WEEK FOUR
Day Five
DAILY SCRIPTURE
Ephesians 6:11-12
LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS
Week Four Download
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Know: Read Ephesians 6:10-24
Note: Read slowly, carefully marking keywords- continue to mark the words from previous lessons—Mark keywords with a different color or with a symbol to differentiate them.
Armor of God
Loins with truth (belt)
Breastplate of righteousness
Feet/ shoes of peace
Shield of faith
Helmet of Salvation
Sword of the Spirit
Observation: Study notes below for context. Journal your thoughts or questions.
What: Are you established in the finished work of the cross? Take time today to contemplate the truth of your salvation. Can you easily tell another person what the gospel is (hint: it is not that they are saved from hell)? After reading today’s lesson, repeat the armor and its use aloud.
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Up until now, Paul has reminded us of where we are seated, rested, and positioned in Christ. His victory is our victory; His righteousness is our righteousness, and His holiness is our holiness.
Paul then transitioned into our walk. We don’t just declare we are righteous and not act rightfully. We live out from the position we have been placed in.
Now, we stand. The devil was defeated and disarmed through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. When Jesus returns and casts the devil into Hell as his eternal punishment, he is still roaming the earth operating illegally.
When Jesus was nailed to the cross, all the world's sins from all of time were put upon Him and forgiven. The requirements of the Mosaic law were also nailed to the cross, and its opposition toward us was nailed with Him.
Through His death, He disarmed the power of Satan’s accusation toward us. With His resurrection and ascension, He reunited us with a Father who eagerly awaited His sons and daughters. He made us one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a new creation with His power to equip us and His love to encourage us while we are still in this world.
The enemy still has a certain degree of power as long as he is allowed. Paul tells us that Satan does not come against us with force and power. He comes at us with deception, which will get us into fear. Our battle with him is not physical but one over truth and lies.
Satan will use deception to get us to believe we deserve to be sick, that God is teaching us how to suffer- that it is God who puts sickness on us because He is honoring us with that responsibility. Satan will use guilt and condemnation to deceive us into living a life of poverty because we don’t deserve to have wealth. Satan is a liar and a deceiver and has thousands of years to master his craft. The good news is we have not been left defenseless. We have been equipped with spiritual armor; the devil has to obey us when we use our weapons.
Before discussing the weapons, we must sort out a “sacred cow.”*
It is the lie that God is in control of all that happens in this world.
There is a story I read recently of a beautiful lavender-eyed Jewish girl who was taken captive by the Nazis in WWII. One night, the soldiers decided to play a cruel game and brought her out before her mother and, one by one, plucked her eyes out so that her mother would experience the trauma and pain of seeing her child tortured, and then they killed the beautiful girl. For those who say that God is in control, how would that comfort the mother who watched her daughter be butchered before her? Does God control storms and hurricanes that kill thousands? Does He control starvation? If God has all of that under control, why pray? Some would say we pray to get God to change His mind about destroying sin and evil, but if He is the one who allowed it, it would be wrong to pray that he stop it. The idea that God controls the earth is based on the Greek/ Roman belief about their gods. In ancient mythology, the gods controlled the earth. The One True God has established the earth and placed mankind in it so that they would reign over it.
Psalm 8:4-9 tells us that God made man just a little lower than angels and gave man authority over the earth. The earth was created for man according to Psalm 115:16: “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.”
This explains why bad things happen to good people. He is waiting for us to pray in partnership with His will. His will is always good; His thoughts are good, and His desire for us is good. Jesus came as a man to re-establish man’s authority that was abdicated in the Garden.
God’s Sovereignty can be compared with a Monarchy. God is the One who owns it all but has left lesser kings to rule in His stead and with the power and authority of His name.
We can’t do it without Him; He won’t do it without us. It was the plan he established in the garden. We are not laborers for God; we are co-laborers with Him, not as slaves, but as children and ambassadors of Christ - with the same authority Jesus had. (2 Cor 6:1, 1 John 3:1,2 Cor 5:20, John 14:12)
Right now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in a place of power and authority. Sitting is a position of rest, fulfillment, and finished work. A king who is seated has nothing to prove and is not worried. To be at the “right hand” means to be in a place of power and authority- a regent with the authority of a king. Jesus has entered the rest of his reign. He’s carrying out the rule of his kingdom.
Jesus does not sit there alone. He chose to share his position with us. Everything that happened to Jesus in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and sitting at God’s right hand happened to us. (Romans 6:3-6)
From a spiritual position, we rest.
