Stand your ground... Hold your position... No retreat! Stand firm and fast against the enemy! Military jargon is a fitting way to describe what Christians must do in the face of God’s enemy... Satan and his schemes to ruin you. No question about it, it takes courage to hold your ground and your allegiance to Jesus, even when others may be fleeing from the battle, wilting in defeat, because the enemy seems so strong.
It is the Christian way to rely on God’s strength and use His armor [power] to fend off the arrows of Satan. However, we must take the initiative to put on the armor and stand firm in the battle because we love our Lord. It’s not a matter of “letting go and letting God,” where you are passive and God does all the work for us. Nor is it a matter of gritting your teeth and doing it yourself, with occasional assistance from God. Rather, it is a blending of His power and our striving amplified in our total commitment and perseverance. As Paul puts it “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” (Colossians 1:29)
Many have suggested that Paul got the idea of putting on the full armor of God from the Roman soldier that was chained to him as he dictated his letter to the Ephesians. That may be, but it also may be that he was meditating on Isaiah 11:5 which says of the Lord, “Righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.” Or, Isaiah 59:17... “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head.” Where even Paul got the idea to use “armor” in this way, his point is well made.
Armor is a graphic picture for illustrating what Paul said in Romans 13:14... “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” In other words, Christ Himself is our armor. He is the belt of truth (John 14:6). He is our breastplate of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is the gospel of peace that we stand on (Ephesians 2:13-14, 17). He is the shield of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is our helmet of salvation (Titus 3:6). He is our sword, the word of God (John 1:1). He, in all his superlative attributes becomes our full armor, capable of protecting us from every onslaught of the devil.
Putting on God’s armor means that in every trial and temptation by faith you appropriate Christ’s strength in place of your weakness.
By faith you cry out to Him for deliverance and strength to persevere. By faith you rely on His promises, even as Jesus often defeated Satan by quoting Scripture (Luke 4:1-13).
