When you become born again and the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you automatically enter the spiritual warfare, whether you want to or not. You have no choice in this matter. If you don’t acknowledge the spiritual warfare and be passive and don’t walk in the spiritual armor of God, then it won’t be long before you will be taken captive and become a prisoner of the enemy; the devil. When this happens, your spirit may be saved, but you will live in bondage of the devil and your body and soul will be tormented by the devil and his minions (demons). This torment could be (mental and/or physical) sickness, fear, anxiety, stress, guilt, agitation, self-pity, depression, worry, etc. As long as you stay passive and don’t arise, take a stand and put on the armor of God and start fighting, the devil will keep you in his spiritual prison and take authority over your life and rule your life, instead of you taking authority over the devil and rule over him. What is the armor of God? What does the Bible say about the armor of God?
The spiritual war and the armor of God
When you become aware of the spiritual war and decide to arise, then all you have to do is: know your place in Christ, take a stand, and you will become a warrior of the Kingdom of God.
As you go into the war zone, you want to be protected in the best way possible. You want to have the best protection and the best weapons to overcome the enemy and to be victorious.
You don’t want an armor that has holes in it, NO! You want the best armor there is. You want an armor, that provides full protection so that nothing and no one can touch you. The only armor that will protect you in the spiritual warfare is the armor of God. The armor of God is the best armor there is. When you put on the whole armor of God and use His two-edged sword, instead of your own blunt sword, then you will become invincible.
How sharp is your sword?
The first thing that is required is to discipline yourself and train yourself, so that you become strong, prepared, and ready for the battlefield. God says, that you should meditate on His Word, day and night and that His Word should not depart from your mouth (a.o. Joshua 1:8).
You will be on the battlefield, 24 hours a day, for as long as you live. Therefore, you cannot take off your armor of God before you go to bed and put it back on in the morning. NO!
Because that means, that the devil (your enemy) can attack you during the night. The armor of God should be on, day and night; 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It is called the spiritual armor of God, which means that it is not meant for the natural man (the carnal man), but for the spiritual man. Your warfare takes place in the spiritual realm and not in the natural realm.
You must know that the devil is already defeated by Jesus, by His blood and His work. Jesus took away his authority over man, Jesus took away his legal right. However, the devil still has the ability, until the day that the devil is thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone forever (Read also: Has Jesus bound the strong one or do you have to bind the strong one?).
What is your task and mission? Your task and mission is to remind the devil of the victory of Jesus Christ and the devil’s defeat and that he has no legal authority anymore, and to tell him to go!
You are sent by God and called to preach the truth of God and reconcile the people to God. You are called to redeem people from the power of the kingdom of darkness and set them free from any bondage of the devil and to bring them into the Kingdom of God.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-20 about the spiritual armor of God the following:
Be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of His might
Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. As long as you are seated in Jesus Christ and stay in Him, you have all authority, all power. But you have to stay in Him; the Word, and not leave Him. Because if you do leave Him, then you won’t have any spiritual authority and will become powerless. How do you stay in Him? Jesus says:
He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood, dwells in Me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats Me, even he shall live by Me (John 6:56,57)
Put on the whole armor of God
Why do you have to put on the whole armor of God? So that, you are able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Because you don’t wrestle against flesh and blood; against people. But you wrestle against spiritual powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. They are God’s enemies and because you are born again in Christ, they have become your enemies too.
When you put on the whole armor of God, you are able to stand strong and fulfill your taks and mission, which God has given you.
The spiritual armor of God is as follows:
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth, therefore it’s important to walk in the truth of the Word of God. As soon as you deviate from the Word of God and go your own way, you don’t walk in the truth anymore, but in the lie.
You serve the Almighty God of truth. In Him, there is no lie. You used to be a child of the devil, who is called the father of lies. But the devil is no longer your father. You’ve become a child of the living God and has received His nature, which means that you will speak and walk in the truth and speak no more lies.
No more lies, means also, no more little white lies, and no more breaking of promises. Because, if you don’t keep a promise, you will also lie. Therefore be careful what you promise to others. It’s better to not promise anything than to make a promise and don’t keep it.
But it’s not only about speaking the truth, but you also have to walk in the truth, which means to walk after the Spirit and walk in the truth of the Word of God.
You don’t walk after the flesh and what the world says anymore. Because if you do, you will depart from the truth of God’s Word. Only when you walk in the truth, your loins will be girded and you will not stumble and fall (Read also: ‘What does it mean the loins girt about with truth?’).
Having on the breastplate of righteousness
You have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. This means you are no longer a sinner and you don’t live under the law of sin and death anymore. Because when you became born again in Christ, you have crucified your flesh in which the sin nature dwells.
You have been redeemed from your sinful nature, which dwells in the flesh, and from the law of sin and death which was meant for the flesh (the carnal man (Read also: ‘The revealing truth about the law of sin and death‘))
You have not become righteous by your own works but through faith in Jesus Christ and by His sacrifice and blood. By faith and regeneration in Jesus Christ, you have been made righteous in Him. You can’t get there, because you are already there.
This is very important to know because the devil will tell you that you are not righteous, that you are not holy and worthy. He will always try to put you down and put feelings of shame and guilt and condemnation on you, but that is a lie! When you have died in Christ, you have been made free from guilt, shame, and condemnation. You have been made righteous in Jesus Christ.