From an earthly position, we stand and pray. As we stand, we are clothed with our weapons. It is a confident, rested stance. (This is in direct opposition to how we lived while we were dead in our sin. Formerly, we lived from the flesh and were defenseless against the enemy.)
Paul used a common picture of a Roman soldier to help the church understand thier weapons. Every piece of clothing is to help us learn how to be a new person who is hidden in Christ. (He also quotes scripture, which I will include as an added bonus at the end.)
Each piece of God’s armor protects us from the enemy’s tactics - one of them drives the enemy back.
The Armor of God-
The Belt of Truth-“Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,”
A Belt was the first item to go on. It tied the armor together, and it held weapons in place.
We must be grounded in many truths, such as the truth of God's nature, who we are in Him, the truth of scripture, etc. The most vital truth we must be grounded in is the truth of Jesus, as all truth hinges on this.
Jesus is who God is.
Above all, you must be established in the knowledge of who Jesus is as this is the first piece of armor to which all other armor is tied.
Are you established in Him? - Why He came, why He died, why He emptied himself and came as man, why we needed to be redeemed, what sin is and why and how it holds power over us, and how Jesus’ death on the cross removed that power… etc.
Do Truth and Grace completely enrapture you?
If you don’t know the answer to those statements with 100% assurance, the belt needs to be the first thing you focus on because knowing Jesus and his finished work gives you the ground to stand against the devil and gives you a legal position because of sonship.
God is called our Righteous Judge. (Gen 18:25, Ps 9:8, Ps 50:6, Ps 64:7, 2 Tim 4:8, Rev 19:2)
As a righteous judge, God will never do something opposite His nature and will. So, how do we know how to pray according to His will? Powerful and effective prayers are prayed according to the finished work of Christ. (1 John 5:14-15)
As a child of God, your legal standing is secure. You don’t need a legal standing to protect you from God. God is not the one who is against you, angry with you, or accusing you. It is the devil who accuses you. Knowing your legal standing gives you confidence that you have the backup of your Father against the lies of the enemy. God’s judgment is aimed at what is opposed to you.
Heaven responds when a person believes God and takes Him at His word. He is Truth, and everything he says is based on truth. When we pray according to that truth, Heaven moves. Crying and begging do not move God to act—faith in what He said and has done is the conduit in which God can move.
Imagine a courtroom in which Satan is your prosecutor. He wants you bound, imprisoned, unhealthy, poor, and dead.
Jesus is your advocate. Whenever the enemy comes with an accusation, you can stand firm when you know the Truth of who you are and what Jesus has done.
When Satan declares you a sinner, Jesus declares you righteous. You can stand boldly and declare over yourself, “I am righteous! I plead the blood!”
The devil is silenced and withdraws when you refuse to back off from the truth. Jesus, as your advocate, approaches the Righteous Judge and shows proof of the evidence. Jesus backs you up, and so does the Father (Hebrews 12:24).
The blood speaks on your behalf. It declares you are righteous, forgiven, and healed. When you know your rights, you can declare them, and Satan has to back off, and heaven can now move in your defense. That is how assured you can be that Satan flees when you resist him.
Breastplate of Righteousness- “And having put on the breastplate of righteousness”
James 5:16-18 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
God always wanted our prayers to have great power. Fervent prayers are prayers that put forth power, and effective prayers produce fruit. A person in right standing with God prays prayers that avail much.
Elijah prayed like a man in right standing with God. Elijah’s prayers resulted in increased oil for the widow of Zerephath during a famine; her son was raised from the dead, and his prayers caused rain to fall after years of drought and caused water to consume a drenched sacrifice. Elijah confidently called fire down on the soldiers of Ahaziah and, as a result, ended the tyranny of a godless king and queen.
Elijah was a righteous man because he obeyed the law. Obeying the law no longer makes us righteous because Jesus enabled a better covenant in which greater righteousness comes from believing in His perfect obedience on our behalf.
The Old Covenant's righteousness required animal sacrifice and obedience to the law to keep one in the right standing. The New Covenant is a gift and requires God’s empowering strength through the Holy Spirit.
Christ provided a lasting righteousness that does not come through our obedience to God’s law but through Christ’s perfect performance. Our righteousness is of Christ.
Elijah worked for his righteousness.
Considering such, there was nothing different about Elijah than us. We stand in greater power than Elijah because of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 says, “We are ambassadors of Christ, as though God were pleading through us, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of Christ.”
Your position makes you a powerful ambassador for the kingdom, and you can pray powerful prayers that shake nations.
