We see a pattern in putting on the full armor of God. The main things we learn from these verses is we must have faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We must believe in God's promises to protect us, and we must believe in our salvation. One of the most important things is we must be aware of the battles taking place around us. Verse 18 tells us to pray at all times and on every occasion because the battles are happening all the time. We must be looking out for these battles and with our knew knowledge be ready to overcome them.
16) In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
The devil can throw some doozies at us when we are least expecting. We can be walking along just fine and all of the sudden hear something whiz right by.......satan is good at catching us off guard. Our faith can be used as a shield to protect us from those sneak attacks. Like mentioned in all the above descriptions, faith in God and His son Jesus Christ gives us strength to withstand these attacks. When we know that we are sheltered by God, held safe in His arms, and protected under his wings we can stand firm and not be shaken by satan and others who try to shake us up. There will inevitably be hard times. We cannot avoid the sin in this world nor the tactics satan will use to get to us but we can stand up against it and be confident of our power in Christ. We can hide behind our faith. Throw our faith in front of us and stand firm behind it......God will be right there with His peace and protection.
17) Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Salvation is deliverance from sin and it’s consequences which is death. Our faith in Christ delivers us from spiritual death and an eternity in hell where we belong. God loves us so much and He sacrificed His only son so that we could have salvation and live with Him in heaven for eternity. When we believe in our salvation we are confident and we understand that no matter what happens, in the end, we win!
The sword of the Spirit is found in God’s word. The Holy Spirit gives us power to draw strength from those words and it gives us wisdom to live by those words. No, God's word is not a weapon and we should never use it to condemn someone or hurt someone. Instead, like a soldiers sword, we should never think of going to battle without it. We should take it with us everyday and let it protect us in our fight. Recalling God's words in the middle of a heated discussion or when satan is whispering lies into our ear will help us stay focused on God. Understanding God’s promises and relying on the Spirit to supply us with power allows us to stand tall against the schemes of the devil the tough times in our life.
18) Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Prayer is powerful. Prayer is conversation with God and it keeps us close to Him at all times. When we are in constant prayer our mind is on God and off our circumstances. We must ask God to help and trust that He listens and protects. When we pray on every occasion we are trusting God with every aspect of our life and we are allowing Him to be in control. When He is with us we are able to stay alert, our perspective changes and we can see the lies satan is trying to take us down with. We cannot be touched when God is with us. So keep Him close at all times and pray for everyone, everywhere.
Dear God, show me my strength in You. I know the battles are everywhere and that satan's goal is to make me ineffective for You. Please draw me near and show me a picture of strong faith and place a helmet of salvation tightly on my head. Help me to remember these things and call on Your word as my protection everyday. I want to hide behind my shield of faith for the rest of my days and have a strong relationship with you. Amen and amen.
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