Putting On The Armor Of GOD
By James Niles
The Armor of GOD is an armor of Light (see Rom 13:12c). GOD is Light and the Armor He equips us with is an Armor of His Light.
This Light YESHUA describes as the Light of Life. John 8:12 reads: < Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” >
How does the Light of Life take form as an Armor of Life? As we put on CHRIST (by the exercise of our faith) and choose to become actual disciples of JESUS CHRIST in our daily walk of life – expressed through our thoughts, our words, our deeds and our relationships.
The Light of Life is a revealed reality (see Mark 4:22) that needs to be perfected and completed into us as we “walk the talk”.
The Light of Life is the evidence of our faith in GOD (Heb 11:1), through JESUS CHRIST (John 14:6). The Light of Life emanates from a faith that is Authored and Finished by the LORD JESUS CHRIST (Heb 12:a).
The faith that is Authored and Finished by the LORD JESUS CHRIST forms the fabric of Covenant by which the Light of Life is established (hard-wired) in our inward parts.
This Light of Life is an expression of the strength (Gk: ‘ischus’] of YHWH’s Might [Gk: ‘kratos’]. How is this so? In the introduction to the Armor of GOD in Ephesians 6:10, Paul talks about being strong in the strength of His might.
In Ephesians 1:19c-20, it is written that YESHUA was raised through “the working of the strength of His (GOD’s) might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”.
So the strength of YHWH’s Might unveils in resurrection power. Hence we see that the Armor of GOD, which is the Armor of Light, is energized in resurrection power – the power that works within us (see Eph 3:20c).
The Armor of GOD is an Armor of Light that has a structure.
Ephesians 6:10-17 reads:
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The components of the Armor of GOD are:
o The Light of Life is truth expressed. Hence ‘our loins’, which point to our spiritual capacities of function, must be governed by the truth.
o The Light of Life is righteousness expressed. Hence ‘our breastplate of righteousness’ is the Light of Life that protects our heart.
o The Light of Life is the Light of the Gospel of Peace. And, our pathways must be governed by the Light of the Gospel of Peace.
o The Light of Life also forms the shield of faith. Light is the evidence of true faith that destroys every projection of the father of lies.
o The Light of Life forms the Helmet of Salvation. The Light of our salvation governs our mind.
o The Light of Life forms the Sword of the SPIRIT. The Sword is a Sword of Light that has the capacity to destroy the strongholds of darkness through the utterance of the Rhema Word of GOD. Remember that the Rhema Word of GOD is in our mouth and in our heart.
We need to ensure that every component of the Armor of GOD is being developed in our life.
GBU.