HOW TO PUT ON THE WHOLE AMOUR OF GOD

Victory in the warfare against the kingdom of darkness by the believer is reserved only for those that have committed to living their lives in accordance to God’s word. These are the ones that will seek to know His requirements (no matter what it takes) imbibe them and live their lives according to them. This process is the putting on of the whole armor of God. Does this look like you today or the believers you see around you? Until it does, there is no sure victory against the kingdom of darkness and Satan knows this but would not want anyone to know.

Satan would rather believers busy themselves with everything else other than obedience to God’s word in simplicity as we have seen. Make no mistakes, there is no short cut to it, no prayer formula can work it, but a life dedicated to seeking, knowing and doing God’s word. Putting on the armor of God is beyond anointing services or laying on of hands only, it is beyond tithes, offerings and sacrificial giving only. It is beyond procurement of anointing handkerchiefs, special oils, as there seem to be no end to what ministers offer for sale these days as a panacea to Satan’s warfare against those who are Christ’s. Some go as far as cutting and giving pieces of their undershirt to believers in exchange for special offerings as a means to victory over the works of Satan. All these do not give victory in this warfare but rather dedication to seeking knowledge from God of His will and commitment to living your life in compliance with it. This is the price to pay like Jesus said in Luke 9:23 and not money.

In order to understand how the whole amour is put on, consider what  ‘to put on an attitude’ means. Attitude is an act that comes out of a settled way of thinking (what you have believed) and the settled way of thinking comes out of information embraced or knowledge accepted as the norm or as right or correct. You put on God’s whole amour the same way you consciously put an attitude on. Accept nothing else but God’s rightly divided word as the norm, embrace it, believe it, obey it, make it your life, put it on. This is God’s expectation, this is His demand.

In Ephesians 4:22-24 the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul says for us to put off concerning the former conversation (manner of life) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and …. put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. The putting on is through the renewal of our minds with what God has said regarding how we must live our lives (Romans 12:2).

Colossians 3:9-10 says for us to Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. The Knowledge of God (the whole amour of God) must change our thinking and become us (so to speak). The putting on of the whole amour of God is through the renewing of our minds with the totality of God’s word until these words ‘become us’, become our way of life, become what we live, become who we are and all these starts from our thinking/mind. When His word becomes who we are, then Christ will be seen in us, we will be Christians indeed, Christ like. Little wonder it says we will be strong in the power of God’s might when we put on the whole amour of God. Was Jesus strong in the power of God’s might? Yes He was! Truth, righteousness, readiness to preach/live the gospel, faith, salvation and the word of God (as explained in the previous write up) must become our way of life and then would we have God as our defense. You cannot live in disobedience to God and expect Him to ‘obey’ your requests for victory over Satan. It is unfortunate that when you hear the word ‘disobedience’ in the Church today, it is usually in reference to not disobeying what a leader says, not so much of not disobeying what the word of God says. The obedience required is to what God’s word says and particularly about spiritual warfare in this instance.

Now then, we read in 2 Corinthians 10:4 that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Right after this in the next verse, it elaborates how the ‘strong holds’ are pulled down, explaining the strongholds as imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and every thought that does not agree with Christ. The desired end result of the warfare is that everything that exists and can ever exist in the realm of your mind (thinking, seeing with the mind, desiring) be brought to total submission to God’s word (obedience of Christ). Whatever subdues in battle is the weapon of victory and this part of the warfare occurs in the realm of your mind (imaginations, thoughts, desires) because what rules your mind ends up ruling you. If your spirit rules your mind by feeding it God’s word and insisting that only God’s word stays in it, you obey the word of God eventually. If your flesh rules your mind by feeding it with imaginations, high things (desires) and thoughts that are contrary to the knowledge of God (God’s word/will) you end up obeying the flesh eventually. Do not forget that the flesh is the un-regenerate part of the believer that cannot be redeemed in this dispensation and which harbors the impulses of sin (Rom 7:18a). It is through it that Satan accesses and dominates any man/woman that will allow him, even the believer, starting from the mind. We are expected to put off these works of the flesh and the starting point is in our minds.

Putting on the whole armor of God begins with conscious renewal of your mind with God’s word/will and ends with your obedience to it. Your obedience to it is the evidence that you have His whole armor on. Similarly, when you bring your imaginations, desires and thoughts in submission to God’s word (obedience of Christ) then you know that you are handling the weapons of your warfare right. By them, you would have pulled down stronghold of wrong ideas, notions, dogma, creeds, beliefs, deceptions, misconceptions, unbelief etc that had dominated your mind making you to run contrary to the will of God. This process of putting on the armor and rightly using the weapons of our warfare helps win the first and the most critical part of the believer’s contention against Satan and his kingdom.

Romans 8:5 says ‘they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit’. What you allow to rule your mind in thoughts, imaginations and deep desire (what you mind) rules you and eventually determines what becomes of you (what you are after or what you do). Either you allow God’s word rule your mind by putting on God’s whole armor and using the weapons God has given you rightly unto victory over Satan or you allow the flesh (and unconsciously Satan) rule your mind and continue in defeat by the powers of darkness. Whatever is not of God (as made clear in His word) is of the flesh and subsequently of Satan. If what you see around you spiritually is defeat, then for sure you are not minding the things of God’s Spirit yet. Seek understanding of God’s word concerning His relationship with you under the new covenant and ‘put it on’. That is the armor of God and the weapons that Satan can never resolve or overcome.

