Ephesians 6:10-11

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

     Paul comes to this verse and he says, "Finally, if you really want to walk this way-if you hear what I'm saying about all of those areas of love and light and purity and spirit and relationship-if you wanna walk that way, you're gonna have to put on the armor of God. You will not be able to do it on your own. You've got to put on the armor of God." So, you've got to determine, "I really want to be strong in the Lord, so I will put on the armor."

HE MENTIONS 7 THINGS

1 THE BELT OF TRUTH

Ephesians 6:14

"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth..." 

     In other words, what is going to hold it all together? I'm wearing a belt. It holds everything together. I can hang my mic on it. In that day you could have your sword or your tools or whatever belt it was, but it holds everything together. So what is the central thing you need? TRUTH.

     Who is truth? Jesus. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." And He refers to scripture as the Word of Truth. So the thing that will hold everything together for you in the Christian life is truth. How do you know what's good and right and true? Because you read the Word of God. That means every day you've got to put on your belt, and you've got to have the Word of God in your life every single day. 

2 THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Ephesians 6:14

"...and having put on the Breastplate of Righteousness."

     In other words, picture the fact that Jesus died on the cross. He took your sins. He gave you His righteousness. He gives you a breastplate of righteousness. What does the breastplate cover? Primarily your heart, but also the vital organs of the upper abdomen. Those are the organs you can't live without. You can live without a finger, you can live without a foot, you can live without an ear, but you can't really live without a heart, lungs, kidneys and liver. Those parts of you that are central to the core of who you are, that breastplate covers that.

     And Satan will go after your heart. Let me tell you a secret. You know there's an unseen battle that goes on every time we preach the word of God. It was happening in the days of Jesus. When Jesus would get up and speak, at the same time there were cohorts of demons circulating through the crowd, whispering in people's ear, "Don't believe that, God doesn't really love you." "Don't believe that, you don't really have to give up that thing in your life." "Don't believe that. You're not good enough for God to care about you." "You can't get rid of that in your life, you can't overcome that." "You can't be the family member you ought to be." "Oh, that's so old-fashioned, that wife stuff and husband stuff. We live in an enlightened day." Those demons are constantly whispering in your ear. 

Or when you see somebody and the Holy Spirit says, "Would you love them?" And the old devil whispers in your ear and says, "Nah, don't get involved. It'll cost you too much. They don't really want to hear from you." 

There's always a spiritual battle going on. There is an unseen realm. That breastplate of righteousness protects us when the old devil is shooting at us.

3 THE SHOES OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE

Ephesians 6:15

"and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace;"

     Why our feet? Because that's where we touch the world. We need something to cover our feet where every time we step on the earth, every time we come in contact with the world, we need a gospel that's good news that says, "God has made you right with him so you don't walk in the world the way everybody else does." Your feet are covered with the Gospel of Peace. And how beautiful it is for godly people whose feet are covered with the gospel to come and to greet other people and to love on other people and to meet other people.

4 THE SHIELD OF FAITH

Ephesians 6:16

"in addition to all, taking up the Shield of Faith with which you will be abel to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

     This requires effort. You have to lift a shield with your faith in order to say, "Hey, I'm believing that God loves me. And when the devil attacks, I can protect myself." When the devil says, "You're no good," you can say, "No, I believe the Word of God is true, it says 'I'm a masterpiece, I'm a new creation, I am born again in Jesus. God lives in me. I'm a joint heir with the King of Kings. One day I will stand in heaven with Jesus.' So Satan, that's what I believe, so don't tell me that." 

     Husbands, the Bible says to love your wife the way you did the first day you met her and fell in love with her. So when Satan whispers in your ear, "Oh, things aren't going well, have an affair, look at another woman, lust after something else." You raise the shield of faith and say, "Satan, get away from me. I will not believe that. I believe that God created one man for one woman. I believe that God wants me to love her till death do we part. 

     When somebody attacks you, then you go back to the previous chapter, chapter 4:29, you say, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of my mouth, but only that which will administer great to the hearers and benefit those who listen." When somebody says something ugly to you, instead of doing the natural thing to say something ugly to them, you say, "No, I believe the word of God. I will bless when you curse. I will encourage when you put down. I will pray for you when you attack me, because I have a Shield of Faith, and it is powerful to extinguish the fiery darts of the devil."

5 THE HELMET OF SALVATION

Ephesians 6:17

"And take the Helmet of Salvation..."

     This is where you know once you are saved, you are always saved. You put on a helmet, it protects your mind. Your mind is the place where you believed, and then with your heart you receive. It protects the truth of your mind. Satan may come, say, "Ah, you're not really a Christian." And you can go back and say, "No, I got a helmet on of salvation." 

     "There was a day in 1968 when I prayed the sinners' prayer and I said, "Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, and I know that I deserve hell. But I believe You died on the cross and paid for my sin. Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart and save me." And on that day He came into my heart, and He's been in my heart for all these years. Even when I've failed, I've got a Helmet of Salvation to remind me I belong to Jesus.

6 THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT

Ephesians 6:17

"...and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

     This is the offensive weapon. If all of those protect us from the attacks, this is the one by which we go out and wage warfare, and when Satan says something, we say, "Yes, but the Word of God says..." Jesus did this when he was tempted in the wilderness. The devil said, "Hey, just turn these rocks into bread." "Man shall not live by bread alone," Jesus said. He took out the Word of God, and He chopped the devil's argument to pieces. Every time Satan attacks, you have a Word of God. If you will read it, and study it, and meditate, and memorize it, the Word of God will be a powerful sword every time you can pull it out, and you can fight the battle.

7 PRAYER

Ephesians 6:18

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit..."

     These instruments, these tools, these weapons only operate through the Power of Prayer. That means prayer is the power, and prayer is the connection. When you pray God energizes the Helmet of Salvation. When you pray, God energizes the Breastplate of Righteousness. When you pray, He empowers the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace, He gives you the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit. Prayer becomes a power in your life.