The location and strength of enemy forces constitute the decision of which weapon to employ in a particular campaign. These weapons must either cripple and halt the enemy's advance or insure his defeat or surrender. In any event, weapons is a determining factor as to whether strategies and tactics will work or not. A weapon is defined as an instrument or device used for fighting any kind of warfare, therefore anything employed against opposition can be termed as a weapon. There is chemical and biological warfare, psychological warfare, thermo-nuclear warfare: warfare in which we use chemicals, propaganda, high-intensity heat, silence, water, printing, etc. All of these things are used to meet a specific objective and bring about the destruction of any opposition which might be in the way of that objective. One form of warfare not very commonly mentioned or observed is spiritual warfare. As in any warfare so as in spiritual warfare, weapons must be employed to secure the success of strategies and tactics devised to destroy the works of the enemy (Satan) and insure the freedom of individuals.
God being the ultimate strategist and military genius knew that sending His son to die on the cross was not enough in itself to insure the liberation of man and open back up a realm of deliverance and power over sin. He gave us weapons to ensure the success of this strategy. He gave us the blood of Jesus, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the gosel, the spear of prayers, His true love, praise, etc. All these weapons are employed against Satan and his army to bring about his destruction and to gain God's objective. When Jesus sent the twelve forth to make and train disciples, he did not send them out without weapons or the knowledge of how to use those weapons. This started the concept of what we know as spiritual warfare. And today that war is still raging on in the spirit realm. It has not died down but has rather intensified. Civilization has changed, people's way of thinking has changed, Satan's mode of killing, stealing, and destroying has changed, but God's objective has NOT changed. As man's mind expands, carnal weapon become more sophisticated and as a result those weapons which beforehand were deemed as advanced weaponry, became obsolete.
Praise God our weapons are not carnal but Mighty, Spiritual, and Eternal. They do not become obsolete as do carnal weapons therefore the way we utilize them must be ever broadened so as to keep up with time and circumstance. God desires His people to know what their weapons are and how to use them because we have an unfinished task to accomplish. When we are born again, weapons and a commission are placed in our hands. We are to take stock of what this commission is and learn how to use our weapons so that we can take part in God's objective, to fight against Satan and sin, to conquer, to take prisoners, to establish and govern territories for Jesus Christ, to make way for His kingdom to come upon this earth.
Part of the ancient Roman soldier's uniform was a thick leather belt which holstered his sheath and sword. On this belt hanged an apron also made of leather. This leather apron was cut into strips and studded with one-inch to two-inch iron plates. This apron was designed as part of the solider's belt to protect the groin area from injuries which might occur during battle. Paul observed this in his captivity while under guard by Roman soldiers. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:14 that just as the Roman soldiers were girt about with their leather belts, we should be girt about with the truth. Protection against injury was not the only thing in mind when the leather belt was invented. After 25 years of service any soldier in the Roman army was granted tax-free citizenship. Both the soldier and that which proceeded from his loins benefited from the implementations of this belt, not only the soldier's immediate family, but the generations to come.
In the same way, truth is not only for us, but also for those which preceed from our spiritual loins. This is the whole point of Christians being girt about with truth. Our loins must be girt about with truth so that we do not bring forth souls in error, which would lead Christians to stray into a backslidden condition where they loose out with God. So being girt about with truth is not an optional command, it is an absolute one. God desires for us to reproduce in sincerity and truth, not in falsehood, frivolity, and worldliness, for a seed can only reproduce after its own kind. A good tree cannot produce evil fruit and a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit (Matt. 7:17-19) If we inherit defective genes from our parents we will be born with some sort of handicap or disability. If we then bring forth life into this world they will also be born with defective genes. Some live normal lives while others are not so fortunate. They have to go through life crippled, blind, deaf, dumb and some eventually die. I have met "Christians" with purple hair, who watch hours of worldly television, who wear worldly fashions and hairstyles which they have seen in worldly beauty magazines, who listen to rock music, and exhibit many other worldly traits. They are the victims of defective genes. If these Christians had been born of someone having their loins girt about with truth they would be living sincere lives obeying the truth in deed and, not just in tongue. Churches today are reproducing a generation of crippled, deaf, dumb, blind and retarded Christians. God desires children born of pure uncorrupted seed. (1 Peter 1:23)
One might be asking, "how can the seed of life which Christians sow in people's hearts be defiled when that seed is of Christ?" The same way that the traditions of men make the Word of God of none effect. When we are unprotected by truth, we start to listen to that which is easy or pleasing to our flesh, and our loins (our source of protection) will be exposed and infected by Satan's lies and as a result we will live lives of falsehood and deceit; then what will we reproduce, bastards or sons of God? wheat or tares? obedient sons and daughters or rebellious lawless brats? Many know the truth, but are they wearing it? 1 Corinthians 9:27 tells us, "but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." This scripture is indicative of the many who have preached the Word of God which is truth, but did not obey it. Had they been obeying it (the truth) it would have given them an assured place in the Kingdom of God, but because they chose to preach it only and not wear it they live a life of hypocrisy, falsehood, and lies. Let us remember that we are in a war against Satan, and his offensive weaponry is mostly made up of lies and deceit. The only way that the belt of truth is going to protect us is if we are obeying the truth.
