Armor of God

Over the years, people have invented certain gear to make sure that their bodies are protected in both combat and play. During the Middle Ages, a medieval knight wore a suit of armor to protect himself from the attacks of an enemy force. In today’s world, armor takes on other different forms. For protection in combat situations, police wear bulletproof vests. Even in casual competition, protective gear is needed. Soccer players wear shinguards and football players wear helmets.

Christians should also be concerned about protecting another aspect of their life: their spiritual body. The spiritual part of a Christian’s life reflects the Holy’s Spirit’s work in that believer, and that is a very important thing to protect. Of course, physical armor. like shinguards and helmets, won’t help safeguard the spiritual body and that’s where the armor of God comes into play.

What exactly is the armor of God? While there are many aspects involved in protecting one’s self from the attacks of the enemy, Paul discusses some of the important pieces of spiritual armor. Paul listed pieces of armor, like righteousness, truth and prayer, as items that Christians need to successfully withstand the attacks of Satan.

In Ephesians 6:13, Paul says, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Because Paul wrote Ephesians while imprisoned in Rome, the comparison between the armor of God and the armor of a Roman soldier was quite applicable. Paul was instructing the Christians of Ephesus to prepare for the attacks of the devil by putting on the armor of God just like the Roman soldiers prepared for their duties by putting on their armor.

While we will be highlighting some of the different parts of the armor of God in the coming weeks, it is important to realize why Paul wanted the Christians of Ephesus to know about the armor of God. If Christians let down their guard, allowing Satan to get a foothold in their life, the gospel could not get out as effectively. A great way to share the gospel is to demonstrate it, and a Christian cannot properly reflect godliness if their armor of God isn’t on nice and tight.
Put on your armor, it may be the most important thing you put on today.