Do I Really Know How To Use The Armor Of God?

Every Monday, I pray and ask the Lord What He would have me do this week’s Bible study on. The Lord usually inspires me, place within my spirit or sometimes directly tells me early part of the week, what to do the Bible study on. Well, when I got up Thursday morning, I still had not received anything from the Lord what to do this week’s study on. So, I thought to myself, I’ll just do a study on Christmas, is it really a Christian Holiday? And, as I began searching scripture and researching this topic, I got an alert from Facebook Messenger. Now, I usually don’t read any of messenger post for at least a couple day or so, because most of the time I don’t have messenger turned on. Truth is, I rarely pay attention to them anyway. But, this morning, I felt almost compelled to open up messenger, and read I saw a post from a brother named Gary Oliver, and he posted the following message:

FINALLY, BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND HIS MIGHTY POWER. EMPHESIANS 6:10 Something is going on. Something is amiss. Although we are breathing the air, the air is not quite right. Everything seems off-balance. Everywhere there is fear, worry and concern. The Covid-19 Pandemic is changing lives as we know it. Our politics are in an uproar. People are scared to leave their homes and quarantine is the new social order. Everywhere businesses are shutting down which puts people out of work and causes them to lose their homes and apartments. Families now forced to live in their cars. The nightly news keeps people in fear because people in fear can be controlled. Satan is having a field day, but he cannot defeat believers who truly believe. It's time to put on the full armor of God. Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist and the breastplate of righteousness in place. Take up the shield of faith as well. Put on the helmet of salvation and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Playtime is over. You see the evil in the world all around you. Pray in the Spirit on all occasions because prayer is the exterminating force which destroy the flaming arrows of the evil one. Believe in the greatness of God and have faith and trust for then you cannot be defeated. Be strong in the Lord and His mighty powers for nothing is impossible for those who believe. Nothing is impossible for those who believe in...God. Amen.

His post pierced me. It spoke to me. And, the Lord then reminded me of something. And that is, how each morning, at the conclusion of my prayer, As Gary stated in his post, I would recite putting on the whole armor of God, that I would be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, and withstand in the evil day. (Eph. 6:11-17)

I would always close my prayer with:

• I gird my loins about with truth

• I put on the breastplate of righteousness

• shod my feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace

• above all, I take the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the wicked

• I put on my helmet of salvation and pick up my sword of the spirit.

I would recite this mantra of putting on the whole armor of God daily. Yet, many of times, by the end of the day, I would still feel overcome, choked, beat down, weary, and sometimes even defeated.

One morning when closing my prayer, while reciting putting my armor of God, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, Eph. 6:10

I paused, got up and went to my Bible. Even though I knew the scripture I still read it:

“Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and His mighty power.”

What immediately struck me, was that verse 10 precedes verses 11-17, which tells us what are armor is, its purpose and function. I then noticed that verse 10, was an admonishment, instructions, on what operates the armor, that is, it’s power source. Like purchasing a new gadget that comes with the admonition and instruction on the box, “battery operated – 2 AA batteries required”. Without AA batteries, the gadget won’t turn on. So, I looked at the original Greek transliteration of the Eph. 6:10, which says, be strong, which is ??d??aµ?? endunamoó (en-doo-da-na-ma'-o); meaning, empowered with, or I fill with. in, which is the Greek preposition ?? en, that actually translates inside or within; the Lord, which is the Greek word ??????, ??, ? kurios: (kori'-oss); which means, one who exercises absolute ownership rights over.

I realized Eph. 6:10 was admonishing and instructing us, in what is required to operate the armor of God, and that is, to fill within ourselves, submission to the Lord’s rule, leading and guidance is what gives us spiritual Strength our lives.