“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.”

— Ephesians 6:13

Do you ever feel that life is a battle for which you are ill-prepared, defenseless against the enemy’s attacks?

In Ephesians, Paul tells us that we fight spiritual battles daily and that we can win only by calling upon a strength beyond our own. So Paul exhorts us to put on the whole armor of God every day. Each piece of armor has a special purpose to protect us from Satan’s blows. The first piece is the belt of truth. Satan’s first line of attack is against the truth, confusing us with lies so that we give in. Look at Eve. Satan confused her about what God said regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But when we trust in absolute truth, Satan can never defeat us. Over our hearts we place the breastplate of righteousness. We put on Christ’s righteousness to guard our hearts and keep them pure. Our own righteousness would be but a rusty breastplate full of gaping holes. Feeble and decaying, it would allow the enemy to penetrate and corrupt our good intentions. On our feet, we wear sturdy shoes made of the gospel of peace. These shoes enable us to march forward comfortably and at a steady pace. They keep our footing sure on any kind of rough or shaky ground. We also take up the shield of faith. This shield wards off Satan’s fiery darts of lust and doubt before they get close enough to destroy and consume us. To protect our heads, we wear the helmet of salvation. It keeps us rejoicing in the hope of our salvation and gives us additional strength when we feel weak. Last but definitely not least, we pick up the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, which we use offensively in hand-to-hand combat with Satan. We can attack Satan with Scriptures that overpower him.

Notice that none of these pieces protect our backs. We don’t need that protection because, with God’s armor on, we need never and should never retreat.

Every day we must prayerfully put on each piece of armor and “stand” ready for whatever comes. We face spiritual battle daily, and on some days it can be intense. None of us can face today’s spiritual battles without the protection of God’s armor.

You can anticipate spiritual battle today. Ask God to prepare you, dressing you in His armor so that He may use you and so that you may live victoriously.

“We are called to be clothed in the armor of light,
every piece of which is Jesus Christ Himself.”