Hello everybody, and welcome in to episode 164 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Ephesians 6 today and our focus is on What is the Armor of God? How Do We Put the Armor of of God On? We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Thanks for listening! Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
Today we are reading about the Armor of God. Let me say this at the outset – I have heard some preachers and teachers suggest that we should sort of symbolically put on the armor of God every day – visualizing it going on, and praying it onto ourselves. That may be fine, I don’t think it is heretical, or anything like that, but I am not convinced it is particularly effective, because I don’t think that is what the Word of God is telling us to do – to prayerfully in our imagination put on some imaginary/spiritual armor – I think there is far more to putting on the full armor of God than doing something symbolic.
Take, for instance, the sign of the cross. Maybe you’ve seen some movies before – or even seen it in real life – where the character signs themselves in order to ward off evil. Is there power in such actions? I genuinely don’t think so. Simply doing the sign of the cross on yourself will no more protect you than the Seven Sons of Sceva were protected when they tried to exorcise/cast out the demon in Acts 19. As you recall, they said to a demon possessed man – I command you, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, to come out of that man. The demon beat them savagely – beat them naked – and they ran out bleeding and bruised. Why? Because there is no power in simply saying the name Jesus. The Scevan boys said it, and they got beat nearly to death.
For you baseball people – back in the 60s and 70s, there was a trio of brothers who played Major league baseball. I was a huge baseball card collector, and I still remember being shocked when I brought a 1975 Topps Jesus Alou card to my dad and asked him how in the world somebody could have named their kid, “Jesus!” Was this wrong, I asked? And of course, I learned at that point how to pronounce the name, “Jesus,” But always wondered why there were hardly any people I knew named “Jesus” with the hard ‘J’ pronunciation.
Let me tell you, every time Jesus Alou came up to bat for the Giants, the As, or the Expos – the demons in the stadium did NOT tremble at simply saying “next up for the Giants, batting 7th, #14 Jesus Alou…”
Now, don’t think for a second I’m saying there is not power in the name of Jesus – there absolutely is – I am saying there is NO power in simply performing a rite, or saying a name in an empty sort of way – with no connection to the source of that power, just like we see in Acts 3: Acts 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.
So – if we don’t put on the Armor of God in our imaginations, how do we put on the Armor of God?
- When We SPEAK the Word of God with our mouths and Remind Ourselves of it, it will be as if we had a sharp sword in our hand to fight off temptation, depressive thoughts, and hopelessness.
- The Daily hearing and reading of God’s Word, and Believing it and encouraging ourselves with it in faith will protect us from spiritual attacks just as if we had a literal shield.
- When we believe in ALL of God’s word and live by it, it will be as if we have an armored belt of truth as protection around our mid-section.
- When we endure thoughts, emotions, condemnations and crippling guilt that makes us want to quit, very often we are being hit with a spiritual attack When we stand in the righteousness of Christ, remembering that we are justified and transformed by faith in Him – we are protected spiritually from this guilt, condemnation and despair, just like we had a breastplate of armor on.
- When We remember and rest in the peace that comes from the good news that Jesus paid the price for our sins, we will be READY and have traction and protection to keep standing, just as if we had armored boots with good traction.
- The helmet of salvation refers to the protection that comes from our being saved by Jesus – for those that HAVE been saved by Jesus. Salvation is PROTECTIVE in the past tense, as we see from Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …”Also, the Bible says – Jesus is returning and His reward and salvation are with Him. He will wipe every tear, and we will have a new imperishable and immortal body. WE WILL BE SAVED. And this FUTURE hope of salvation is also armor and protection for us. Paul makes this explicitly clear in 1 Thess. 5:8, ““Put on the helmet of the hope of salvation.” When we remind ourselves of the future glory to come, we will be shielded, armored and protected from the current terrible attacks, just as if we had on a real helmet – a helmet of salvation.
Acts 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.
Bible Memory verses for the month of June: Daniel 6:23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. When Daniel was brought up from the den, he was found to be unharmed, for he trusted in his God.
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