The Armour of God and the Rest of God
Confessions
Through the Cross, burial and resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ has already defeated every enemy and has destroyed the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8).
Gen.1:26 The original purpose of mankind has been restored to me.
I am a believer in Jesus Christ and what He did to reconcile me to the Father.
I am seated in heavenly places in Christ far above every principality and power and every name that has ever been named, now and in the age to come.
I am in Christ and because I am in Christ I am an heir of all that He has inherited as the Son of Man, the covenant partner of God the Father. I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Christ is in me…the wonderful Holy Spirit is in the process of changing me into the image of Christ.
I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth and in His name I carry His authority and His power to do His will.
God the Father and the Holy Spirit are working to establish FAITH in me so that the promise of entering His rest will be a reality for me.
Remember… feet on a footstool are feet that are at rest…
Gen. 1:26 Is who you were created to be.
From the beginning you were created to represent God and His heavenly government (how?) through your dominion over the territory of earth (how?) through the gift that you possess.
God the Father, through Jesus the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit restored you to your original position – except…that position is now found in Christ Jesus.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ and because of Him – the Son of Man – this position can never be lost again!
What happened to Adam & Eve will never happen again!
This Covenant stands forever and in Christ, you and I are part of that Covenant.
Jesus came to reconnect us to the Father and His glorious Kingdom. The connecting link is the Holy Spirit. (God the Father and God the Son are not with us on the earth…the Holy Spirit is!)
Jesus the Son of Man, was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure.
While Jesus was on the earth there is no evidence or record that the Holy Spirit was present or active anywhere else except in Him. He was the vanguard (the foremost part of an advancing army) of a new order, the first of a generation of people who would be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The focus of Jesus message was: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matt. 4:17). Why did Jesus heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, or perform other miraculous signs. We may answer “because He was compassionate and filled with love” which is true but…there was a greater purpose besides revealing His love and compassion.
These signs were evidence that the Kingdom of God had come to the earth. There was no way that mankind could know who they really were created to be because they had been living in the kingdom of darkness for thousands of years. The kingdom of darkness was a norm for them…and still is for those trapped in the kingdom of darkness today.
Then Jesus appears on the scene and He is the express image of God, the majesty, the supremacy and the love of God the Father and at the same time revealing the power of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matt. 4:23 – And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
Matt. 7:28 – And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Matt. 8:27 – So the men marvelled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Matt. 9:9 – Now when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.
Not only did Jesus come to restore righteousness and holiness (the new condition of our spirit) to mankind, both of which we lost in the Garden of Eden but He also came to reintroduce the Kingdom…and lastly and equally as important He came to restore the Holy Spirit in the heart (spirit) of man. Jesus has re-established fellowship and communication between our spirit and God through the Holy Spirit.
Firstly, we have received the righteousness of God – which is NOT the result of our own behaviour… it is the condition of our ‘born again’ spirit which HAS right standing with God. Secondly, righteousness from our behaviour…is the work of the Holy Spirit who has come to transform us into the character and nature of the Lord.
Holiness = without spot or blemish because God the Father took our sin and nailed it to the Cross.
If we did not have the blood of Jesus to cleanse our sins, we could not be holy and unless we are holy, we cannot receive the Holy Spirit (the temple has to be holy before the Holy Spirit can dwell in it) and unless we have the Holy Spirit we cannot become citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, Jesus’ ultimate assignment was to make way for the coming Kingdom by introducing men to the power of the Spirit. Here was a realm that was above all other…and by redeeming us, He would be making it available to us who believe.
Myles Munroe – Rediscovering the Kingdom:
Like those earliest disciples of Jesus, we who are believers have the Holy Spirit living in us as a continuing Presence. This makes us, like them, citizens of a new order. The authority and power we now possess as Spirit-filled ambassadors of the King give us a taste of what Adam enjoyed before the fall. Our reconnection to the Kingdom of God is seeing Eden restored in our life and experience. With the Holy Spirit in control and leading us day by day, we can make wherever we are a little bit of “heaven on earth.”
As citizens of the new spiritual order, we are greater than those Old Testament men and women who went before us. This is not because of any particular merit of our own, but because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which they did not know. To the extent that we have God’s Spirit living in us, we are greater than Abraham. We are greater than Moses. We aregreater than Samson, Samuel, and Saul. We are greater than David and Solomon. We are greater than Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and all of the other prophets. They only talked about the Kingdom, but we are living in it. – Myles Munroe
We who are citizens of the Kingdom of God…as part of that “advance force” must continue to storm the stronghold of the enemy! And we can! Why? Because we have a greater power living in us than the power that controls the world (1 John 4:4) He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
We are victorious by the power of the Spirit of God who lives in us!
So… to the Citizens of the Kingdom of God… By the Holy Spirit, you have been equipped to establish the dominion of the Kingdom of God over the situations you encounter on the earth.
We must understand who we are in Christ and our purpose as citizens of the Kingdom of God.
