look at a few of the first parts.

So, (#1), before we start talking about the belt of truth, we talk about our propose. We talk about how we wrestle with hard things, which is why we need the whole armour of God. The entire, the complete, the absolute armour of God. ‘…be strong in the Lord and in His might.’ We are not given the armour by accident. We are soldiers at war, all the time, every day. So, God has given us the ability to put on His armour so that we may fight our earthly battles. If you remember when I talked about Narnia in Shielded, you’ll remember how I spoke of one-on-one combat a lot. In real life, it’s so much more than one-on-one. It’s a tick against a giant. I trust you’ll figure out who is who. ;)

Okay, next point (oh, I love metaphors) (#2): ‘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.’ (this one is almost an a and b and c type question) Do you know why I like this? Do you even want to guess? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway, so you might as well save your breath. So, everyone here knows what a belt is, right? If you don’t…well, then make sure to go look it up on Google somewhere. So, when you wear a belt, you put it around your waist (obviously, ah hem, sorry). So, around… are you following? So, God’s truth is everywhere. It is in us, with us, around us. See what I did there? Exactly. So, we must remember to wear our belts so that we may have the truth around us everywhere we go.

The breastplate of righteousness is the thing holding back the swords. It keeps our hearts and our minds safe from harm. The definition of righteousness is: ‘The quality of being right or morally just.’ this is good because God is both right and just. God is so many more things than that, like merciful and gracrous and kind. But, that’s not he point. The point is, God has given us the ability to speak the right and true. We just not let that ability slip into not

And, ‘…put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.’ Readiness is a lot like courage. In fact, if I asked my editing app for a synonym for courage, I would get readiness. My pastor once told me peace comes with the correct understanding of truth. My pastor is very wise, as you can see, because courage comes with understanding that you are not alone, and understanding that you are not alone comes with understanding the absolute truth, and knowing the proper truth begins with understanding. See, it’s like a circle. No sharp edges, no corners. It’s simple and right, and it makes sense.

Moooving on (#3): ‘In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, 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, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.’ (I’m glad I can copy and paste it here)

Here we go:

A): Shield of faith

B): Helmet of salvation

C): Sword of the Spirit

(if you look close enough, you’ll see I made sad faces all over that list)

So, A) The shield of faith extinguishes all the flaming darts of the evil one. Aka, it protects you and keeps you safe. Because faith is the one thing we have here, in a world of torture and terror, it is the most important piece of all Christianity, other than Jesus and God and God’s Holy Book…I take that back…. Without faith, those darts would hit, and they would hit hard. So, yes. This is why this metaphor makes sense because even when you have nothing to shield you, you will have your faith, which is a shield enough.

B) There is a reason we put helmets on our heads. If you don’t know, it’s because the brain is the most essential part of our body. They are the reason we are who we are. They are also the reason we are faithful, and we can know the truth. Remember the Crucifixion? (you should *arches eyebrow at those who don’t*) Remember when they put that crown of thorns on Jesus’ head? Now, God promises us the safe, strong helmet of salvation. So that whenever we crash into sin, we are reminded that the Lord has promised good and safety. That crown that Jesus wore was terrible and defeating. But He has done good things and replaced the thorns with roses. (shoot, roses have thorns…) *scratches out the roses bit* with life.

C) The SWORD OF THE SPIRIT IS THE WORD OF GOD, SLAYING ALL THE WRONG EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS AND THE BAD THINGS THAT AWAIT YOU WHEN YOU ARE HURTING. There is almost nothing more I need to say. This scripture directly translates to ‘…which is the word of God, ...’ which is all I need to say. The word of God may leave more questions than answers (sometimes). I can agree; sometimes, it is really hard to wrestle through a passage that just doesn’t make sense. So, we must remember that this is our only real weapon. Quoting the Holy Book will shut up any intrusive thoughts or people. And I mean it. This is a sword made of the finest steel and carved by a mighty hand. There are so many things those words can do…it just reminds me of this quote. “The pen is mightier than the sword.” if I could remember who said that, I’d tell you. In all honestly, it is the pen who created the Sword, so I don’t know if that makes sense anymore.

And finally, my last point (#4): ‘To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in the opening my mouth boldly to proclaim that mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.’ This piece of scripture made me smile. I mean, all of this piece made me smile, but what I was really intrigued about is the fact that it’s not just a lesson, it’s a rule. It’s telling you what you have to do. It’s telling you to keep alert with perseverance and speak boldly, even though we are in chains. You see, you must see yourself in chains. We are not great. We are not worthy. We were small and useless until God saved us. (right? *laughs shyly*)

But there’s more. This story tells us that we must speak. We must pray and boldly declare the goodness of God, even when we’re in chains. Do you see? Do you know this truth? It makes sense because if we can not speak if we were in chains, we can not speak at all. So, you must (ought) to speak boldly. You must be strong, for God has given you all you need to praise Him.

Lord, take this reader and protect them if You will it. Help them to walk with You, following You with every step they take. Help them to raise Your goodness. May they pull in the armour of God so that they can be strong, intelligent, and thoughtful. Thank you for Your goodness and Your truth. Amen.

I hope you enjoyed this, Dear Reader. There is so much in the Word of God. There is so much intelligence and greatness, and it is free to take and read. I know knowledge (especially the knowledge of understanding) does not always come that freely. But as long as you take the Sword of the Spirit in your hands and put the helmet of salvation on your head, you will be strong in the Lord.

God be with you, Dear Reader. Stay Faithful.

-Claudia