2 Corinthians ch 10:4
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
One of the most neglected yet often read and spoken about is the Armour of God. We see people expressing this powerful armor through memes, tattoos, bumper stickers, banners etc many times not really conscious of the fact whether one has put on the whole Armour of God and if so whether one is wise and equipped to use it.
As rightly mentioned in the above verse that Paul writes to the church of Corinth in 2 Cor 10: 4 that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Because these weapons are not our own, which means it is not produced by our flesh but it is God given.
Often times we fail to use this God given Armour because of our own vice and lack of wisdom and knowledge. We know all about the Armor of God but we don’t know how to use it real time. Bible however gives clear instructions on how we need to equip ourselves and how we need to be skillful in using this Armour on a real time basis. Apostle Paul, expounds this in Eph Ch 6 : 10-18 as he explains the aspect of Spiritual battle that we are in as Christians. In this article we will see some aspects of it and how Biblical men has failed and also succeeded in using Armour of God. Paul divides the above portion of Ephesians 6 into two parts.
A) Strong in the Lord
Apostle Paul first lays down the criteria for putting the Armor of God, rightly so. Have you ever seen a handicapped person being made a soldier in an Army? Have you ever seen a person who is not equipped and strong to wear and use an armor being given the armors and be sent into a battle field? So does God, He expects His children to be strong in Him.
As Christians many are the souls who wonder why they are not being productive for the Lord? Why their life and experience doesn’t tell them that they are in a Spiritual battle? They live in such a despair the primary reason being you are not strong in the Lord. You have not derived your strength from the Lord nor equipped yourselves to use the Armor. God will not put a person into the Battle field if his strength is not derived from the Lord nor does he knows how to use the Armour of God. A good soldier is seen by how well built he is, how agile and athletic his body is, how skilled he is in the battle and use of his Armour and how disciplined he is. A 10/10 in all these areas makes a soldier perfect and best in the troop.
Apostle Paul likewise compares a believer with a good soldier, the only difference is that as believers we are called to derive the strength from the Lord. If we are in Him we will have our strength from Him and this strength is greater than any strength you will have from the world.
B) In the strength of His might
The consecutive verse indicates that the strength of God’s might is given us in the Armour of God. Thus Paul goes on to say “… in the strength of His might. Put on the whole Armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” This is the second part of being spritualy strong.
A soldier is nothing without his Armour so is a Christian without the Armour of God. We often see that Christians are at their best putting on the Armour on Sundays. But whats the point of having it only on Sundays? As Bible tells us that we are in a constant Spiritual war not just on Sunday’s.
C) Purpose of the Armour of God
Verse 12, indicates that the purpose of being strong in the Lord and having the full Armour of God is to stand against the wiles of the Devil. Since this indicates a Spiritual war there is no tangible weapons that can be effectively used.
But if we follow the instructions given in the Bible faithfully and diligently, we will be able to withstand, stand grounded and have victory.
I have often noticed that Christians on Sundays have their guards the Armour of Salvation fully put on and sitting in the benches and have is worn when interacting with fellow Christians but as soon as they enter in the world and into the weekdays, we see no signs of the Armour of God upon them. It is a sure warning or flag for us that we need to change this mindset. May God help us that we not only have our Armour of God put on, on Sundays but all the time.
In the Part – 2 of this Series we will look into the Biblical examples of people in the Bible had failed and succeeded using the Armour of God. We often look at the examples on the positive side, but it is also important that we look at the negative examples and learn from the failure. In fact, Apostle Paul also resounds the same in Romans 15: 4, that all the former things are written for our instruction and have endurance, be encouraged.
Hope this article will help you as a Christian to have a right perspective and discernment regarding the Armour of God. Hope you will always equip yourselves with Armour of God with a godly wisdom to use it. You can acknowledge your failures to God and ask wisdom to firstly, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, secondly, to always have the Armour of God put on to withstand the wiles of the Devil.
You can refer the following link for the next part in this study-
Armour of God – Part 2
Armour of God – Part 3
christ-discernment 
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