For he put on righteousness as
a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation
upon his head, and he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloke. Isaiah 59:17
Imagine if you can, a soldier with full armor
on advancing towards the enemy under the
command of his captain. As he is attempting
to lift his shield and go forward, arrows
shot out from the enemy rain hard upon his
breastplate. Even though the arrows burst
into splinters upon contact the soldier
undoubtedly felt the concussions of the
arrows force! Therefore because he did not
depend soley upon his shield for protection
but wore a breastplate as a backup, he
survived the enemy's arrows.
Let us compare this circumstance to spiritual
warfare, and by so doing we will get a
clearer picture of what the breastplate of
righteousness really is. The breastplate is
donned upon salvation and its resiliency to
withstand the force of Satan's darts (arrows)
is tempered with obedience. This obedience
will bring forth righteousness which works as
a fortification for our hearts against evil.
(Acts 5:3-4, Acts 8:21-22, John 13:2).
This breastplate is a backup for our shields
during those times when our faith/shields are
not at a protective level, in other words,
when our faith needs lifting. It is crucial
during these times that our breastplate be
tempered because many times the Lord will
require us to attain higher level in Him and
Satan will be there to hinder or prevent this
from happening. It takes more faith to walk
at a higher level of maturity with the Lord.
This is why I say that our faith/shields are
not at a protective level yet during these
times. But because we are advancing in
obedience under the command of our Captain we
are seemingly vulnerable to Satan's arrows,
our faith being lower than where we are
attempting to walk. Satan will seize the
opportunity to fire arrows at our hearts
thinking that they will do harm to us because
our shields are not up yet. But if we are
advancing in obedience in the direction that
He commands us to go, Satan's arrows will be
nullified. Therefore obedience to His
commands is imputed to us for righteousness
which serves as our breastplates (James
2:23) It takes more faith to advance in
spritual warfare (James 2:17-20)
We must realize that no matter how hard we
try we cannot muster up any righteousness of
our own. All of our righteousness is as
filthy rags, and since when do filthy rags
stop arrows from penetrating anyone's heart.
(Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10) Fine
suits, fine smiles, fine works, fine speech,
and fine churches: these are our foolish
attempts to portray righteousness, but, the
truth is that the only way that we are going
to possess righteousness as a breastplate is
by obeying God's commands. Deuteronomy
6:23-25 says, "he brought us out from thence,
that He might bring us in, to give us the
land which He sword unto our fathers. And
the Lord commanded us to do all these
statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our
good always, that He might preserve us alive;
as it is at this day. And is shall be our
righteousness, if we observe to do all these
commandments before the Lord our God, as He
hath commanded us". Again in Deuteronomy
9:4-6 we read, "speak not in thine heart,
after that the Lord thy God hath cast them
out from before thee, saying, For my
righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to
possess this land... Not for thy
righteousness, or for the uprighteness of
thine heart... the Lord thy God giveth thee
not this good land to possess it for thy
righteousness." How much clearer can it
be?
Many times I see my own wretchedness and when
I see it I do things to improve MYSELF, and
when I do this I am walking contrary to the
way He is wanting me to walk. Because I am
attempting to establish my own righteousness,
I am forsaking His standard of righteousness
( which is His provision to be used as a
breastplate ). I leave my heart exposed to
Satan's arrows. All this happens because we
fail to realilze the reason why He is
commanding us forth , is that we may possess
the prize of the high calling. Phil.
