Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (scheming) of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:10-18 NKJV

We understand that there is a real enemy who wants to stop us from being effective in God’s kingdom, and if he cannot stop us, he will at least try to slow us down. We know that God is faithful and that He has already given us the full victory in Jesus Christ for every battle we will face. We also understand that when we go into spiritual battles, we must have a victor mentality and not a victim mentality. In order to stand against the wiles or schemes of the enemy, Scripture tells us that we must put on the whole armor of God. Jesus has given us protective spiritual armor and weapons in preparation for spiritual warfare, so that we can be fully protected and have everything we need to defeat the enemy. We don’t have to be afraid of the battles or the attacks, because God has given us authority over all the power of the enemy.

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 10:19 NKJV

After I was born again, I found myself “knee deep” in spiritual warfare which I was not ready for. I knew I needed help, so I went to trusted friends to ask for their advice. They helped me understand that no-one could fight my spiritual battles for me, I had to do it. They strongly encouraged me to fight for myself, and I believe that is where my journey began of trying to better understand spiritual warfare and how we can overcome the enemy.

During this time, I was also seeking the Lord, because I knew that He was my only hope for salvation. God helped me see that He has given us spiritual armor with which we can protect ourselves, as well as weapons which we can use to attack the enemy. The problem I had back then, was that when I read about the armor of God, I didn’t fully understand it, and as a result I wasn’t able to effectively stand against the wiles of the devil. God in His lovingkindness and grace taught me how to correctly put on the armor and how to continually wear it – and stand. I believe that I still have much to learn in this area, but I would like to share with you what I believe the Lord has taught me thus far, as I really want to help other people who may be facing spiritual warfare.

I used to think that we could just ask God to place the armor on us and that once He had done so, we were then automatically protected and equipped – but that’s not really how it works. God’s word says in Ephesians 6:11 that we must put on the armor of God. I also used to think that once we had on the breastplate of righteousness for example, that it automatically made us righteous. And if we had on the helmet of salvation, that our minds were protected from the enemy’s attacks. Once again, I had to learn that this is not actually how it works.

God helped me understand that in order for us to put on the armor of God and continually wear it, we have to cultivate faith, hope, love, peace and truth in order to protect ourselves from the schemes and devices of the enemy. This is how we effectively wear the armor of God.

God then broke it down for me so that I could understand it well, and apply it in my life:

When we put on Christ like love as a breastplate, this is how we protect our hearts from things like the works of the flesh. When we put on faith as a breastplate, we protect our hearts from things like fear and unbelief. When we put on hope as a helmet, we protect our minds from things like despair and discouragement. When we put on the truth of God’s eternal word as a belt, this offers us protection from Satan’s lies and deceptions.

During the next few weeks, I am going to go through each piece of armor in greater detail, as I hope this will bring good clarity to the message I would like to convey.

Until next time, blessings in Jesus’ precious name.