1 Peter 2:9-10 – But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Through Christ we are a “royal priesthood”…restored to our priestly function of representing and reflecting God’s nature and character before the world. Yet we are also the sons and daughters of God and if He is the King then we are His royal heirs.
Rev. 1:5-6 …To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has (past tense) made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We must understand that the enemy, through deception is trying to stop you and I from living Gen. 1:26 / 1 Peter 2:9-10 / Rev. 1:5-6 AND we must ALSO understand that the enemy wants to stop the Great Commission. The devil does not want us taking back those who are enslaved under the power of darkness.
Lastly, we must remember that we fight from this position of victory… not for victory! The attack is for what you already have!
Rev. 5:10 – And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. Rom. 5:17 – For if by one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life (how?) through the One, Jesus Christ.
To the kings and priests ‘to our’ God – the promise is that we shall reign on this earth…not in arrogance but in obedience to our God. It is a position of serving in all humility as we are led by the Holy Spirit – empowered with all the grace we need to do His will!
John 16:33 – In this world you will have trouble, but take heart (why?) I have overcome the world!
As we have already discussed the enemy will do all he can to stop you from knowing who you are and keep you from fulfilling your call. To fight effectively, we are going to take time to “Behold”, to meditate on, to consume, to understand these 2 things:
The armour of God and the Rest of God.
Eph. 6:10-13 – Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. V11 Put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. V12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. V13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph. 6:14-18 – Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, V15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; V16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. V17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; V18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Now, when I (Sylvia) got born again in 1983… one of the first things I was taught to do was to make declarations from the Word over myself… which was great. One of them was to put on the armour of God every morning. The problem about that for me was that I never understood what the armour was so basically it was ineffective. Why? My faith was resting on what I was saying and not on the essence of my declaration…in other words “I put on my helmet of salvation BUT I didn’t know exactly what that meant. I put on my breastplate of righteousness but I didn’t know what that meant. So, let’s take an in-depth look at it.
Preparing to take authority.
1. Eph. 6:10 – Be strong in the Lord and the Power of His might.
The very first thing we need to do is to be strong in the power of the Lord and in His might. Before you do anything, spend time meditating on and declaring just who your Lord is… He is the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty. He has overcome the world, defeated every enemy and destroyed their works (1 John 3:8). He shall reign forever more whereas they shall be held in chains under darkness for the judgement of the great day when our Lord and God will cast them into the Lake of fire for eternity (Jude 1:6). He has ALL authority (Matt. 28:18).
Do you remember that song by Chris de Burgh – Spanish Train where the Lord and the devil are playing cards for the souls of men…Let us never equate the devil with the great I AM!
Jesus said He saw satan fall like lightning from heaven. God cast him out of heaven with such force that it was as fast as lightning!
The Lord Jesus Christ is seated upon the throne next to the great “I am” and at His name, every name that has ever been named, shall bow down (Eph. 1:20-21). He backs up His Word!
As you and I are His representatives, His ambassadors, this is an important step for us to meditate on because FAITH comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. Our directive has come from the One with the highest authority…we do not come in our own capacity, we come to decree the Word of the Most High God! Nobody…nothing can stand against that!
The Lord Jesus Christ and His Word are synonymous! They are One and the same! Therefore, because the Lord Jesus Christ reigns… His Word reigns and rules! Therefore being strong in the Lord could also be interpreted… being strong in the Word is being strong in Him!
2. Put on the whole armour of God.
Secondly, we must put on HIS armour and His armour enables us to stand against all the devious and cunning strategies of the devil.
When Paul describes the armour of God, he is talking about the impregnable defences of Almighty God. Keys to withstand the onslaught of satan, the devil.
Ephesians 6:14-16 essentially talks about defence and offense.
Defence includes the different pieces of your armour that provides protection against attack. In the case of this portion of scripture, it includes: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet shod with the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit.
Then we have our weapon of offense – also, the sword of the Spirit.
If you examine each one individually, you will notice that each piece works effectively to protect you because you KNOW the truth.
The breastplate of righteousness.
The breastplate protected your heart and other vital organs.
Proverbs 4:23 – Keep your heart with all diligence (why?) because out of it spring the issues of life.
Truth = Righteousness is a gift! Romans 5:17
Jesus paid the price in full to obtain your righteousness. You and I cannot do anything to undo our right standing with God. Why? Because we have received the GIFT of HIS righteousness and it is His gift that gives us the right to “Come boldly to the throne of grace”- Heb. 4:16. It is the only reason we have right standing with God. Jesus earned it, the Father gave it to us… it is ours!
But… what about when I sin and I do something that is unrighteous behaviour?
When you got born again it wasn’t because you were holy and without sin… it was because Jesus paid the price for all the sin… in your whole life!
The enemy seeks to use guilt to stop you from walking in victory!
Repentance removes guilt and keeps your heart protected. Knowing that the only reason you are a child of God is because He paid the FULL PRICE. Because the WHOLE PUNISHMENT has been paid in full, He has declared you to be a recipient of the righteousness of God. Tell that to the devil!