3:14 and bring froth that hundredfold
fruit. Matt. 13:23 While we are
constantly being obedient to His commands,
Satan's weaponry has no power on us to bring
forth the fruits of the flesh but they start
to wither and decay and the only things left
of them are the seeds which are potential
fruits of the flesh that are watered by our
disobedience if we stop obeying Him. We are
commanded to put this breastplate on because
opposition comes by moving forward. If you
are a lukewarm, passive, stagnant Christian,
then you are not wearing a brestplate, you
are clothed with filthy rags and filled with
arrows. You are spiritually dead. Salvation
is where we start to walk, not where we start
to sit. How can we hope to obtain the
righteousness/breastplate of God if we are
not moving out from our starting points under
His command. We can't because His commands
and our obedience are our
righteousness/breastplates.
In conclusion the bible tells us that blessed
are they that hunger and thirst for
righteousness for they sahll be filled
Matt 5:6 Hunger and thirst for
righteousness come as a result of our seeing
our own wretched selves in the sight of God.
We want this righteousness to possess
holiness and to be free of sin. This is
where the hunger comes in. God will fill
that hunger by giving us a command to obey.
As we obey this command, His righteousness
will abide about us as a breastplate and we
will be impervious to Satan's arrows, so
making a way for us to obtain
holiness.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:15, to
have our feet show with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. Shod means to put
on like a shoe. We are to put the gospel on
our feet and be prepared to move out against
the falsehoods and lies of the devil. We are
to tread down everything that opposes the
truth. Paul told Timothy, "be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine."
2 Timothy 4:2 This scripture shows us
that the gospel is meant to be a combative
force upon the earth, not a passive sermon to
be preached to pew-warming backslidden
"Christians" every Sunday. We are to move
out and subdue the enemy. 1 Cor.
15:25 declares that He (Jesus) must reign
until he hath put all enemies under His feet.
And again in Romans 16:20 we read
"the God of peace shall bruise Satan under
your feet shortly." There seems to be
somewhat of a contradiction here. But there
are no contradictions in the Word of God. So
then the feet which Paul is referring to in
both of these portions of scripture are His
people. He is the head, (Col 1:18)
and we are the body (1 Cor. 12:1-31),
therefore God is going to subdue and put
enemies under using our feet which are shod
with the gospel of peace. Some ignorant
pacifist will say, "I thought it was a gospel
of peace; why then is there all this talk of
treading down, and combating, and putting
under?" Just in case you have not noticed,
peace in many instances is a result of war.
That is why Jesus' Gospel is called the
gospel of peace. Peace is the end result of
the preaching of the gospel, because the
gospel was given to man to bring him peace by
teaching him to war against that which seeks
to slay his soul. Although the gospel is not
an antagonist in war, it will oftentimes take
the offensive and engage any opposition (such
as false religions, heresies, compromise,
lukewarmness, lies, etc) that is against the
work of the cross. It automatically attacks
anything that is false because it is truth.
This is why Paul wrote that we should have
our feet shod in preparation to move
out against opposition. Many "Christians"
in this hour can see how Satan's works are
prevailing against man as man tries to reform
society through psychiatry, correctional
institutions, medicines, and military might.
All these things are useless. As these
"Christians" observe all of these things they
grow more selfish, fearful, and apathetic,
taking the turbulence of our times as a sign
that the pre-tribulation rapture is about to
occur at any moment. As they put all of
their hopes in the rapture, all of their
motivation to do anything concerning the
prevalent evils of our time dies out since
the Lord could take us out at any moment.)
This mentality is Satan's strategy of the
hour against Christians, a very successful
strategy called, "contain and pacify" which
keeps Chrisitans contained within the four
walls of their churches and homes and
pacifying them with the pre-tribulation
rapture theory, while the devils from hell
drive the world into deeper darkness. What
an absurd and ludicrous mentality Satan has
put over those in the church in this hour
that they would ever think that God would
cause His people to live their own lives in
passivity and apathy while the souls that He
sent His Son to die for slip into hell. It
is time to move out and subdue the enemy.
The gospel was delivered to us as Christians
that we with it might subdue kingdoms, shake
nations, bring mighty men to their knees and
march against the kingdom of the devil, not
so we could say "my feet are shod with the
gospel" and plop them up on our footstools.
Don't think that your feet are shod with the
gospel just because you read about it. If
you are not going against that which is false
then you are barefoot and
deceived.
Have you ever considered the beating
and blows that a shield used in battle must
absorb? Arrows, battle axes, and the
constant pounding of swords would seem to
destroy the shield. Actually, it depends on
the type of metal that the shield is made out
of as to whether it is destroyed or not.
