Put on the Full Armour
ICS Daily Devotions

Ephesians 6:11 (Amplified) Put on the full armour of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armour of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil.

Scripture reveals to us that the devil and his cohorts are real, and it is futile to use natural weapons against them. Therefore, we must put on the full amour of God—belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, sandals of readiness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit—to stand against the wiles of the evil one.

We need to know and watch out for the schemes, strategies and deceits of the devil. His primary objective is not to get us to sin, but simply make it easy for us to do so by dismounting us from our position of victory in Christ so we will walk in the flesh again. We need to be firmly grounded in our identity in Christ, so the devil cannot deceive us into thinking that we are still under his bondage and slavery to sin.

It is the truth that holds everything together in our lives. Likewise, the belt of truth holds all the pieces of the armour together. The truth includes: it is God’s good pleasure to adopt us as His children; we are blessed with all the spiritual blessings in Christ; we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and we have the forgiveness of sins and peace with God.

The breastplate is God’s gift of righteousness in our lives. It protects the heart and the chest—the most vulnerable part of the body, because the first spiritual attack is always our position in Christ and our identity as a child of God. The devil attacks our standing before God by bringing charges against us, making us feel insignificant and unworthy to do anything for the Lord, and believing that God uses trial, tribulation, famine, nakedness and lack to punish and torment us.

However, the Bible tells us that nothing shall separate us from God’s love because He has already raised Christ from the dead and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and no animosity with God because Jesus has dealt with the sin issue that once separated us from God.

We also need the sandals of the Gospel of peace to help us stand firm, just like the soles of the Roman soldiers’ sandals had studs on them to help them maintain a good steady grip on the ground.

Since we are “new creations”, we can walk in righteousness and holiness by making a choice to do so. When we truly see ourselves seated with Christ in the heavenly places, we can refuse to succumb to temptations, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.

Sermon Series: Believers’ Authority