Spiritual warfare 2

10

KJV:Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11

KJV:Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12

KJV:For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13

KJV:Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14

KJV:Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15

KJV:And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16

KJV:Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17

KJV:And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18

KJV:Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

         Good morning dear reader, hope you had a wonderful and good night rest. Before I begin today's teaching, I want to quickly share a story of a very close pal. This friend of mine was born and raised in a Christain family but wasn't truly saved. He had already fallen into the sin of lust and masturbation. But he was saved all the same. He became a Christain, saved, baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit. Infact he was blessed with the gifts of speaking in tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, ability to soundly teach scriptures and was even holding leadership positions in various Christain bodies. But sadly for seven years, the sin of lust and masturbation still had a firm grip on him. He fasted, prayed, decreed, went for deliverances but there was no way out. At a point he became tired and backslided. Not until he learnt these truth I am about to share with you did he realise how to reclaim and sustain his salvation.
           Apostle Paul tells us in verse 11 to put on the whole armour of God, why? So we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So we may be able to stand against the trials, temptations and even tricks of the devil. Some of us do not even know what the main aim of the devil is. Verse 12, tells us what we wrestle against, let me correct an impression here, I am not saying that they are no spiritual wickedness in high places that want to thwart and destroy our destinies but rather am saying that yes they are there but Col 2:14-15 tells us that God has already given us great victory over them. I am saying that we are ignorant of the never ending war the devil has declared on us Christians. In part 1 of this series, we concluded what the war is.
          Gal 6:15-18 tells us the weapons of our warfare to use in this never ending battle. I am going to in no particular order explain what each part of this armour is and what it does:
1. Helmet of Salvation:
                 A helmet is what soldiers wear when they go into battle so that should in case they are stray bullets, it bounces off the helmet and doesn't hit the head. You know that once a bullet hits the head immediately such a person dies. That should give us an idea as to why it is called the helmet of salvation. If you go back to Gen 3, you see that the devil tempted Eve on her identity, he made her doubt that she was already like God. That was the same kind of temptation that the devil used on Jesus. He wanted him also to doubt His identity. The raging war that the devil wages against us is two fold. Firstly he wages war on our salvation and secondly against the winning of souls. He makes us doubt that we are truly children of God. As such he brings challenges, issues, problems that make us begin to question our salvation and doubt if truly we are children of God. I mean you have carry-overs, still spend years looking for job to no avail, looking for spouses, plagued with serious ailment, it seems like you are living under closed heavens etc. Then you begin to wonder, look at bro so and so, see the way God is blessing him, abi is it not the same salvation we have. So apostle Paul tells us, put on the helmet of salvation. That is study scriptures and see if you have fulfilled the criteria of been a child of God and when you see that you have. Feed on those words until no stray of doubt remains in your heart that you are a child of God. Read up John 1:12, Rom 10:8-10, 2 Cor5:17, these scriptures may help. Don't let the devil succeed in making you doubt your identity.
2. Breastplate of Righteousness :
          The breastplate serves as a protection or covering for the chest region down to the waist. Not only that, it boosts the confidence of soldiers. You see, the beauty or amazing craftsmanship that is put into a soldier's breastplate has a way of boosting the morale of that soldier, sometimes even making them feel invisible. That also gives an idea of what the breastplate of righteousness does. At one time we were slaves of sins and at such nothing we could ever do or ever did could have translated us into becoming slaves of righteousness. Remember we became the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Then in Rom 6:18-20, apostle Paul further intensifies this and says we are slaves of righteousness. That is nothing we ever did or do or will ever do will change that status. Remember slaves have no choice of their own. So many times, we fall into sin and the devil accuses us of it, makes us ashame, guilty and not worthy and ready to come back to God for forgiveness. We feel too filthy to be called children of God and slowly we are drifting away from the presence of God, from His glory and power. And before you know it you have lost your salvation. But remember that we have already been justified not by works or mighty deeds but by faith in Jesus, we have been put right with God. Then whenever we fall into sin, we just have to get on our knees immediately and ask for his mercy, and grace to continuously be more of Him. Then thank Him that you are still the righteousness of God no matter what you have done Rom 5:1-3. The breastplate of righteousness prevents the guilt of sin from weighing down on you causing you to be unable to come into the throne room of grace.
          Let's stop here today, I hope you have been blessed so far. Join us again on Friday on this same blog post as we study indepth what the remainder of these powerful weapons do for us. Read, be blessed, comment and share to your friends. The world is in dire need of the word of God. Help us spread the word. God bless you and do have a wonderful day ahead of you.