The Armor of God

THIS WEEK I went with my cousin Kyra to the first Youth Quake Live event of the season. It was very exciting. This season's theme is "Resistance," referring to resistance against temptation. Pamela Burchard was very funny as a hobbit girl.

One of the skits particularly got my attention. The characters did not speak, but it was set to the song "Set Me Free" by my favorite band, Casting Crowns of course. There are maybe ten people dressed in black shirts, each with a word like "Hatred," "Cruelty," or "Addiction." A young man in blue came by and these people trapped him in chains and would not let him go. As he struggled, a man in white, representing Jesus, came toward the scene. As soon as the song came to the line, "Jesus, rescue me!" and the man in blue called out to Jesus, the man in white put his hand toward the chain-weilding people in black and they all fell back. The man in blue was free to go. As soon as they stood up, the people with the chains bound up the man in white, who did not stay down for long. He lifted his hand in the air and they all fell back for good. He embraced the man in blue, and the song ended.

This got my attention because it reminded me of something too awesome to let slip my mind for a moment. God, God Himself, sets us free. Try reading the lyrics to that song. It's a really wonderful reminder of what a great change God makes in our hearts.

Today I finished reading through the book of Matthew again, so I've very recently reread the part where Jesus Christ dies, and where He rises up again. It's good to keep it fresh in our minds. I've even found that the more I read, the more I notice that I did not notice before. For example, Jesus was crucified around the time of the Passover, a Jewish holiday meant to celebrate an event which was symbolic of what He would someday do. The Passover commemorates the day the children of Israel, then slaves in Egypt, showed their faith in God by slaying a perfect lamb per household and marking their doors with its blood. Because they did this God would spare them from the plague which He brought on Egypt: the killing of the firstborn of all men and livestock. This sign was sybolic of the way our faith in Jesus, who died as the Lamb who was Slain, marks us and saves us from punishment.

Besides the skit, another thing that got my attention was the following verse:

Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." I really started to notice this one when my devotional book referenced Ephesians 6 on Saturday, the day after Youth Quake. I suggest this chapter to you; it's very useful in learning how to prepare to live in a world that does not know Christ.

This verse is followed by a list of the armor of God. It's a long metaphor meant to make us understand that, like it or not, following Jesus involves living in a battle.

Ephesians 6:14-17 "[14] Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15] and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; [16] above all, taking the sheild of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. [17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"

Let's break this down. To prepare for the battle, often called "spiritual warfare," of which all believers are part, we need:

1. Truth. John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" God is the absolute truth, who stands strong and faithful against the lies we meet in the world.

2. Rightousness. Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Also MAtthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." If people see us acting according to God's will, they will have nothing of which they may rightfully accuse us.

3. The Preparation of the Gospel of Peace. Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." We must be prepared to stand for this life-saving Gospel.

4. Faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We live by faith, not by sight." Notice that God gives us sufficient reason to believe. He does not command us to live by blind faith, but by faith which is more reliable than our own perception of the world. We must trust that God sees things much more clearly than we can.

5. Salvation. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Jesus is the only source of salvation. People all over the world seek it by trying to get to God in one of many ways people have invented. Our salvation is acheived by what God did to reach us.

6. The Holy Spirit / the Word of God. John 14:16-17, "[16] And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forver - [17] the Spirit of truth, whom the worl cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be with you." It would be impossible for us to go to battle by our own strength. So God guides us with His Holy Spirit.

When I read this passage, I remembered something Jesus said. Mark 8:34, "When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, 'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Something important that I learned from God this week is that we should neither go to battle without the armor of God, nor put on the armor without going to battle. To take up our cross is to go to battle, meaning to stand up for the truth, to spread the truth with boldness, to face difficulty and pain for the truth when we must. It also involves resisting temptation, imitating Christ's character, and keeping His commandments. We can't do this without the armor of God. In the same way, the armor is going to be most useful when we are in battle.

The battle is difficult, but we can win by clinging to Jesus. Our God is a God who always wins. He beat death, after all. The best part of spiritual warfare is that we are on the victorious side of this war!