Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11

Some of us have memories of our Sunday-school teacher illustrating this verse by showing the class a brightly colored plastic sword and shield. The scene may bring a nostalgic smile to our face, but to the people of the Apostle Paul’s day, armor was no laughing matter. Every part of a Roman soldier’s armor was as essential to staying alive as a bullet proof vest is to any soldier on a 21st century battlefield.

Paul lists 6 pieces of armor: the belt of truth, the footwear of being prepared by the gospel, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit and last a communications device called prayer. But in the middle of a conflict it is easy to just grab on to on one or two pieces and run into battle half dressed. We think that we will be okay because we have spent plenty of time reading the Bible so even if our faith is a bit weak or we haven’t taken time to pray we hope we’ll get by.

Unfortunately our spiritual enemy doesn’t think the way that we do. He is not planning to attack our areas of strength but at our weakest point. He doesn’t fight by the rules and stays focused on our spiritual destruction. But we don’t need to panic because we aren’t dependent on our own resources. Today we can rejoice because we know two things for certain: God is the manufacturer of the best armor on earth and He has promised to never abandon us in battle!

I really enjoyed this rendition by David Wesley of the song that best tells us how this great spiritual battle will be won. May God bless you as you stand on your own field of conflict next to the mightiest of all warriors – the Son of God!