The Full Armor of God

Ephesians 6:14-17 reads-'Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 'For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. '

When we talk about putting on the armor of God, we typically miss the pretext and post text of this scripture, but there are instructions in those too.

Paul tells us in the pretext: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. '

And the post text reads: 'Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. '

I believe that this is so good because not only should we put on the full armor of God, but we must be ready for the attack. When you are getting ready for battle you put on the armor, but you must use the armor efficiently to actually win the battle.

This tells me that it’s not just God fighting our battles for us, but we have something to do as well. We must take action.

The word says, “Put On” the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness, “Put On “the peace that comes from the Good News. “Hold Up” the shield of faith, “Put On” Salvation, and “Take the Sword of the Spirit.

The Full armor of God requires our firm truth, our righteousness, our peace, our faith, our salvation, and our knowledge in the word of God. We can’t effectively fight the enemy without the Full armor.