War of Wars

God gives us the spiritual armor of Ephesians chapter 6 for one reason and one reason only. WE ARE AT WAR! This war makes all the wars of man as child's play. This war started before the first man Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden. It started with Satan's five I wills of Isaiah 14:13 and 14. This war is the:

"The War of Wars"

The battle has begun. Spiritual wickedness is out in force. The rulers of darkness has this world on a destructive evil course. So girt your loins about with truth, filled with the Living Word. Put on your breastplate of righteousness, living the Living Word you heard. Be sure to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Sharing the good news of the Living Word you heard, with everyone you meet. With every step you take, and everywhere you walk bring glory to our Lord and God with every word you talk. We must put on the warriors armour, for sin is but a thought away. We must put on the full armour of God every morning of every day. Your enemy is as a roaring lion, and it's you he wishes to devour. Hold high your shield of faith every minute of every hour.

We're in the middle of a war, greater than any that came before. We're soldiers of this final war already won from time forever more. Proudly wear your Holy armour, for you're on the winning side. This world has no power stronger then He that inside you resides. Satan takes no prisoners, His only joy is devouring the souls of man. But remember oh ye Christians Jesus put a weapon. . , the Bible in your hand. There's an evil empire coming, filled with death. . tears . . . and pain An empire filled with the lies of Satan And the governments of earth give him total reign.

To understand each piece of armor, we need to first understand the war we are in. This war of wars is really the only war there has ever been. All the wars man has been in are only battles in this war of wars. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12 This war we are in is not against flesh and blood. It's against principalities, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. This war is a spiritual war, it is fought with spiritual weapons, and we are protected with spiritual armor. I know everyone says there are six pieces of armor in Ephesians 6, and for much of my Christian life I believed this also. Numbers in the Bible as with everything has deeper meanings. Examples; 4 has to do with the Earth, the 4 winds, the 4 directions etc. 7 is God's number of completion, 7 days in a complete week. On the seventh day God ended His work He had made and rested (Genesis 2:2). 8 is God's number of new beginnings, the eighth day is the beginning of a new week, and 8 people were on the ark to build the new beginning. 9 is the number of fruit, a woman is pregnant for 9 months before she bares her fruit in a new born baby. There are 9 things that make up the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Numbers in the Bible is a study in itself, one if the Lord is willing I may write in the future. I only brought this up to help show how many pieces of armor there really are in Ephesians 6, and why.

After the Lord opened my eyes to numbers in the Bible and their meaning, whenever I read Ephesians 6 the armor seemed incomplete to me, but I knew it wasn't, because God is complete in all things. Then one day in my daily reading I was reading Ephesians 6 it was like a light filled the page as He opened my eyes to the complete armor, all 7 pieces. The pieces of armor are modeled after a Roman soldier's uniform, because they were the known soldier of that day. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; Ephesians 6:14

First we are told to girt our loins with truth, we are not told the name of this piece of armor, it is called a balteus. The balteus and its hanging apron was the soldier's mark of pride. It also had the important function of holding his weapon. This should be the very same mark of pride to us Christians as it was to the Roman soldier. Jesus tells us in John 14:6 that He is the way the truth and the life. This piece of armor has become known as the belt of truth. Well Jesus is our truth, and we should have pride, not in ourselves, but in that truth Jesus Christ our Lord.

The second piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. This piece of armor was designed to give protection to the whole upper part of the body, from the neck and shoulders down to the waist. The most important thing this piece protected of course is the heart. In Matthew 15:11-20 Jesus tells us that it is not that which goes into the mouth that defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, defileth a man, because what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. We are told over and over in the Bible to keep our hearts pure, because the heart is evil. Now that we have the truth of Christ within us we need to be covered with the breastplate of His righteousness, so that what comes out of our mouths honors Him. And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Ephesians 6:15.

This piece of armor is to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This of course is the soldier's foot ware. Like the cleats on the shoes of modern-day football players, the Roman military sandals used small iron like nails as treads. This gave them sure footing in battle, and was a great help on long marches. As a soldier for Christ we are to prepare our feet with the gospel of peace. Why on our feet? Because the good news of the gospel was not made to stay still, it was meant to be taken out and shared. For this reason we need good foot ware for sure footing in battle and protect our feet on those long marches. After all remember our marching orders Jesus gave us in Mark 16:15 ... Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Ephesians 6:16. This fourth piece of armor the shield of faith we are to be using this above all. The Roman shield was a great design, it was a long curved shield that when used covered most of the body. A soldier when standing up straight, the shield would cover from just under the eyes to just under the knee. The shield could be moved up or down very quickly to cover whatever part of the body that needed to be protected at that moment. It's curved shape help protect better than the flat style of their enemies, because it allowed more arrows, spears and blows from enemy swords to just glance off it.