Apply 1 John 1:9 (CONTINUALLY) – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness… BUT it still is not the reason you’re a child of God. You will remain a child of God…even when you miss the mark!
The point is – remind yourself daily… the reason that I am accepted into the throne room of God is because I have received His gift of righteousness.
Remind the devil… I am forgiven and accepted because of Jesus.
Yes…we have the privilege of having the indwelling Holy Spirit – who continually works to transform our behaviour, developing our own righteousness – because we have a changed heart. This is the only way that our character and nature will start to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ! But this has nothing to do with your breastplate of righteousness. This is the Holy Spirit’s work of manifesting Gen. 1:26 in your life permanently.
The Belt of Truth.
The first thing that you must have in place is the belt of truth!
The belt was the piece of the armour that held the scabbard that held your sword. It also had leather strips which protected your lower regions.
In our case…our defensive weapon and our offensive weapon is the Sword of the Spirit. The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God and by definition the Word of God is the Truth! We can only effectively defeat the enemy because we KNOW THE TRUTH, THE WORD and therefore recognize the lies and deception of the enemy! The Truths that we know enable us to carry the Sword of the Spirit. Out of the Truth that we know we wield the Sword of the Spirit with authority! Use the truth to reject the deception and lies and then bind the enemy! Instead! Take out your Sword of the Spirit and declare the truth into the heavenlies! Declare the Word ALOUD over your life regularly! Take authority over every area of your life. Establish your boundaries and do not let the deceiver in!
Nuff said!
Part of that is recognising the tactics of the enemy.
There is darkness over the earth. Our job is NOT to fight those held captive in the darkness. Our job is to drive back the darkness and to expose the people to the True light!
Whether it be in your own life or in the life of another, you must always be aware of the strategy of the enemy and that his ultimate goal is stop you from becoming and operating Gen. 1:26 and 1 Peter 2:9-10.
As the devil is the father of lies, his whole strategy is about deception. He has no power over the citizens of the Kingdom of God. He and his cohorts coerce mankind through insinuation, into doing what they want mankind to do, by using Pride and Fear. At the root of every sin attitude and every tactic, you will find these two spirits and in the long run even Fear often has its root in Pride.
They use tactics such as Intimidation, Treachery, Accusation, Gossip, Slander, Fault finding, Rejection, Bitterness, Impatience, Un-forgiveness, Lust, Violence Etc. – all to produce Division because a house divided cannot stand! Luke 11:17.
If it is contrary to the Word… it is deception! Be Spirit led… don’t allow your emotions to dictate your responses.
3. The Helmet of Salvation.
The helmet protected your head.
In the same way, we must monitor what goes on in our heads.
Colossians 2:6-7 – As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established (having existed or done something for a long time, recognized, accepted, traditional, habitual, entrenched, ingrained) in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. V8 Beware lest anyone cheat you (how?) through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
How do we protect our heart? To stop the deception from coming into our hearts we take authority over it in our head!
Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
1 Peter 1:13 – Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 – For the weapons of our warfare are nor carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Make sure you KNOW who you are in Christ, what He has done for you, your authority, your Kingdom rights, Kingdom benefits (Psalm 103).
When your thought life is contrary to the Word…don’t entertain it…take it captive and bind it. Don’t feast on the evil insinuations of the enemy.
4. The preparation of our gospel shoes.
Deuteronomy 11:24 – Every place on which your foot shall tread shall be yours.
Psalm 37:23 – The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way.
Let your daily walk be guided by the Truth…be Spirit led!
Pray and intercede over your life, declare the Word into the future, surrender your will to the Father’s will.
5. Shield of Faith.
Protects us from the weapons of the enemy.
Again, you can only have faith, if you KNOW the TRUTH.
Romans 10:17 – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Eph. 6:16 – above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
So, in conclusion about the armour. It is KNOWING (believing, being absolutely convinced of) the Truth, the Word of God that protects you in every way.
The Armour of God in action.
Thoughts come into your head…weigh it against the truth…examine the result of meditating on this thought… if the end result falls under life and life more abundantly, then by all means meditate on it. If the end result falls under the category of death, stealing and destruction then get rid of it! Bind it! How? Search for the Truth…what does the bible say about this situation?
Remember it is not necessary to pray for what has already been given…it is necessary to have faith! No courageous soldier puts on his armour, picks up his sword and then sits on a rock asking for help when the enemy comes…he gets up and fights!
And once you have faith, take authority over the situation, bind the enemy and loose the captive.
Prayer.
V18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Prayer is a lot more about surrendering oneself, asking to know His will, praying for others, and praying in the Spirit, for the Spirit knows the deep things of God and He prays according to the Will of God. So whenever you don’t know what you should pray for, then pray in the Spirit.
Rest.
Where does rest come into it?
Hebrews 3:14 – For we have become partakers of Christ…if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
V18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
V19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Heb. 4:1 – Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
Rest is the result of real faith! Live your life like that – trusting God and resting in His love for you and what He has already done!