Everything Christ is (and has) is yours.
Shoes of Peace- “And, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.”
To be at peace is to be exempt (free of) chaos and war.
After the fall from peace, in the garden, humankind entered into chaos in which death, delusion and darkness reighned. Jesus entered into our delusion and revealed His goodness.
For most of my Christian life, I believed I was unworthy of the goodness of God. I would look at my children and wonder what I did to deserve them. I wondered at my husband's love for me. I never asked God for things for myself because I felt undeserving. I was very hard on myself and tried to prove my value to others by how I treated them and lived, but no matter how I tried, someone would eventually write me some nasty note listing my faults and how much they disliked me for some reason or other. When someone close to me would list the things they disliked about me, I felt that was deserved simply because I had been born. I was a guilty sinner deserving of nothing, and any good that came my way was the mercy and grace of God.
I was in a constant state of feeling like I was unworthy, guilty, and unlikeable. It was chaos. That sense was the result of many little things along the journey that fed the lie that I was a guilty sinner, and I was a humble worm at the mercy of a God who may or may not forgive me. If I behaved well, maybe He might take notice and show me mercy.
When I finally had enough of this way of thinking, Jesus stepped into my delusion and revealed His unconditional, unwavering, and lavish love- it was a love that stepped into sin, into delusion and chaos. It calmed it down until it was a peaceful river. I no longer struggle with feelings of unworthiness or get my feelings hurt when people hurt me. I am not moved by disappointment and fear because I know that God is on my side and I am hidden in Him. I have nothing to prove, nor do I have anything to gain. I am loved, accepted, beloved, and righteous, which keeps me in perfect peace.
If I am in a vulnerable place, all I have to do is picture His embrace, and all the feelings associated with the problem I am in dissipate.
This is the peace that comes when our minds stay on Him. Jesus is our peace, and He is the truth about God. Because of Jesus, we are forgiven, loved, and accepted not because of anything we did to deserve it but because He is worthy. Jesus did not die for junk; He died because of our great value. Without the peace Jesus made between us and God, there is enmity (hostility)- on our end toward God. With Jesus, we enjoy a relationship with God where nothing is hidden or broken. That peace allows you to come boldly to the throne room of grace and ask confidently and boldly, knowing He hears and welcomes our prayers. God finds joy that we ask! Peace allows us to ask boldly and big- that pleases God!
Shield of Faith- “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;”
Thoughts come to us all. Godly thoughts produce peace and joy. Ungodly thoughts produce fear, condemnation, guilt, shame, and death. Those thoughts are the fiery darts of the enemy. When thoughts penetrate our beliefs, they cause levels of destruction.
Satan is the master of deceit. He gains access to you through your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. He appeals to our logic and reasoning.
We don’t just get into destructive patterns and sin; it began with a thought, an idea that seemed logical. “If I take this item from my friend, she won’t care. I need it more than she does. Besides, it looks better on me anyway.”
It may not seem like a big thing, but that is how the enemy gains access to our belief system. If he can use reasoning that eventually causes us to become indifferent and callus to what is right, he gains greater access to other areas of our belief. Nobody steals a car without first stealing a piece of candy in a candy store or a few dollars from a parent’s wallet. Believing a small lie leads to believing greater lies.
Satan has been around a long time- his tactics have never changed. It began in the Garden when he asked Eve, “Did God really say you could not eat from this tree?”
Sometimes, lies are so subtle that we don’t recognize them when we first believe them. One clue that can help us identify when we have believed a lie is that we get out of peace and into fear.
We combat this by asking ourselves, “What has God said about this?”
The enemy will ask, “Did God really say that?”
But God asks us questions that make us cross-examine, “Who told you that?”
If you are in fear over something right now, you have a knot in your stomach that makes you anxious; ask yourself, “Why am I feeling anxious? What lie am I believing? Did God say that? What does God have to say about…”
Examining your thoughts and holding them up to the truth of the Word will help us identify lies and extinguish them. When we know what God has to say about a matter and agree with it, we activate faith, which quenches the lies.
Your shield of faith is only as strong as your rock-solid knowledge of Jesus and His truth. Find out what God says about a thing, hold up that shield, and stand firm.
Helmet of Salvation- “Take the helmet of salvation”
The helmet of salvation is to have the knowledge of your salvation.
You are saved because you believed in Christ and confessed Him as Lord of your life. Salvation is much bigger than “I’m not going to hell” and being saved from your sin.
Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
The word salvation is the Greek word soteria which means: “to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction; to save a suffering one from destruction from perishing or from disease;to make well, heal, and restore to health;To deliver from the penalties of judgement; to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance.”
That is a lot of saving.
You have not only been saved from eternal punishment and from sin and its effects, but you have also been saved into a life of freedom, deliverance, healing, protection, safety, and soundness.
Knowing those rights allows you to pray with authority for what is legally yours.
Sword of the Sprit- “And the sword of the spirit which is the word of God”
Where the shield is your defense, the sword is used in offensive warfare.
The shield stops attacks. The sword makes progress by pushing the enemy back to defeat him. When we pray, we need to use the Word of God accurately, like a soldier handles his sword.
In Luke 4:1-13, when Satan tempted Jesus, the devil appealed to him using logic, suggestions, and ideas exactly the way he had appealed to Adam and Eve. Where they reasoned with logic, Jesus stopped the lies dead in their tracks with his knowledge of the truth. He took the Word of God and wielded it like a sword with, “It is written.” In so doing, He took the sword and drove back the enemy. The devil cannot stop the Word of God when used on the tongue of one who believes it and uses it with authority.
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
After you have put on the armor, pray.
Someone recently asked me if we need to put the armor on daily. In a sense, I would say yes, but the armor is a reality that we must remind ourselves of daily- a blueprint of our new humanity. Being a Christian is like learning to be a new human without the old part of us hanging on.
Learning to be this new person starts with a revelation of who you are, your position in Christ, your authority, and what you have at your disposal. You must be established in Christ so that you will have the boldness and confidence to stand firm and to pray.
You will not depend on your might if you are strong in his might.
The Warrior King in Isaiah
Paul did not just come up with the armor as an example of how to stand in authority; he was quoting the scriptures and, in so doing, putting the prophetic pieces of the puzzle together.
Girding the loins/ Belt
“Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.” (Isaiah 11:5)
Isaiah mentions the belt as faithfulness, while Paul calls it truth. When the Hebrew was translated into Greek, the word for faithfulness was translated as truth. The words are synonymous. The Hebrew concept of truth is something that is “firm, solid, valid, and binding.” It is something rooted in the faithfulness of the person who declares that truth. In this case, God. Jesus came to do warfare with his loins girded by God's faithfulness; likewise, we are to gird our loins (prepare for battle) by setting our minds on the faithfulness of God.
Breastplate and Helmet
“He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him: and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.” (Isaiah 59:16-17)
-Jesus came to execute vengeance on the works of darkness. As He is so are we in this world. Jesus defeated the enemy; we enforce that victory.
Shoes of Peace
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace,who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation,who says to Zion,“Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)
“Behold, on the mountains, the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!
O Judah, keep your appointed feasts; perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off.” (Nahum 1:15)
-Jesus made peace with God and man; we enforce it by proclaiming the freedom Jesus came to bring and by laying our hands on the sick and delivering the oppressed.
The Sword of the Spirit
“And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, And made Me a polished shaft; In His quiver He has hidden Me.” (Isaiah 49:2)
-Here, the Messiah’s mouth is like a sharp sword. Like him, we use our mouth to speak the truth of God and bring forth God’s judgement on the kingdom of darkness.
The book of Revelation portrays Jesus as a Warrior King and speaks of a sword coming from His mouth. (Rev 1:16, 2:12, 2:16, 19:15)
The Shield of Faith
“After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)
-Although not mentioned in Isaiah, a shield is frequently used throughout the Old Testament. When God spoke to Abraham and promised to be His shield, He promised to be his Father. This is where Abraham believed in God and was credited with righteousness. Paul told the Galatians, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:29)
-In the Psalms, David had a revelation that the way God acts is a shield to those who are His.
“But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, My glory, and the One who lifts up my head.” (Psalm 3:3)
“I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm18:1-2)
“As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” (Psalm 18:30)
We are hidden in Him, shielded and protected in His great love toward us.
“21 But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts. 23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.”
Like Paul, I want to declare peace over you. I, too, pray that you know how deep the Father’s love is toward you and that you would be established in that love. I pray that the eyes of your understanding have been opened to how great His goodness is and that you would know how to rest in that love, that your walk may demonstrate Jesus, and that you would stand against the lies of the enemy.
May you fully awaken to the person who is Grace- Jesus Christ.
*A sacred cow is a belief system we nurture based on unbelief. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness believed that a golden calf would appease the gods instead of believing in the One True God, there are numerous belief systems the church has been taught that are keeping them from believing the fullness of the goodness of God.