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Defense Against Satan: The Armor from God
The Armor from God
The remaining, my brethren, be caused to be empowered in Christ and in the might of His strength. Clothe yourself with the full armor from God facing your ability to stand facing the methodologies of the slanderer. For our wrestling is not facing blood and flesh, but facing rulers, facing authorities, facing world powers of darkness of this age, facing the spiritually malignant evil in the heavens. Because of this, all of you take up the whole armor from God, in order that all of you should be enabled to stand in the malignantly evil day and having for yourself worked out all to stand. Therefore, all of you stand having girded your loins in truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having bound up the feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Over all taking up the shield of the faith, by which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the malignantly evil one. And to receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword belonging to the Spirit, which is the individual utterances from God, through all communication of worship and supplication, communicating by worship at all times in the spirit and into this same watching with all persistence and supplication concerning all the saints… Ephesians 6:10-18.
The armor from God is a mental process that we go through when under attack from Satan to protect our minds from his methods, by which he seeks to keep our minds from thinking on the things above and influence our actions. Independence from God, Disappointment, Discouragement, Bitterness, Doubt, Spiritual Cowardice, Lying, Pride, An unforgiving spirit, Stealing, Corrupt communication, Busybody, and Gossip […]
Faith – Taking God at His Word
Romans 1:16, 17 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of the Christ for it is the inherent ability of God unto salvation to all the ones believing, both the Jew first, and Greeks, for the righteousness of God is revealed by it out from faith into faith just as it is written, “The righteous will live out from faith”.
Faith – Taking God at His Word (Faith is the substance of that which is hoped for, the evidence of accomplished deeds not seen)
What does it mean to live by faith? Since faith is always based upon a promise from God, when we live by faith, we live according to what God has said. Faith is not blind, so living a life out from faith is not a blind leap; rather, it is a life that takes full advantage of the benefits that God has so graciously provided for the believer who is in Christ.
When we believed the Gospel for salvation, a new life began for us. Now, we are no longer in Adam; rather, we are in Christ. As part of our salvation, we know that God has promised that we will one day be with Him in a state of blamelessness and purity; however, what about today?
Does the fact that we are in Christ affect our lives today? Oh, we know that it should, but how?
Framing our minds on who we are in Christ is not positive thinking, it is acknowledging facts that are true and therefore seeing things as they really are, which will result in having a correct frame of mind. Since we are in Christ, let us put on Christ as an outer garment and make no provision […]
Might (κράτος)
Might (κράτος) expresses the ability of resident strength, the quality of being able.
When the exorcists of the ruling religious party attempted to rebuke a malignantly evil spirit by using Jesus’ name, for they had seen the Apostles doing this, the spirit responded by first stating that he has an intuitive knowledge of Paul but not of them. He then proceeded to strip them naked and sent them running. This caused great fear in the city of Ephesus, and the Word of the Lord grew in the region.
thus, according to the might of the Lord, the Word increased and became strong – Acts 19:20.
As Christians, our eyes are opened to the truth so that we may know the hope of His calling, the riches of the proper opinion of His inheritance among the saints, and the exceeding greatness of his inherent ability towards us according to the working of the might of His strength, Ephesians 1:18-19. Wicked hands crucified Christ. In response to such malignantly evil work, God the Father raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand. He is now over all authorities and is the head of the Church, which is the new creation God made in raising Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17. This was a display of the resident strength of His inherent ability.
When it comes to battling Satan, we are not called to rebuke demons or to exercise authority over them; instead, we are instructed to stand firm against them by the strength we have in the Lord. For it is in the might of His strength that we have victory, Ephesians 6:10. Our battle is not physical – of flesh and blood. It […]
Fight (ἀγωνίζομαι)
In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul encourages Timothy to fight the good fight of the faith. Fight (ἀγωνίζομαι) is a word that describes the struggle that an athlete has in striving to be the best in competition, 1 Corinthians 9:25. Unlike in a battle with Satan where we parlay (πάλη) against him by putting on the armor of God and standing firm, this struggle has to do with laying hold of eternal life; therefore, it involves the exercising of our senses to discern what is proper from what is wrong, Hebrews 5:14.
While Jesus was going through the cities and villages teaching on His way to Jerusalem, one of the disciples questioned Him concerning the number that would be saved, Luke 13:21. Jesus tells them that they are to struggle to enter through the narrow gate, not the way many will seek to enter, for those who do not enter through the narrow gate will not be able to find their way into the Kingdom of God, Luke 13:24. He then speaks of a time coming when the Master of the house will shut the door. All who are outside will not be permitted in, even though they claim to have eaten and drank in His presence while He taught. Jesus is the only way, and all those who seek salvation through other means will not find it, John 14:6.
Near the end of Paul’s life, while giving instructions to Timothy regarding the duties of a Pastor, he writes that he has struggled the proper struggle, for he guarded the faith, 2 Timothy 4:7. The faith Paul refers to is the doctrine concerning the good news of the Christ. Through Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection […]