Put on the Whole Armor of God

Hey Spotlight ladies!  Here's a devotional for tonight.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10–11, NIV). 

Take a moment, get your Bible, and read aloud Ephesians 6:10–18. I’ll wait. . . .

These words should light a fire of passion under every daughter of the King! Paul was well aware of the battles believers face, and he wanted us to understand that the battle is being fought in the heavenly realms against evil itself.

So what do we do? We “put on the full armor of God.” Why? So we can “stand against the devil’s schemes” (v. 10), “stand [our] ground, and after [we] have done everything, to stand” (v. 13), and to “stand firm” (v. 14). There’s not a lot of laying around going on here. We are standing our ground, we’re fighting with all we’ve got, we’re beating back the devil.

But we don’t do this in our own strength, and we don’t do it without some preparation. No soldier goes into battle without armor—and neither should we. We have the belt of truth wrapped around us. A Roman soldier’s belt was the foundation of his armor. When we have the belt of truth wrapped around us, we know that we can stand tall with the truth of God on our side. No apologies. No flinching.

The breastplate of righteousness covers us from the neck to the thighs, front and back, and it protects all our vital organs. This righteousness is given us by Christ alone, and we stand in that righteousness because of what He did for us. Satan attacks saying we’re not good enough, not worthy. Our breastplate of righteousness clangs against his weapons and sends him running.

Our shoes—be they slippers or stilettos—are ready to carry us forward into each new day and each day’s battle. They give us “the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” We’re ready for anything and have peace about everything because we’ve got on the right shoes.

Then we have our faith held out before us like a shield that “can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (v. 16). Make no mistake, you’re a target simply because you’re aligned with Christ, Satan’s enemy. But your faith forms a shield to extinguish the flaming arrows he shoots your way.

Now we need our helmet of salvation. We wear it to protect our mind from doubts that arise in times of adversity, questions, or trials. We’re saved, and that needs to always be foremost in our mind.

Finally, we have the sword of the Spirit—our only offensive weapon—and it is the word of God. When Satan attacks, we do as Jesus did (see Matthew 4) and speak back to Satan the words and truths of Scripture. We need to know God’s Word and have His words ready at a moment’s notice, for we never know when we’ll need them.

As you get dressed each day, ladies, don’t forget your armor. Prayerfully put on every piece. There’s a war happening, and we need to be able to stand.