Part 2

So in a great fiction book I was rereading a few weeks ago by Terri Blackstock, one of the main characters was reliving this childhood memory. 

As the two daughters would get ready for school in the mornings, their mom would recite the armor of God passage, while the girls pretended to put on each element of the armor. Once they had wrapped the belt of truth around their waist, they’d put on their chest armor of righteousness and then put on their sandals of peace. They’d hold up their (pretend) shield of faith and dodge the flaming arrows. Adding their helmets of salvation, the daughters would hold up their (pretend) sword of the Spirit. The mom, once the girls were all armored up with God’s armor, would pray with them, march them to the bus stop, and send them off to school ready for whatever the day would hold. 

This picture of a parent desperately desiring their child to be equipped spiritually is such a beauty to me. Even though the young girls didn’t quite understand what each element meant, they understood that God wanted them to be prepared. We can be assured God wants us to be prepared also.

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.  Ephesians 6:10-18 CSB

Last week we learned about the first three parts of the armor (if you missed it, you’ll definitely want to go check it out!): belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and sandals of readiness. Today we are going to jump into the final three elements and then finish up with a little bit of “why do I need to know this”.

Shield of Faith

In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

Roman soldiers had thick shields to protect themselves from arrows that the enemy would light on fire. A literal “flaming arrow”. Some commentators even say soldiers would dip their shields in water before battle to extinguish the fire of the arrows. Unprepared soldiers wouldn’t be able to defend themselves without a shield. Sometimes a group of soldiers would line up their shields to protect them all against an enemy’s advance. Likewise, believers can work together to fight against evil.

So if you’re like me, you may be wondering what are these “flaming arrows” all about? First thing to notice about them is that they are from the “evil one” aka the enemy. Who is the enemy of believers? satan and his cronies. (Please note that I will use a lower case s when referring to him even though his name is a proper noun.) 

This awesome author and Bible teacher, Chuck Lawless, tells us what the goal of the enemy is: The enemy tries to get us to mess up, puff up, shut up, give up, or split up. Does this mean that every time I mess up, that it is the enemy’s fault? Absolutely not. Some hard things are as a result of our own humanly selfish nature. That is not a flaming arrow of the enemy. That’s our own lack of self-control. While the enemy is not omniscient (all knowing) and cannot read our minds (thank you, Jesus!), he has been around for thousands of years and has spent those years observing human nature. He is very knowledgeable about our selfishness and lack of self-control and can easily take advantage of our weaknesses. But as believers in Jesus, we belong to the Holy One, not the enemy.

So what are some examples of flaming arrows? Secular thoughts, ideals, and content bleeding into our lives. By recognizing in whom we have faith and in whom we are following, we can hold up our shield of faith and extinguish all of those enemy attacks.

Helmet of Salvation

Take the helmet of salvation…

We know that once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, we have received His salvation from our sins. We are no longer bound by the condemnation that our sins held us captive in. By the grace of God, Jesus took the wrath of all of our sin upon Himself so that we don’t have to experience it. 

What does a helmet protect? Brains, aka our minds. Our mind is important in salvation. When we understand with our minds that Christ truly came to die for our sins and save us from eternal punishment, the salvation of our minds can lead us to align our will with God’s. This comes back to the other articles of the armor: The belt of truth, so that we may know the truth of our salvation through His Word. The breastplate of righteousness, so that we know that Jesus is the Righteous One and only by following His ways will we prosper. The sandals of the gospel of peace, so that we know the gospel and are willing to share it at all times. 

Taking off the helmet doesn’t mean we are no longer saved. We are assured that our salvation doesn’t depend on us, but only on God. Even still, we want the salvation that God provides to be ever present in our minds and as a protector over our thoughts, words, and actions. 

Sword of the Spirit

…the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. 

This verse tells us exactly what this piece of armor is, the Word of God. And as we know from other posts, the Word of God is another way of saying Scripture or the Bible.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 CSB

The sword is the only offensive piece of armor. The only thing we have to fight back against the attacks of the enemy. Jesus Himself used this “sword” of Scripture when He was being tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4). If you’re unfamiliar with this story, definitely go spend some time reading it because it is profound. Basically the enemy (satan) taunts Jesus by twisting Scripture and Jesus responds with (you guessed it) correct Scripture. This happens three times before the enemy retreats. 

The only way for us to fight back with this Sword of the Spirit is for us to truly know the Word of God, the Bible. For us to truly know the Bible, we must be engulfed in the Bible… like all the time. 

Final Thoughts

First thing to note is that the armor is from God. Not me. I can do nothing to earn it. It is a gift from God. Knowing this is from God gives us comfort because we know God provides all we need. God Himself put on the armor first. How neat, right??

He put on righteousness as body armor,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. Isaiah 59:17

Next, in verse 11 before each of the elements are listed, Paul says to put on the FULL armor of God. The whole thing. Not just the breastplate of righteousness. Not just the helmet of salvation. Only part of the armor is completely ineffective. Taking parts from the world or from other religions isn’t effective. Maybe you’re wondering what it means to take part of the armor from the world. A quote from J.D. Peabody explains this better than I could: 

I call it the Armor of Me, which includes the Belt of Denial, the Breastplate of Humor, Feet Ready with a Plan of Escape, the Shield of Perfectionism, the Helmet of Avoidance, and the Sword of Blame. My armor has many additional elements God’s doesn’t offer, such as the shoulder pads of delusion, the face mask of people-pleasing, and the shin guards of distraction.

These worldly, selfish armors are also often thought of as defense mechanisms. We learn them young, and they become our instinctual reaction instead of acting in Godly ways. 

God’s armor is complete as is. It’s not like health insurance, it doesn’t need a supplement. The shield of perfectionism and the shield of faith can’t work together. We have to put down the armor of “me”. The armor of the world. And take on the armor that God has provided for all those who believe.

Imagine a soldier going out to battle with only his helmet on, nothing else. Seems pretty silly, right? Just like it’s silly for us to show up for spiritual battle with a belt of denial and a shield of faith. 

So wake up, put on the armor of God, and you’re good to go, right? Nope. That next part of the passage says that we are to pray. If we don’t include that part, we are not fully prepared to fight against the enemy. Go read other posts about prayer for more. 

Much more could be said about this, and much more has been written on this topic: But basically we are to be prepared and pray. Pray all the time. About all the things.