How Do You Put On The Armor Of GOD?

How Do You Put On The Armor Of GOD?

 

If you have been a Christian very long you have heard a teaching on spiritual warfare and the armor of GOD from Ephesians 6. In my over forty five years of being a Christian I have heard many teachings and done a couple of teachings on spiritual warfare and the armor of GOD myself, today (6/19/20) as I was reading an encouraging word on the armor from Pastor Bob Harris I thought about how do we put on the armor. Many teach that you say or think of each item as you go through the mannerisms of actually putting them on, or you can just say or think them without the mannerisms. Most teachings have to do with the meaning of the pieces of armor both physically and spiritually. Remember that the pieces are not always given the same spiritual application; in Ephesians 6:14 the breastplate is righteousness and in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 the breastplate is faith and love. The shield is faith in Ephesians 6:16 and truth in Psalm 91:4.

 

So, what is the armor of GOD and how do we put on the armor of GOD?

 

Yes it is part of our weapons of the spiritual warfare that every human being alive is in, most just do not know it or think of it in terms that do not include The One True GOD and His Son JESUS CHRIST.

 

The true meaning of the armor of GOD is not the physical application of the pieces but the spiritual. The physical pieces are helmet, breastplate, girdle or belt, shoding (feet), shield and sword they all have their purpose in defense and offence. To be effective these have to be physical and physically put on.

 

The Spiritual application is the true offensive and defensive purpose of the armor of GOD for His children and servants. If you are not a born again Christian than you are not HOLY SPIRIT filled and the armor of GOD is not available to you!

 

Why?

 

Because the true application of the armor of GOD is Spiritual and that only comes from The HOLY SPIRIT and The Word of GOD (The Bible)!

 

Starting with the six pieces in Ephesians 6:14-18 let’s look at them: salvation, faith, truth, peace, righteousness, The Word of GOD and prayer. Prayer is part of our armor and a Spiritual weapon, there is just no physical apparatus for it, prayer is our silent and audible communication with GOD; prayer is the seventh weapon and defense in our spiritual warfare.

 

I’m going to compare two translations verse by verse: first the New King James Version, second the Complete Jewish Bible.

:14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

:14 Therefore stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate,

:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace:

:15 and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom.

:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

:16 Always carry the shield of trust, with which you are able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17: And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the SPIRIT, which is the Word of GOD;

17: And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by The SPIRIT, that is, The Word of GOD;

18: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the SPIRIT, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for the saints –

18: as you pray; at all times with all kinds of prayers and requests, in The SPIRIT, vigilantly and persistently, for all GOD’s people.

While they say the same thing different translations sometimes use different words, sentence structure and punctuation. This can be a problem for some people. The fact is that translating from Hebrew, Greek and Latin to English is problematic (this is a whole different subject and lesson).

 

So let’s use Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to look at these seven weapons of spiritual warfare as used in Ephesians 6:14-18.

 

Salvation = (4992) soterion, neutral from the same as 4991 as (prop. concr.) noun; defender or by implication defense – salvation. (4991) soteria, feminine of a derivative of 4990, as (prop. abstr.) noun; rescue or safety (phys. or mor.) deliver, health, salvation, save, saving. (4990) soter, from 4982, a deliverer, i.e. GOD or CHRIST – savior. (4982) sozo, from a prim. sos (contr. for obsol. saos, “safe”); to save, i.e. deliver or protect (lit. or fig.) – heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.

 

Righteousness = (1348) dikastes, from a der. of 1349: a judger – judge.  (1349) dike, prob. from 1166 deiknuo; right (as self evident) i.e. justice (the principle, a decision, or its execution) – judgment, punish, vengeance. (1166) deiknuo; a prol. form of an obs. prim. Of the same mean.; to show (lit. or fig.) – shew.

 

Truth = (226) aletheuo, from 227, to be true (in doctrine and profession) – speak (tell) the truth. (227) alethes, from 1 a, (as a neg. particle) and 2990 lanthano; true (as not concealing) – true, truly, truth.

 

Peace = (1515) eirene, prob. from a pri. verb eiro (to join); peace (lit. or fig.); by impl. prosperity – one, peace, quietness, rest, set at one again.

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace must commonly known by Christians. (7965) shalowm or shalom; from 7999 shalam (Chald.), safe, i.e. (fig.) well, happy, friendly; also (abstr.) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace – do, familiar, fare, favor, friend, great, (good) health, (perfect, such as be at) peace (-able, -ably), prosper (-ity, -ous), rest, safe (-ly), salute, welfare, (all is, be) well, wholly. (7999) shalam (Chald.); a prim. root to be safe (in mind, body or estate); fig. to be (cause, make) completed; by impl. to be friendly; by extens. to reciprocate (in various applications) – make amends, (make an) end, finish, full, give again, make good, (re-) pay (again), (make) (to) (be at) peace (-able), that is perfect, perform, (make) prosper (-ous), recompense, render, requite, make restitution, restore, reward, surely.

 

Faith = (4102) pistis, from 3982 peitho: persuasion, i.e. credence; mor. conviction (of religious truth , or the truthfulness of GOD or a religious teacher), espec. reliance upon CHRIST for salvation; abstr. constancy in such profession; by extens. the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself – assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

 

Word of = (4487) rhema, from 4483; an utterance (individ., collect. or spec.); by impl. a matter or topic (espec. of narration, command or dispute); with a neg. naught whatever – evil, nothing, saying, word. (4483) rheo, for certain tenses of which a prol. form ereo is used; and both as alt. for 2036 perh. akin (or ident.) with 4482 (through the idea of pouring forth); to utter, i.e. speak or say – command, make, say, speak (of). Comp. 3004.

GOD = (2316) theos, of uncert. affin.; a deity, espec. (with 3588) the supreme Divinity; fig. a magistrate; by Heb. very – exceeding, GOD, god [-ly], [-ward].

 

Prayer = (4335) proseuche, from 4336; prayer (worship); by impl. an oratory (chapel) – pray earnestly, prayer. (4336) prosenchomai, from 4314 pros, and 2172 euchomai; to pray to GOD, i.e. supplication, worship – (earnestly, for), make prayer.

 

So what kind of weapons and defense are salvation, righteousness, peace, truth, faith, The Word of GOD and prayer? They are all gifts from GOD!

Salvation – John 3:16, Romans 10:9

Righteousness – 2 Corinthians 5:21

Truth – John 14:6, 16:13

Peace – Ephesians 2:14, Philippians 4:7

Faith – Ephesians 2:18-19

Word of GOD = Hebrews 4:12-13

Prayer – Matthew 6:5-13

 

We cannot earn or acquire them by any process of our own! We must receive them as part of our salvation – sozo: John 1:12-14, 3:14-21; Romans 1:16-17, 10:8-13; Galatians 2:19-21, 5:1; Ephesians 2.

 

So how do we put that on, for we must!? By prayer, fasting, studying, meditating and spending time in the presence of GOD. When we do this daily (and it is not easy) then we have the armor of GOD on and we fight the spiritual warfare of GOD’s Kingdom.

 

The writers of the New Testament all learned how to live in the presence of GOD no matter what the circumstance or situation. That is the singular most important lesson that we have to learn and live! “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” "So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'" 1 Corinthians 16:13;  Luke 17:10.