As the sun sets low and evening settles in until morning, the sky is absolutely hypnotic with its midnight blue directly overhead then fading to deep azure, and blazing pink and orange at the horizon. The world’s edge is so brilliant this evening it almost looks like it is on fire. It is my pleasure to witness such visual beauty which God has built into every evening.
i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts and before we get to our topic, here’s a side bar of interest, which is the idea of “functional and relational boundaries”. Functional boundaries refer to a person’s ability to complete a task, project, or job, and relational boundaries refer to the ability to speak the truth to others with whom we are in relationship with.
Many people have good functional boundaries, but poor relational ones; that is, they can perform tasks at high levels of competence, but they may not be able to tell a friend that they don’t like their chronic lateness. Some people can be absolutely honest with others about their likes and dislikes but are unable to get up for work in the morning. Boundaries are a way to describe our spheres of responsibility, what we are and are not responsible for. How are your boundaries? Do you respect your neighbors’ boundaries or are you a boundary buster, just walking all over folks and don’t even know it?
Our main topic is “What is your armor made of?” The world around us, especially law enforcement and the military, put hundreds of thousands of dollars into research for better armor every year. Yet, there is a part of ourselves for which there is no armor except the armor which God supplies us by way of believing on the name of Jesus and having a relationship with God Almighty. What kind of armor will stand up under the onslaught of darkness, and the fiery darts of the enemy? It’s got to be made of some really a-m-a-z-i-n-g stuff!
From Wikipedia, Personal armor (also known as body armor) involves the whole gambit of protective clothing, designed to absorb and/or deflect slashing, bludgeoning, and penetrating attacks. They were historically used to protect soldiers, whereas today, they are also used to protect various types of police, private citizens, private security guards or bodyguards. There are two types: regular non-plated personal armor, and hard-plate reinforced personal armor, which is used by combat soldiers, police tactical units and hostage rescue teams.
Around 500b.c. the early Celts began using body armor, like chain mail, but the entire idea has come a long way since then. As weapons have advanced so has the need for armor. In early China and Japan armor was made of hardened rhinoceros hide. Amazingly, today’s personal armor has moved far beyond the plate armor worn by European knights and similar plate armor which was worn in one fashion or another by Israel’s army. One example is the well-known story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, where before David went out and met Goliath, and tried to put himself in array like other soldiers. He wore Saul’s tunic, and tried on the armor only to discover …not the armor, the tunic, nor the sword would work for him. In 1 Samuel 17:39 it says, “for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.”
Not only did it not fit him, but as far as David was concerned, it was untested, or unproven. In other words, David wasn’t confident in the ability of Saul’s idea of battle dress to protect him – i believe he felt God’s ability to defend him was far superior to any man made armor.
David wisely knew it would probably only serve to get him killed. It may have been suitable to protect Saul because it was made for Saul, but David needed armor made specifically for himself. From this i reckon, and yes i said reckon as in … i have considered and drawn a conclusion… it could be said we each must wear our own armor God has uniquely made us, fitted to us, tested and proven for each of us as individuals. My armor won’t work for you. You must have your own. True, we who are believers get to wear a breastplate of righteousness, but yours is specifically fitted to you and mine is specifically fitted to me. Not only that, but God didn’t supply us armor just so we could polish and posture around in it. He gave us armor for the same reason He gave us His peace: He knew while we live in this world, not only would we need His peace, He also knew we would need personal armor superior to anything man can make.
There are three basic elements comprising the art of war: mobility, firepower, and security. Weapons alone seldom determine the results of battle, particularly when both sides are evenly matched. There are other determining factors in waging a battle, and even winning a war, for example the skill with which strategy and tactics are deployed, the spirit of the commander in directing troops, and how about the precision troops handle their weapons. Let me also add, any warrior who doesn’t believe the weapons of their warfare, offensive and defensive, are effective, is no better than a soldier with a large target on his back. Another good point is that regardless of mobility, weapons, armor, tactics, or firepower, the Bible makes it clear that the most decisive factor in Israel’s success was their obedience to the Lord. Can obedience to God be a type of armor? i say, yes. To you i would say, validate that in scripture, for scripture and the word of the Lord is our bottom line. Remember, TAV, trust and verify. Look it up for yourself, after all, you are responsible for what you believe. Don’t just take my word, or anyone else’s word for it. See it for yourself, that way you will know because you searched it out and God revealed it to you. Make it your own.
