the Armor of God

So, first we will go over the armor of God:


Ephesians 6:14-17 (KJV)


"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."



The armor of God is often overlooked and not studied thoroughly. We need to dig in a little bit more than average.



First, it says the belt of truth. We need to be true and honest in everything we do. We need to not be deceitful in any way, telling what is true and pure.
Then, it mentions the breastplate of righteousness. We need to be righteous. This does not mean being 'I'm holier than thou!') but being Christ-like, reading our Bibles, praying, and doing good deeds. Righteousness seems 'high and mighty', because our world has turned it that way, but that is not at all what God means when he uses the phrase.


(Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of 'righteousness'.)


Righteousness:


1 : acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin


2 a : morally right or justifiable b : arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality
In the definition, it mentions being free from guilt or sin, not being immoral, and being morally right or justifiable. I think a simple and easy to understand definition is: free of sin.
The passage also mentions having your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. We need to believe the Bible and what it says, and be ready for when Christ comes. We need to be ready for what the Bible says. This is a bit hard to decode, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.


We need also to have FAITH. Faith is very important. We need to believe what the Bible says and not question what it mentions. We need to believe what God says, also, when He promises things, not to doubt that He is going to follow through and carry out His promise. If He has said He will do something, He most certainly will. Even if it takes a while, you can be sure He will do it. A part of faith is also waiting patiently.


We need to be SAVED and believe that Christ has saved us through His death on the cross. We need to acknowledge that we are sinners which need a Savior. We need to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. (Romans 10:9). Salvation is so important. You can believe that Christ exists, but a lot of people don't want to admit that they have done wrong things and need someone (and Jesus is the ULTIMATE someone) to save them. Pride gets in the way of salvation.


We need to be willing to let Christ come in to our heart. We need to let Him discern what is right and wrong (He is our conscience) and remind us what to do. Having the Spirit of Christ is so important. If you don't have the Spirit in you, you won't be convicted of your wrongdoings.



Now, then, we see that we need to have all this to have the armor of God.