Why do we need to use the shield above all? The world is throwing spears, arrows, fiery darts and much more at us 24 hours a day 7 days a week. From cartoons, movies and books teaching our children witchcraft, and more, to being bombarded with Satan's signs everywhere we go. All the major companies are using satanic symbols in their logos. Just a few examples are the yin-yang symbol in Pepsi, Texaco's Freemason Northern Pentagram, Oldsmobile's upside down broken cross, Time Warner's all seeing eye of the Illuminati looking out through three 6s. I could go on for days showing satanic symbols in corporate logos and just be touching the tip of the ice berg, but that's not what this study is about. I just pointed out these few to show how important it is to be using the shield of faith. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Ephesians 6:17. The fifth piece of armor is the helmet of salvation. The Roman helmet is amazing in style. A few extra little things added a lot of extra protection. The Roman helmet had pieces that hanged down the side to protect the sides of the face, and though it didn't cover the ear, it did come out enough to add some protection to the ear also. It had a rim that went around the front of the helmet. This rim gave added protection from upper and forward blows. Jesus is our salvation, it is He that protects us from the forward blows from the rulers of the darkness of this world, and it is He that protects us from the upper blows from spiritual wickedness in high places.

Another great thing about the Roman helmet is it has 2 curved rims, one over each ear. These add much more protect to the ears. We are told many times in the Bible to give ear to God's Word. Eight times in the book of Revelation it says "he that hath an ear, let him hear". We are told in Roman 10:17 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We are warned to be careful what we listen to, because it will affect what we believe. It may even be a good idea to wear your helmet to salvation to bed. Example of this, at night I play CDs of the Bible when I'm sleeping. The sixth and what most believe is the last piece of armor is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We need to be reading our Bibles every day. We need to be filling ourselves with as much of that Bible as we can. The first 5 pieces was for protection, this one is a weapon. For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

We are told the Word of God is sharper than a twoedged sword, it cuts through the bone, it cuts the heart and changes what it believes and feels. Yes much of the time the Word of God cuts and wounds, but much of the time that is what we need. But this sword does what no other can, it comforts and heals. I tell people that the Bible is my 66 caliber, and that I'm not afraid to pull it out and blow away the enemy. You want to give an answer to every man that asks, read your Bible. You want the Holy Spirit to give you the power to go toe to toe with a Satan worshiper, an atheist, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a JW, a Mormon etc and etc. READ YOUR BIBLE! Now the piece of armor most people miss. 7 is God's number of completion not 6. Why would God give us an incomplete suit of armor? He wouldn't. This last piece of armor is probably the most important piece and most people over look it. At first you may wonder how this is a piece of armor, but before you decide give me the chance to explain. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18 Prayer is a very important piece of our armor. I don't want to get into a study on prayer at this point, but I do want to point out how it is one of the pieces of armor, and what piece of armor it is.

When we pray for the most part we are on our knees, when we are on our knees the legs are protected from the knee down. There is a piece of armor that is over looked, it is called a greave. The greave is a metal shin guard that protects the leg from just above the knee to just above the ankle. I find it very interesting that the greave covers the same part of the body that prayer covers when we are on our knees. You may say that prayer is not named as a piece of armor. Remember that first and third pieces are not named either, but we know what pieces they are.

The reason I believe prayer is the most important piece of armor is because I believe it plays 2 rolls in our armor. It is used for protection as I just showed, but it also does much more. When we pray we are asking God to do battle for us in some way or another. We are asking Him to tear down the strong holds that we can't. So from that stand point prayer is not just for protection it is a weapon as well. We can call prayer the heavy artillery, the catapult of that time, the nuclear bomb of today. As it is written all things are possible with God. Nothing is beyond God's power, and we reach God through prayer. So what weapon do we have more powerful than prayer? Answer NONE. There you have the complete armor of God all 7 pieces. Wear it every day, because believe me in this world we need it.

So put on your helmet of salvation, bought with the blood of Jesus' love A gift so freely given us from our Loving Father up above. This helmet will protect you from every lie that Satan has said keeping your heart clear and pure for the battle just ahead. Remember where you were when God pulled you from the swine's pen A God of such Grace and Love no power is greater than that which comes from Him. So take your sword of the Spirit boldly to the battle on the front lines. The Holy Spirit will watch your back, don't worry about what's behind.

Clothed in your armour, now fight like a man and get on your knees and pray. Pray without ceasing, every second of every minute, every hour of every day. For no battle can be won, without God leading the way. And if you want God to lead you then pray . . . pray . . . and pray. For we're in the middle of a war, greater than any that came before. We're soldiers of this final war already won from time forever more. Proudly wear your Holy armour, for you're on the winning side. This world has no power stronger then He that inside you resides. Though it seems Satan is winning the battle and at times that's the way it may look. But remember oh ye Christians Jesus has shown us the ending of the book. There's a whole new world coming, no death. . . no tears. . . . . no pain A world where our precious saviour Jesus as King of kings forever and ever reigns.