SWORDS of Grace

WORDS Bible Study: Eph 6:13

by Mari

Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The word “wherefore” means “by reason of”. So when Paul says, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God,” we should ask, “by reason of what?” That is, why should we take on God’s armor? Well, the previous verse says:

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.

Paul is saying that by reason of the fact that we are not warring against MERE HUMAN BEINGS, but against POWERFUL, WICKED SPIRITS—for THAT reason we must take on the WHOLE armor of God in order to be able to withstand in the evil day. Wow, huh?

These verses are designed to give us an idea of the GRAVITY of the battle in which we find ourselves as believers! This is no small skirmish! We are warring against a mighty opposition orchestrated by the wiles of Satan!

We learn through reading the Bible that Satan is the enemy of God, wherefore, “by reason of” this fact, he is OUR enemy as well, and we are in the midst of a great spiritual struggle. Every day! If we forget this, or forget our armor, we leave ourselves vulnerable to his attack. And we certainly do not want to be his easy prey due to a lack of information, or due to a lack of believing the information God has given us in Ephesians 6:10-20!

You know sisters, if we do not fully recognize that we are in a spiritual battle, we will NOT put on our armor. If we are heading to the barn to get our horse ready to move cattle and find ourselves in a ball gown, we are not going to be prepared at all to ride! Soldiers who don’t think they are going into battle don’t put their armor on. So recognizing that we are in a spiritual battle ALL the time is of primary importance!

But even when we do recognize the battle, we need to condition ourselves to put our armor on so we can STAND as we are commanded. I believe this is why the verse (13) states “having done all, to stand”. Having done all we can do by having put on the armor of God we will then be able to STAND IN HIS POWER, stand in His armor for us, and stand in the word of God.

What is this armor?

It is spiritual in nature, a gift from God for us to use! It is armor and weaponry that works against Satan! God has not left us helpless in our own insignificant power, He has armed us with tools that work! It is equipment that will help us in the spiritual battle in which we find ourselves.

What is this spiritual battle all about?

First of all, it is about standing fast! We are to stand, and having done all, to STAND. We are to stand fast against an unseen, invisible enemy who hates the light!

We stand in the armor provided us by God. We stand in His strength to battle against the imaginations of men. Against false doctrines, and the control and influence of false teachers and such things. Satan works over-time to make sure people have a hard time finding or understanding truth.

An example is that Satan reassured Eve that she would “not surely die” (Gen 3:4). Instead, he promised Eve that she would receive understanding as her eyes would be opened to good and evil like God… if…she actually did eat the forbidden truth.(Gen 3:5)

We see how Satan works, through deception and lies. Use of trickery to make someone “feel” good, when actually death hides in his lies and misuse of the word of God.

Today he has brought forth many translations of men that hide the revelation of the mystery, the gospel of the Apostle Paul, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has the power to stablish us. (Ro 16:25) He works with groups who teach a false prosperity gospel, or Lordship Salvation, or that a leader is hearing directly from God and their message is directly for you!

There are those religions and sects of folks who teach we are under the law and/or covenants.   Or, that the church today is Israel!   Or that we can cast out demons and lay hands on the sick to heal them. Or that Jesus is less than God, teaching Kenosis or that Christ had to have faith in “God” (Jesus Christ IS GOD) just like any man. Ministries of darkness are rife and ripe around us.

False religions are elevated to being the same as Christian. Islam, Buddism, Mormon, Roman Catholic, separated daughters of Rome (original Protestant religions)…all work based and designed to keep you far from grace and salvation.

Ecumenicalism has been big for a long time and growing bigger, where you now see the Catholic Pope relating that their god and the god of Islam is the same god.

Today many religions work together with even more religions who do not have the gospel of the grace of God! To what purpose?

2Co_6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

2Co 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The first thing we need to do is stand. Since Satan’s primary weapon is a lie that is designed to make us fall, we must stand in God’s truth. We stand in His word, which is truth, (2Co 6:7; Eph 1:13) and His word says we are to put on the armor of God.

If you believe God, believe that we need His armor! And remember, we can only stand in God’s truth when we KNOW God’s truth, and we know it by reading our Bibles, studying and meditating on His Word.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Satan is not attacking us physically as he did in the OT. In this dispensation, he attacks us through lies, trickery, and deceit. Hidden bombs that he has planted for us to walk upon, when we do not recognize his wiles, and are not saturated with the word of God. The evil that attacks the Body of Christ is sneaky in this dispensation, with deception never seen before in the apostasy that surrounds us today.

To stand firm of course, we must stand STILL. You cannot be standing and walking at the same time! Standing firm means we must stand our ground!

We stand when we use the word of God. We stand when we take our thoughts captive to the obedience found in Christ. We stand IN Christ. (2Cor 10:5)

Finally, our Apostle Paul says that we are to “withstand in the evil day.” The evil day is TODAY!

Paul says we are to be redeeming the time “because the days are evil” (Eph.5:16). Don’t be like the people “that put far away the evil day” in Amos 6:3, insisting that “the evil day” was far off, refusing to admit the danger that they were in at that present time.

See that you may “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col.4:12).

THE GOSPEL THAT SAVES
“I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved … that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

– 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (KJB)