Just before you begin simulating some sort of 'Star Wars' in your mind and imagining shooting spiritual machine guns, lunching spiritual balistic missiles etc in prayers, stop and ask yourself if you are in compliance with God’s requirements for successful warfare as we have seen in Ephesians 6:10-17 and 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. The Holy Spirit makes clear that it is when your obedience to God’s requirement is complete that you should think of avenging any disobedience to God’s will for your life by the kingdom of darkness (2 Corinthians 10:6). Similarly He says in Ephesians 6:18 that it is after you have put on the whole amour of God (compliance with God's word) that you are in a position to pray right and be certain of victory over the powers of darkness.

Avenging every disobedience to God’s will for your life by the kingdom of darkness is the easiest part of the warfare we have to fight. The most critical and important part is ensuring that our own obedience is complete. In actual fact, making a decision to change course and get sold out to God’s word is what some believers need and they will see the forces of darkness harassing them put to flight in an instant, even before praying. Let us first work on putting on the whole amour and using God’s word to straighten out our imaginations, desires and thoughts unto obedience. The prayer part then comes easy and would always work. Prayer formulas, schemes and books do not put on us the whole armor of God (no matter how well intentioned) except they teach this truth on spiritual warfare. Studying, meditating and acting on the rightly divided word of God does. Let’s get on to the real work, let us allow God fight for us.

Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:15).​

SPIRITUAL WARFARE: PUT ON THE WHOLE AMOUR OF GOD

In Ephesians 6:10-20, we read as follows:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole amour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 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. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

This portion of scripture is usually referred to when spiritual warfare is being discussed in the Church. The Holy Spirit through apostle Paul here gives insight and instructions to the believer on the constant conflict we have with the kingdom of darkness because we are Christ’s. It is the intention of God that we win these conflicts at all times, reason why the insight and instructions were given to us.

Looking closely at these verses, we see firstly that the foundation for victory in this fight is to be strong in God and in the might of God’s power (verse 10). This is a must and it can only be achieved by putting on the whole amour of God (verse 11a) because the fight can only be fought and won by God’s power and nothing else. The fight is not physical or mental but spiritual (Verse 12a), it is fought and won only by God’s power and God’s power is obatained by putting on the whole amour of God. Physical or mental strength (human wisdom) cannot win this fight any more than physical or mental solution can be proffered to a spiritual problem.

When you have the whole amour of God on, then can you stand spiritually, strong to fight and win (verse 11b). Being strong in the power of your own might (physical and/or mental) amounts to nothing in this warfare. All ideas, approaches, teachings, doctrines and beliefs outside what God has said concerning this warfare will only produce physical or mental strength and you cannot prevail over Satan by these.

You can imagine what happens if you try to wrestle someone (Satan, in this case) who is standing while you are in a squatting, sitting or in a prostrate position. There is a zero chance of successfully ‘standing against his wiles’, his methods of attack (verse 11b) and this forecloses any chance of winning against him. Satan’s wiles refer to his cunning, deceitfulness, craftiness or trickery and all other methods that he uses in his attempt to stop believers from walking in the fullness of their inheritance in Christ. Though Satan may use various methods to attempt to defeat the believer, there is one thing common to all his methods of attack, they all aim at selling to you what is against God’s chosen path for you to believe and live after. This is how he gets his victory over believers.

For instance, God’s word says love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:44-45a). According to God, as far as other humans are concerned, even if they are against you, this is how you treat them to make Him come through for you. Man’s wisdom however says to go against your enemies, pray against them, if you have opportunity to hurt them do so, destroy them so they will not have the chance to destroy you. This sounds mentally correct and Satan knows if you imbibe it you automatically cut off God’s help from your life because you would be living in disobedience to God. He thus does all he can to persuade believers to follow this wisdom of man and little wonder rather than things improving, they keep getting worse. Notwithstanding the prayers a believer may pray from this position, defeat in the battle is certain as the believer has put on the armor of the flesh rather than the whole armor of God and this amounts to nothing in the battle with the enemy. Without the whole amour of God, the believer cannot pray right and Satan knows, he therefore fronts and popularizes the wisdom of man as the way to go (deceit) knowing it only leads to the believer's defeat.  

Take notice additionally that the fight against the kingdom of darkness is not what makes the believer strong (see verses 10 & 11). Putting on the whole amour of God is what makes the believer strong and then will he/she be able to stand and fight against the kingdom of darkness, win and still remain strong after winning (verse 13b).

From what we see by this careful examination therefore, for you to win the battles you are engaged in against the kingdom of darkness, you must be strong in the power of God’s might by putting on the whole amour of God which makes you stand, contend, win and remain standing thereafter. Without the whole amour of God, you remain in a state of defeat as you stand no chance of successfully fighting from that state. So dear believer, first off, put on the whole amour of God.

We will examine the whole amour of God in subsequent posts but in the meantime Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:15).