Believe it or not, there are some types of
metals that get tempered or hardened by usage
and strain. So a shield made of this type of
metal would become stronger with use. Just
think, if this shield wasn't used very much
it could actually become undependable. So a
shield made of this type of metal would have
to be used much to become stronger. Keeping
this in mind, lets talk about the shield
of faith. This shield is not made of the
same kind of material as other shields, for
it is a spiritual substance. Like the shield
that we mentioned before gets strengthened
through much use, so the shield of
faith, becomes stronger the more we use
it.
In spiritual warfare the attacks of the enemy
are swift, violent, and fierce, and everyday
the enemy beats against our shield with lies,
doubts, deceits, lusts, etc, but the more
that we use our shield to gain ground in the
spirit, invading enemy territory, the
stronger it becomes. It has to be this way,
for as we press forwared towards the mark of
the high calling, our warfare will demand
greater strength to come forth from our
shields of faith. The beating that our
shields take now is nothing compared with the
beating that they will go through in the
future, if we continue to press into and
through enemy territory. This brings me to a
vital point in this article, which is that
the shield of faith is called a shield
because it is used in war, and it is a battle
to resist the Devil and his temptations and
keep our hearts right with God. In essence
the shield of faith was given to us that we
might war a good warfare. With this in mind
we can really see the fallacy of the
prosperity by faith message. Tell me, is
there any warfare involved in believing God
for a new house, car, or a bigger bank
account? Absolutely not! It takes no
warfare at all, in fact, the only warfare
that the prosperity Christian knows about is
the warfare against the Holy Spirit as the
Spirit convicts their greedy hearts. So what
does a shield of war have to do with getting
rich and prosperous? Nothing at all!
Instead the Bible says that we are to take up
the shield of faith in order that we might
quench the fiery darts of the Devil; not to
get rich. Can you imagine taking a large
shield to a bank and expecting the bank
teller to give you several thousand dollars
just because you have a huge shield? You'd
be left standing there while the teller went
to help a real customer. Yet many Christians
approach God like this. However, nowhere in
the Bible do you read that men used faith as
a means to get rich. They instead used faith
to conquer enemies whether they were inside
or outside of themselves. So it all boils
down to this: God gives us a shield for war
while Satan deludes us into thinking that
this shield is to be used to get material
gain. Satan is the god of this world and he
has all the materialistic baubles that a
greedy heart could ask for, but the Lord of
hosts, our Captain and supreme Commander,
Jesus Christ has sounded the charge (Matt.
28:18-20) to advance in this war and the
shield that He gives us is for this purpose
only.
In taking the shield of faith we meet the devil as a militant. Paul could have been thinking here of the Parthians. They were great horse-archers who came against the Roman armies. He knew how the Roman soldier fought. The soldier would peer over the shield
These attacks come with such suddenness and abruptness. Now Peter says, "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." Peter is reminding us that his is an attack of the enemy. "Get up the shield of faith!" "Be sober, be viligant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith." (1 Peter 5:8,9) In the faith! That is how we resist the devil, "...This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). "Genuine FAITH in God and His Word is something more than moving out upon that Word of promise no farther than we can see with our natural eyes, and believing only as far as we can SEE, and as Providence performs in our SIGHT. It means a decisive net of belief against all opposing elements and mountains of difficulties that may seemingly bar the way to an answer to our prayer.
We can't go out into the world and partake of it and say that we are abiding under Christ. When we live for the world and self we are no longer covered by the Helmet of Salvation. The Bible says, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh." Romans 13:14. What too many christians fail to realize is that we can have Jesus in our hearts but still not have Him at the head of our lives. When we make a way for the flesh to flourish we are no longer protected against the evil influence of Satan which is prevalent among the world's peoples. As a result our thinking will be infiltrated and pretty soon we will start living and thinking as the world does. If we do this we might as well join the world's crowd because we will suffer the wrath of God just like they will. 2 Cor. 6:17,18 I know that this is contrary to Baptist belief but nonetheless it cannot be refuted. What the Baptists fail to realize is that Jesus will never forsake us (Heb. 13:5) but we can forsake Him. Hebrews 3:12 warns us, "Take heed brethren lest there be in any of YOU an evil heart of unbelief in DEPARTING from the living God." The children of Israel are prime examples of those who forsook God and incurred the wrath of God upon themselves.