We all know we are in a spiritual war… 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Let’s take just a moment to reinforce that part about thoughts. Friends, if you don’t take your thoughts captive, good and bad alike, they will take you captive, because any way you cut it, one way or another, somebody is going down in chains, and we, being more than conquerors, we are to be the captors, not the captives. If we’re going to be more than conquerors and ultimately overcomers, then there’s got to be some overcoming going on.
What are these weapons and armor Paul speaks of? What can they be made of to withstand the onslaught of our most bitter enemy?
Of course, our first line of defense is prayer. Prayer provides firepower in that it covers us from the attacks launched by the enemy. It makes our assault on the kingdom of darkness more effective. Through prayer the attack of the enemy offensive can be deflected. Not only is prayer a defensive weapon, it is an offensive weapon. James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous man is a force to be reckoned with and is highly productive.”
i’ll say it again, prayer is like a God-sized deflecting shield and a direct assault of offensive firepower against the kingdom of darkness. Each prayer is like a missile attack launched at the enemy. But what is it in our prayers which makes them so powerful? Is it because i, yes “I”, the great and mighty “me” have spoken magic words that will turn the tide of a battle or conflict? Is it because i, yes “I”, the great and mighty “me” know amazing words of power, and just because i, yes “I” claim something to be true, “it shall be so”, like i am some shaman or magical mystic? Absolutely not. My prayerful offense and defense is due to the Power of Jesus Christ and Christ alone in me. In light of all that, i’ve got another idea: do you want to spend your time wrestling and fighting with the enemy, swinging in the dark, or do you want to spend your time interacting with God? Some folks just seem to be absolutely obsessed with doing battle, and i’ve got to say, all that fighting and doing warfare seems pretty pre-occupying when our real strength is in our focus on Jesus, not being pre-occupied with the devil.
Personally, years ago, i initiated an intercessory offensive upon a principality in such a way God did not ask me to do. Yes, He did ask me to pray, but to directly engage a principality beyond His request to pray was of my own volition. Why would i go beyond God’s simple request to pray? There truly was a need for intercessory prayer, but in my heart, i was arrogant. At the time i thought that i, yes I, “I”, the great and mighty “ME” figured if i declared it so then it would happen as i said. Yep, in the end God pulled my fat out of the fire, but all in all, i paid a terrible price because i wasn’t obedient to the word of the Lord, and i didn’t wear my armor well. i didn’t understand it, and it wasn’t proven. There were even results in the physical realm. My crops failed, the dog died, the cats ran away, something killed every last chicken and 2/3’s of the goats, even one horse died. i lost the entire farm and ended up moving away forever. It was a terrible cost all because “I” decided to go to war in such a way God had NOT asked of me. i do believe that’s called presumptuous disobedience. The Lord, in His mercy, defended me from the worst of things, but all in all, i was out of line, and had taken it upon myself to go toe-to-toe with a principality. i’ve thought back upon those days and also realized, out of my own glaring ignorance, i was trying to put into motion scripture, you know, the part about “whatever i ask in His name He will do”, and “whatever you bind on earth is bound in Heaven (or something like that), etc, etc. i believe God honored me by taking down the principality eventually, but it was because of the Name of Jesus, not because i decided to go to war in all my self-importance. Truthfully, i thought i knew something, but i’ve realized that Francis Chan was right when he said, “whatever you think you know, you don’t”. Those days of many years ago was a time in my life when i learned the value of my armor, the value of being obedient, and the value of the weapons of my warfare. i also learned to spend my time wisely, in other words, spend my time with God instead of fighting with principalities. Don’t you know the enemy of our soul would love to keep us enthralled in a fight, ‘cause as long as we’re embroiled in a fight with darkness, we are not involved with the Lord. It’s sort of like having hands full of throwing stones. If your hands and pockets are full of throwing stones (John 8) that means they are empty of God-things.
i learned my armor, as is described in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, was far more powerful than i could grasp. Again, i didn’t understand the weapons of my warfare, and did not trust my untested armor, gosh, i was so ignorant i didn’t even realize it was untested.
