The Armour Of God - Protect Yourself

Clear and Present Danger:

We are told “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ” and that we are to put on the amour of God as the devil is or will be attacking us. Let me be very clear the devil does exist is real and is a clear and present and persistent danger. The big mistake is to pretend he does not exist, that precisely what the devil wants, and he will not hesitate to take out the unarmed, the sick, the weak, women, children all are fair game and there is no spiritual equivalent to the Geneva Convention in this war, our enemys are driven by evil. You will not see a red skinned horned figure charging you with a pitch fork aimed at you, no he comes in subtler ways, in our thoughts, in our relationships, in our homes, our work places and in our churches, were ever opportunity for strife, hate, un-forgiveness, resentment, judgemental thoughts and the like exist, that’s were he attacks. Be sure he knows every trick, every means to bring us down, makes every attempt to replace Gods image in us with his, turn us from God, knows that his time is short after the victory of Jesus on the cross and wants to take as many as he can with him to hell. He controls “rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”, he has power is well organized switch on the news, read a newspaper and tell me there is not an a well organized force for evil lose in the world.

Let us never underestimate the devil and the agencies under his control. The devil is not omnipresent, but he is superbly organized, by means of principalities and hosts he exercises immense influence. Remember how Christ referred to the devil as the ruler or prince or god of this world.

The devil has five divisions at his command as described here these are:

Demons; Principalities (chief rulers) spiritual rulers in power over nations, consider Daniel chapter 10:12; Powers or authorities derive their power from the rules of the principalities and exercise their will, opposed against the body of Christ; The rulers of this dark world, evil men, filled with evil spirits who fight against the body of Christ; spiritual wickedness in the high places, fallen angels they led by satan are the inventors of all sin and want to lead us into wickedness.

It is not only that Satan governs evil agencies but also that they wield phenomenal power in this world. Satan is powerful in name: he is ‘the prince of the power of the air’, he is compared to a roaring lion. He is powerful in nature and he has vast numerical strength. Is all this depressing and defeatist? No, for although Satan is mighty, God is almighty! The promise of God is that through Christ the Christian will trample Satan underfoot. Satan can’t do exactly what he wants, thank God for that!

Darkness in the Bible points to sin and especially ignorance - the spiritual blackout in which men live. Darkness restricts our movements, frightens us, spoils our appreciation and vision. The devil and his agents inhabit and control this spiritual darkness. This spiritual darkness depends on ignorance and falsehood. Satan is called the “father of lies.” All who are under Satan’s rule are in darkness, believers in Christ are called to bring forth his light

The Bible teaches clearly that Satan and his hosts dominate our globe and his power-base is above the earth but below the highest heavens. The devil’s domain is spiritual, immaterial; not hindered by flesh and bones: yet each spirit is a real spiritual substance, separate and entire. Consider the advantages of these spiritual beings. They have intelligence, intellectual ability beyond our experience. They have the advantage of being invisible: what is not seen is little feared. They have the advantage of ease and speed of movement. Their activity is unwearied, they need no sleep.

Not surprising we need armour:

It can seem overwhelming and scary can’t it, but fear not we have Jesus, not just the nice humble caring for the sick Jesus, but the fearfully warrior Jesus as well. The Jesus that the demons flee from, submit to and obey as he is all powerful, his is the name above all other names and the devil knows it. We are called to stand firm, to me that does not mean stand still, we are firm in Christ and move to take kingdom territory.

But sometimes we stand firm in our strong towers of rock and stone and they are pulverised by the crushing blows until reduced to a handful of pebbles, even then I say don’t despair stand firm. Look what David did to Goliath with a single pebble, when God is for you who can stand against you and remember when you give your life to Jesus then “Greater is he in you that he who is the world”