Christianity is a warfare from beginning to end. Along the way the unskillful are destroyed in the faith and follow Jesus no more. Likewise, there is a vast majority who even though they don't claim to have forsaken Jesus have done just that, they are walking according to the course of this world and not under Him. Their minds are full of the filth of this world because they have stopped abiding under the Christian's only source of protection to the thought life. The Helmet of Salvation will see us through this war and He will assure us a sober and a spiritual mind on the battle field. Remember Jesus Christ is the Helmet of salvation and as long as we stay under Him we will survive the war and see His kingdom established upon the earth.
Jesus said, "they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword" When
Jesus made this statement, he was not
advocating peace as some think because before
He made this statement, He told Peter,
"put up again thy sword into His
place." (Matt. 26:52) Why was Peter
carrying around a sword when Jesus knew that
swords were instruments of war? When Jesus
made this statement He was simply giving
reference to life as a carnal soldier. Any
soldier enlisted in an army lived by the
sword and eventually died by the sword in
battle.
The only reason why Jesus told Peter to put
up the sword was because it was not ordained
that Peter should die fighting with a carnal
weapon in his hand. If Jesus had not told
Peter to put up his sword unto its sheath, a
fight would have ensued between Peter and the
crowd who came to apprehend Jesus. Peter,
being unskilled in carnal weapons would have
possibly died at the hands of the crowd.
However, the statment still holds true in the
Spirit: "they that take the sword (of the
Spirit) shall perish by it, which is to say,
if you live your life as a Christian soldier
you will live by what is written in the word
of God, and you will die by what is written
in the word of God, be it natural or
spiritual. Many Christians have given their
natural lives wielding the Sword of the
Spirit. And if we live by the Sword of the
Spirit we will die by it, (to ourselves, that
is). The Sword of the Spirit will slay us
and our self-lives also. When Jesus was
taken into the temple to be consecrated to
God, Simeon told Mary, "yea, a sword shall
pierce through thy own soul also that the
thoughts of many hearts may be revealed"
(Luke 2:25), which is to say that no one is
exempt from the operation of the Sword. Just
because we wield the Sword does not mean that
we do not get cut by it. The Sword has two
edges on it and one of them is for us.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of
God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
Heart. That is what Simeon told Mary. We
will not get very far at all in God unless we
let the Sword pierce asunder and expose our
own wickedness. We must let the Sword
operate in a reciprocal manner, As we are
wielding it away from us we must receive it
back again unto ourselves. This is the
greatest task of the Sword. The greatest
battle to be fought with the Sword of the
Spirit is when Jesus fights against our wills
to rule and reign in our hearts because many
of us will not surrender willingly.
The Sword is the Word of God and is
absolutely essential in the Christian walk.
The word 'sword' as used in the New Testament
refers to judicial punishment, a battle, a
war, controversy, or dispute. In the Gospel
of Matthew the 10th chapter, Jesus says,
"Think not that I come to send peace on
earth. I came not to send peace, but a
sword, For I have come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter
against her mother, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes
shall be they of his own household." In
these verses the Lord was giving us the first
example of the Sword of His Truth as one that
would cause separation, dispute, or
controversy. The first division that often
comes as Christians is with those of our own
household. As we share the discovery of the
love and joy in JESUS with our loved ones,
many of us have had a sad awakening as the
sword has brought instead of approval,
disputes and controversy. Then comes the
test as the New Christian is forced to choose
between following after the Lord or following
after the opinions of unregenerate loved
ones. Many stumble, some turn back and
follow Him no more, but there are those who
will persist in following the ONE WHO HAS
GIVEN THEM A GREATER LOVE than the one cut
away by the Sword. In Ephesians 6:17, we are
told, "... take the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God." This
admonition is for the spiritual battle that
we fight with the demonic forces that are
constantly harassing and opposing the
Christian who is advancing in the Lord. We
are pressed into using the Sword as a weapon
as we are engaged in war with the dark forces
of the evil one. In Hebrews 4:12, there is
another us of the sword: "For the Word of
God is quick and powerful, and sharper than
any two edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing assunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart."
In this place we become intimately acquainted
with the sword, to a place of either loving
or hating its work in our lives. If we yield
ourselves to His sword, we will be divided
asunder, and He will separate the precious
from the vile, the corrupt and the
incorrupt. And, we grow to appreciate the
ministry of the sword as our lives are
brought into the subjection of Jesus Christ,
and with His sword He does battle to become
the King of kings and Lord of lords of our
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