Tag Archives: the full armour of God

YOUR WORD IS TRUTH – 22

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John 17:14-17 NIV‬
[14] “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. [15] My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. [16] They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. [17] Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

Jesus’ prayer centred, first, on Himself, not to save Him from His ordeal, but to achieve His purpose.

‭John 17:1 NLT‬
[1]” After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.”

Everything Jesus was and did on earth was designed to shine the light on Himself so that He, in turn, could reveal the true nature of the Father. He was the perfect reflection of the Father in human form.

‭Hebrews 1:3 NLT‬
[3]”The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God… “

He expressed His submission to the Father in four little words – “the hour has come.”

Jesus’ second focus was the group of men, excluding Judas Iscariot, who were to continue His mission in earth. He was concerned for their personal protection, not from the “evil one” as most translations interpret, but from the evil within them that posed a far greater danger to them than the devil.

‭John 17:12 NLT‬
[12] “During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold…
[14] I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. [15] I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil (one)…
[17] Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”

Why would Jesus be concerned about the enemy’s efforts to harm His disciples? Would He Himself not defeat and disarm him through His death?

‭‭Colossians 2:14-15 NLT‬
[14] “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. [15] In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

What are the devil’s weapons against God’s people? Lies! Deception! Accusation! Condemnation! All are designed to breed mistrust and fear, to break our unity with God and destroy our fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.

How did Jesus win the victory?

“He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”

Jesus paid our debt, forgave our sin, cleared our record of all charges against us, and broke sin’s power over us by giving us a new nature.

Now the devil has nothing to substantiate his accusations. Whatever he uses to accuse us is a lie. He can’t even keep his grip on us through our old evil desires because we have a new nature; we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus.

‭Romans 8:28-29 NLT‬
[28] “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become LIKE HIS SON, so that his Son would be the firstbrevealing His heart attitude to the coming ordeal,
orn among many brothers and sisters.”

God’s people have a powerful weapon to protect them from the devil’s schemes to deceive… the truth!

‭Ephesians 6:14-17 NLT‬
[14]”Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. [15] For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. [16] In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. [17] Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

The truth about righteousness, peace,
faith, and salvation are all to be found in the Word of God. It is the truth which cuts through all the devil’s lies, exposes his wiles, and frees us from his efforts to drive a wedge between us and God.

Jesus’ prayer, then, is that the Father would activate His Word in the hearts of His disciples. Protected by the truth from the devil’s lies and the lure of their old nature, they woud be set apart from sin to God, clean vessels to do His will.

So, Jesus did not give much credit to the devil’s attempts to attack His disciples. He was more concerned about His disciples’ ability to defend themselves against Satan’s tricks because there was a traitor within them. They had an old nature that would side with the enemy unless it was brought under control.

The only way to overcome the devil was to discern his lies and neutralise them with the truth.

In a rather blunt way, James put it like this,

‭James 4:7-8 NLT‬
[7] “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

As disciples of Jesus we, too, are eligible to be beneficiaries of His prayer. However, we all have the potential to be tricked into condemnation or trapped into sin if we are not committed to walking in the truth of God’s Word.

We have powerful protection if we are armed with truth. We can live daily in security and peace if we take up the shield of faith and buckle on the belt of truth. These are our safeguard against a defeated foe. STAND, therefore!

IT’S ALL-OUT WAR

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IT’S ALL-OUT WAR

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:10-12).

O, what a mess we have made of this Scripture! Paul has taken pains, in all his letters, to ensure that his readers understand one thing. We can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. All our religious activities including rituals and rule-keeping, even strict adherence to the laws of Moses, impress God not one little bit. He swept it all aside as useless and ineffective to deal with the barrier of sin that separates us from Him.

There was only one effective solution to deal with sin – the death of a perfect human being. Since none on earth could be found, He sent His own Son, born of a woman, to take the place of sinful humanity and to die a death He did not deserve to die in the place of sinners.

The death of Jesus dealt not only with our sin; it also dealt with the enemy who was responsible for luring the first pair into disobedience to God’s one requirement. The devil won the first round by deceiving the woman into mistrusting the love of God. She fell for his lie and dragged her husband into disobeying God’s instruction not to go the route of independence from Him.

Jesus exposed his modus operandi and beat him at his own game by dying as a sinless man in perfect obedience to His Father’s will. He cancelled the debt of sin which the human race owed Him, took back the spoils of war, His children, and gave us the power and the freedom to stand firm against the devil in the truth of what He has done.

The problem is that we (and by this I mean the church in the main, led by those who have superimposed their own ideas on God’s Word), have fouled up Paul’s understanding and instruction about conducting this on-going war. We still have the tendency to want to make a contribution to this life we are called to live as followers of Jesus in spite of the fact the He said, ‘Apart from me you can do nothing.’  We have invented our own way of conducting “war” against the enemy.

Firstly, we have misunderstood the site of the battle. We believe that we must fight the devil in our circumstances. When life throws us a curve ball, we immediately blame the devil and take up arms against him. We “resist” him by speaking into the air, as though he is omnipresent just as God is. From where does this idea come? Satan is a created being, not the evil counterpart of God. We “take authority” over him. Where do we find anyone in Scripture doing that? Did Jesus “take authority” over the devil? No! He spoke the truth of the Word.

To make our warfare more effective, so we think, we must “identify the principalities and powers”. We have to know who they are so that we can address them by name. Where are they? In the heavenly realms. We must, therefore, “pull them down” to break their power over countries and regions. We must find out what the “altars” are to which people give allegiance. What a lot of responsibility God has given us to conduct the ongoing war against the devil and his minions!. It we don’t, God can’t save the people in those areas from their sin!

Another round of victory for the devil! Another huge distractor to keep us from dealing with the real issues! Since when does God give the church the responsibility to “fight” the devil in the world? Yes, we do have a ruthless enemy! Yes, we are in a constant state of war which many parts of the church have forgotten, but we are fighting the battle where the devil and his legions are not even bothered about.

Secondly, the real war is going on, not out there among the pagans but in our minds. Jesus is taking back the spoils of war. He is winning the willing allegiance of those who believe in Him. He is extending His kingdom, one person at a time, on earth by revealing the truth about God, about us and about His victory over the devil on the cross and by restoring those who believe in Him to His family.

Satan hates what Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is doing. He works hard to win back those who have recognised the truth, by attempting to reintroduce his lies, to discredit God and deceive His children into doubting His love and goodness and defecting to the enemy once more.

We live in a world which has been thoroughly corrupted by sin. Believers are subject to the same hardships and suffering everyone else in the world goes through. Being children of God is no guarantee that we will escape the effects of sin on this planet. Unbelievers hold God responsible for not intervening. Satan loves to blame God, to undermine His character and to lure God’s children into judging Him and even, if possible, deceiving them enough to lure them back into their old independent ways of thinking and behaving.

People in the world do not have to fight the devil. He already has them in his clutches. Paul is addressing the children of God. We are the ones who need to understand Satan’s strategy and beat him at his own game. Yes, we have a powerful and ruthless unseen enemy. He is clever and subtle and he has no rules but, as Paul triumphantly declared, “We are not ignorant of his devices.” Jesus exposed him and his lies.

Our job is not to fight what we think he is doing to us but to call his bluff! More tomorrow.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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