Scripture says, “But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” Can you see those key words? “Faith”, “Love”, “Hope”. Those are attributes of our God and they are substantial and impervious. Our armor is made of the kinds of stuff which the enemy has no weapon which can penetrate. Faith, hope, and love are only three.
Matthew Henry wrote that in the four gospels, Jesus put on righteousness as a breast-plate in all his proceedings, guaranteeing the defense of his own honor as a breast-plate defends vital organs; and then he put a helmet of salvation upon his head; Jesus was so sure of His work that He took salvation itself for his helmet, which was the impenetrable helmet of God. Righteousness was his coat of arms, and salvation his crest. Because Jesus has it, we can wear it and it is among the pieces of a Christian’s armor that shine and gleam in the light and dark. By the Blood of Jesus we have the breast-plate of righteousness, and for a helmet the hope of salvation, and it is called the armor of God, because he wore it first and so fitted it for us.
Ephesians 6:13-18, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.”
Our armor, designed by God, tested and proven by Jesus, is fitted uniquely for each us as individuals, it is unique to you and does not fit another. We can’t lend someone our personal breastplate which defends our heart because each person’s heart is unique, specific to that person, Holy Spirit tailored just for you. We each must wear our own armor.
Your God-given defense is impassable, impermeable, impervious, nontransferable, solid, substantial, and unpierceable. Let me say for greater clarity: We do not take it off when we go to bed at night nor would we ever have a reason to take it off. Romans 13:12 says to put on the armor of light, and Romans 13:14 says to put on Christ. So if you have put on Christ, your armor of light, how would you take off your armor, unless you remove Jesus from your life? i figure people who say they “forgot to put their armor on” surely have just heard someone else say the phrase, don’t understand what they’ve said, and actually mean they are simply having a hard time. Consider carefully the words of our mouth lest they stick to us.
Why, oh why would anyone want to take it off to begin with? The attributes of the Living God are our defense. Again, anyone who thinks of their armor as something like clothing to be put on and taken off, really does not understand what they’ve got, which really inspires me to think that also, they do not understand the weapons of their warfare. Remember, any warrior who doesn’t believe the weapons of their warfare work and are effective, is no better than an unarmed soldier on a bomb-exploding, bullet flying battle field with a big target on their back and a sign with an arrow pointing to the bulls eye which says, “Aim Here”.
The attributes of God are what our armor is made of. Truth, righteousness, faith, readiness, salvation, and the Word of God. The straps are made of sincerity and passion, the buckles of grace and sanctification, the bracing is of strength and stability. Our feet are shod with preparation and wisdom, with rivets of promise, character, and diligence. We are buffed to a high shine with the polishing salve of favor, grace and goodness – in light of that, we now stand in Christ before the universe, shining like lights on a hill in the deepest night. Stand up and praise Him under the banner of the Lion of Judah, fear not, wear your armor well, and hold the line!
Our armor was created by God, tested and proven by Jesus Himself, and is uniquely made from the attributes of God, able to withstand anything the devil can throw at us, if we’ll simply be willing to trust in what God has done in us. Trusting our armor, ahh, now there’s the deal. First we’ve got to have faith it is really there like God said it is, and then we’ve got to trust God that it is all He says it is. It’s more than just plate steel, it’s made by the Son of God; our armor knows no weakness, and will never fail.
Be at peace, hold the line and do the right thing. It’s always the right time to do the right thing. Until we meet again, Think about it!