| THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD Derek Prince HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Oct 3 2008 08:00AM As the representatives of God's kingdom here on earth, we find ourselves involved in an all-out war with a highly organized opposing kingdom ruled by Satan. This is a kingdom of evil spirit beings (persons without bodies) whose headquarters are in the heavenly realms. The battleground on which this war is being fought is the minds of humanity. Satan has built up strongholds of prejudice and unbelief in the minds of the members of the human race to keep them from receiving the truth of the Gospel. Our God-given task is to break down these mental strongholds, thus releasing men and women from Satan's deception, and then bringing them into submission and obedience to Christ. Our ability to achieve this God-given task depends mainly upon two factors. First, that we see clearly from Scripture that on the cross Jesus totally defeated Satan on our behalf and that it is now our responsibility to demonstrate and administer the victory that Jesus has already won. Second, that we make proper use of the necessary spiritual weapons with which God has provided us. These spiritual weapons fall into two main categories: weapons of defense and weapons of attack. We will deal with the first category, weapons of defense.
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
done all, to stand.
Early in that passage, Paul said, "Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God." We are dealing with taking up the full armor of God. It is because we are involved in this life-and-death struggle with the evil spirit forces of Satan's kingdom that we owe it to ourselves (and God's Word requires it of us) to put on the full armor of God. It is significant that twice in this passage (verses 11 and 13), Paul said, "Put on [take up, verse 13] the full armor of God." Surely, we have been clearly warned by Scripture that we must protect ourselves with the full armor of God. In verse 13, Paul gave a further reason: "...that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day..." Notice the phrase, "the evil day." I (Derek Prince) do not believe this means the Great Tribulation or some prophetic disaster that is going to come on the world (although I do believe there may be such disasters). I (Derek Prince) believe in that context, "the evil day" refers to something that every Christian will go through. This will be a time when he must confront the forces of evil, when his faith is going to be challenged, and where every kind of opposition and problem will be loosed against him. Paul did not question our need to face the evil day. It is not an option but a certainty. I (Derek Prince) always think of the parable Jesus gave concerning the two men who built houses. The foolish man built on sand, and the wise man built on rock. The foolish man's house collapsed, but the wise man's house stood. The difference between those two houses was not the tests to which they were subjected, because each house was subjected to the same test: the wind, the rain, the storm, and the flood. The difference was the foundation on which they were built. Nothing in the Scripture indicates that we, as Christians, will escape these tests. We will not escape the evil day. We must be prepared to go through it. In the light of this, Paul said, "Put on the full armor of God." Paul took his illustration from a Roman legionary of his day and listed six pieces of equipment that a legionary would normally wear: they are listed below.
* The Breastplate of Righteousness * The Shoes of the Preparation of the Gospel * The Shield of Faith * The Helmet of Salvation * The Sword of the Spirit You will understand, as you meditate on that, that if you put on all these six pieces of equipment, you will be fully protected from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet with one exception. There is no protection for the back. Source: Spiritual Warfare, by Derek Prince, Copyright 1987, Whitaker House. |
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