Now that you have been made righteous in Christ, you shall walk righteous. You are no longer a sinner, who walks after the flesh and habitually live in sin. But you have become a new creation, who is seated in Jesus Christ. Therefore you shall walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh anymore (Read also: ‘What is the breastplate of righteousness?‘)
Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
Jesus commanded, to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature and teach the nations (a.o. Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15). Since this is the commandment, which Jesus has given you, this will be your mission. If you really love Jesus, as you say you do, then you will do, what Jesus has commanded you to do. Just go your way and you will meet people, to whom you can share and bring the gospel of peace.
Especially in the world today, peace is something that everyone is looking for, but many times people are looking in the wrong places and be influenced by false doctrines. That’s mainly because many Christians don’t do what Jesus has commanded them to do. They are more focused upon themselves, then on lost souls.
It is not difficult to bring and preach the gospel to the people. Just be a witness of Jesus Christ and tell the people about Jesus Christ and what Jesus has done in your life. But don’t turn the gospel into heated debates. As soon as you notice, that a person is not willing to receive the gospel, then don’t get pushy, but stop.
The gospel is a holy matter, if people don’t want to receive it, then that is their choice. You can never force a person (Read also: ‘What does it mean your feet shod with the preperation of the gospel of peace?‘).
Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
The whole gospel revolves around faith in Jesus Christ, the Word. Before Jesus’ crucifixion and before Jesus was scourged at the whipping post, Jesus confirmed people’s belief and unbelief.
There were people, who didn’t believe in Jesus Christ, but there were also many people, who did believe in Jesus Christ as the Healer, the Messiah and Son of God and turned to Him. They acknowledged His authority and believed the living Word of God.
In order to believe the Word of God and have faith in the Word of God, you should get to know the Word of God. Your faith in Jesus Christ; the Word of God, is needed to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (the devil). What could these fiery darts of the devil be?
The fiery darts are coming from the wicked. ‘Poñeros’ is the Greek word for ‘wicked’.and means a.o. hurtful, that is, evil, evil (things), more evil, wicked (things), envy, envious, malignant, bad, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, worthless, vicious.
It could happen that these fiery darts come from the people around you, the people you are close with. They will often unconsciously fire a fiery dart at you. It is important to stay in Christ and don’t be moved by those fiery darts. Believe what the Word of God says, and not what people or the world are saying. If you believe what the Word says, and stay in Him; the Word, then no dart can harm you. But if you leave the Word, by believing the words of the world above the Word of God, and act upon these words, then these fiery darts will hurt you (Read also: ‘What is the shield of faith?’).
Take the helmet of salvation
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
The helmet of salvation protects your mind (your thoughts) by faith in Him. You can only overcome the spiritual warfare in your minds (your thoughts) through Jesus Christ; the Word.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
When a thought enters your mind, which goes against the Word of God, take a scripture, which talks about that certain subject and renew your mind with the word of God and take that evil thought captive.
For example, if you experience anxiety or panic attacks in your life, then this is mainly because your mind is full of thoughts of worry, fear and anxiety that controls your mind. In order to take control over those thoughts of anxiety, all you have to do is, take a scripture about peace:
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7)
Memorize this scripture, repeat it out loud over and over again, meditate on it and apply this into your life, and you will see, that the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will control your mind.
Jesus said, that He would leave His peace with you. His peace is His Word, that He has given you. If you take His words and renew your mind with His words and apply His words into your life, you will experience His peace. For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword and divides soul and spirit (Hebrew 4:12 (Read also: ‘What is the helmet of salvation?’).
The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God
The Word of God is your Sword. When you enter the battlefield, you can’t go and fight without your sword. You will be lost without it. If you don’t have a sword, it won’t be long before the enemy overtakes you. That’s why it is important to know the Word of God. You cannot live and fight without the Word of God, it is vital!
The devil knows that the Word of God is powerful and that the Word of God is the only weapon that will destroy him and his kingdom. That’s why he will do anything he can to keep you away from the Word of God. He wants to stop you gaining knowledge of the word, so that you won’t apply God’s knowledge into your life and be victorious.
How does he try to stop you? By using false doctrines, wisdom and knowledge of the world and by using distractions, like entertainment. He uses television, computers, (video) games, smartphones, (social) media etc.. He uses tiredness or he cast thoughts in your mind that will cause you to wander, while reading the Bible.
He wants to possess your mind, so that you will have his mind, instead of the mind of Christ and do what pleases him.
Therefore, he fills your mind with his junk for hours, so that when you read your Bible, your mind will be distracted, by all the things you watched and read, and you will not be able to focus and become sleepy.
Therefore, it is good to set a fixed time every day to spend time with the Lord and pray and read and study the Word of God.
Read the scriptures thoroughly word by word. It is better to read one chapter slowly, word by word, and let it sink in your mind and understand it, then quickly read ten chapters and shortly after you’ve read it, forget what you’ve read.
Think about what you’ve read, meditate on it, and apply it into your life. What you can also do is take a scripture each day and memorize it during the day. When you fill your mind with the Word, the Holy Spirit will bring it to remembrance, at the time you need it.
Pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit
When you have put on the whole armor of God, and don’t take it off, the Word commands you, to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Speaking in other tongues is praying in the Spirit and is necessary to edify yourself so that you become and stay spiritually strong.
Watch with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Don’t be focused upon yourself, but pray for the saints; your brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for your brothers, and sisters, that they may boldly speak the Word of God and make known the mystery of the gospel to the people so that many souls will be saved for Christ and be redeemed from the power of the kingdom of darkness (Read also: ‘Praying always with all supplication in the Spirit‘).
When you put on the armor of God, you will put on Christ. You will walk in Him as the new man; the new creation.
If you would like to know what armor David used to conquer Goliath, you may want to read: how to overcome a Goliath in your life
‘Be the salt of the earth’
