Eph. 6:10-20

First priority and the very starting point is to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. We are not to rely on our own strength and power, but we are to be in Him and there find and rely on His strength and power. We are then commanded to put on the full armor of God, not a few pieces, but all of it. Why must we put on the armor? To be able to take our stand against the devil's schemes. We do not make our stand, but rather, God has already assigned us a position in His army and all we are to do is to take hold of that position. What also we must do is be able to recognize the schemes of the devil, otherwise we cannot take our stand against them. 1 Cor. 12:10 tells us that it is a spiritual gift to be able to discern between spirits. Paul also tells us in of his epistles that spiritual gifts can be prayed for. Therefore, if you feel God calling you to the front lines, ask Him for such a gift and if it is His will and His time, He will bless you with it. But apart from special gifts, we are still able to spot the schemes of the devil. If there is anything that draws us away from God, we can know the devil is behind it, but he rarely works alone to draw us away. He will usually combine his forces with the flesh or the world that he may have greater power. While we may struggle with our flesh, or what we thing of as our flesh, the very next verse tells us, "for our struggle is not against flesh and blood." Not only are we not really fighting people, we are not fighting ourselves. We fight the way Satan and his demons can manipulate our thoughts or our bodies to tempt us. We fight temptations. Any physical battle that God may call us to will not be simply that, but also an outgrowth of the preexisting spiritual battle. Continuing that verse, we are given a brief outline of the hierarchy which we do fight. Of this phrase there are two interpretations. The first is that the "rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world" are merely the peoples of the world and that Satan and his demons are merely lobbed together under the next enemy, "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." The second is that both are lists of Satan and his demons. This therefore describes the existence of Satan and his demons as a hierarchical system. What then are the "forces of evil in the heavenly realms?" Quite possibly demons who battle angels outside this world. However, when Satan rebelled, he and the third of angels that followed him were thrown out of heaven down to earth. But the evil forces are not in heaven, but rather the heavenly realms and this therefore simply means the spiritual realm. Continuing on, we are reminded again to put on the full armor. Paul then mentions a singular day of evil: "the day of evil." This day has two possible meanings. First, it could be the day of the final battle at the end of time or maybe even after the end of time, when all the forces of Satan are released from the pit and join together to lay siege to heaven and the throne of God, but God also has gathered His forces. But about this day, we are told that rather than a great battle, the Son will simply end it with a word. The second possibility is that day simply refers to a time period such as a season. It would therefore be a period of our lives, or perhaps our whole lives themselves. A time assigned by God for us to fight for Him in His service. When this day comes, we are to stand our ground. Paul does not tell us we are to attack, but simply to defend our position, to hold our place in the front line. Of the whole armor there are two things that are noticeable. First that we are given only one offensive weapon, our sword. There is no mention of bows, axes, daggers or anything else, simply a sword which is both defensive as well as offensive. Second, all the rest of the armor is all forward defense. There is nothing that guards our back but the God of Israel. (Is. 52:12). We are to flee temptation, but not the Devil. We are commanded to resist the Devil and he is the one who will flee, that is a very promise of God (Jas. 4:12). Also Is. 52:12 says "But you will not leave in haste or go in flight." Another promise of God that we shall not run, but go about doing God's will with the ability to be free from hindrance. The next phrase, "and after you have done everything," is usually quite unnoticed, but it is quite essential to taking the commanded stand. It tells us that we are not to be idle when under attack, but rather there are many things to do. We are to pray, resist, fight lies with truth, rely on the power of God, focus on and use the word, praise God and give thanks to Him, and much more. But above all else, we are to "walk in step with the Sprit" obeying His gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudges because He will direct us and guide us and only by Him are we able to have the victory and it is only for His glory. If we sit idly when we are attacked and do not fight back, we will be defeated. We must take action and not be hindered by the lies and confusions of the enemy. And once we have done everything and all our resources are exhausted, if we abide in God's power and wear the full armor, we will be the ones left standing, for by that we will be enabled to stand.
Paul now moves into the specific pieces of armor. These pieces are truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word, and prayer. Seven pieces cover us from head to toe. In Biblical numerology, the number seven represents wholeness or completion, hence it is the full armor of God not only in that it is all we are given, but also in that it is all that is possible. Let us then address each piece of the full armor.

The belt of truth:
This being the first mentioned is a foundation; for while they are all intertwined, each is based on the truth. This truth is not only the truth of the word of God, but also the truth the Spirit speaks to our hearts, the objective and logical truths that God has instilled in the world (Rom. 1:20) and the simple truth of observation, which is useful in pointing out the inconsistency in the lies of the evil one. The thing that comes to mind when I think of a belt is that if you don't have a belt, then your pants may end up around your ankles, therefore, truth not only fights lies, but also shame, embarrassment, image focus, impropriety and the inability to take action (for we can neither charge nor retreat with our pants at our ankles.) An interesting concept comes from this analogous correlation. If we do not have truth, that binds up our feet, which are to be shod with the gospel of peace. Therefore, if we do not have the truth girding us, the gospel is bound and made ineffective.

The breastplate of righteousness:
The breastplate is that which guards our heart, lungs etc. All the major organs of our body, that which sustains life. It does not give, but rather the mind gives and is life, the organs merely sustain it. Therefore righteousness is that which sustains us. Also, it protects some of the most sensitive parts of our body. The ribs and underarms are highly sensitive and easy to wound. A wound here is quite incapacitating and painful, just ask anyone who has ever broken or even bruised a rib. But what is this righteousness? Righteousness is being in right standing with God. It is knowing and doing right. Those are the two parts. One we cannot achieve, the other we work hard at and must rely on the power of the Spirit. The first we cannot achieve, so God achieved it for us by the death of His son on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21 "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."). This righteousness we must take hold of by faith and faith alone. As Paul says, if we can achieve this righteousness by law or deed, then the death of Christ was meaningless. Only when by faith we have taken hold of this righteousness does it overflow into our lives, for only then do we understand that it cannot be achieved y our power, but only by the power of God in us.
How then does this righteousness sustain our life and protect that which is vital to life? If we take hold of the righteousness of Christ and live it out, then we will be guarded not only from sin, but also from temptation. Scripture tells us that in order to attain Christ's righteousness and life, that we must identify with His death, death to sin and to the desires of the flesh. If, then, we die to our evil desires, we cannot be tempted for James says "each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. After desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death." If then, by claiming the righteousness of Christ by faith and identifying with His death to sin and the evil desires of the flesh, we can stop the evil desires of our heart, which cause us to be tempted, we cannot be tempted, and therefore cannot sin. And because we cannot sin, death has no power over us. Thus is how righteousness sustains us if we remain in it.

Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace:
The gospel of peace is simply the good news of Christ's sacrifice by which we are saved when we believe and have faith in it. It brings peace in that God is a God of peace. Also we are given peace that surpasses and transcends understanding when we present our requests before God. And we can only come before the throne of God (even so with confidence) by the atoning sacrifice and priesthood of Christ, which is our salvation. The gospel brings peace to our hearts and minds, for by it we know not only God, but also ourselves. We know where we stand and what we are. We know also what we once were before we had Christ and recognize how He has delivered, changed, even resurrected us. We know the power we have in Christ, that we are seated in Christ at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven. This is the foundation upon which we must stand if God is to achieve victory through us. It is our feet because it is the foundation upon which we stand, by which we connect to the ground we are to hold. It is a co-foundation with truth because it is the truth of the gospel. We could not have one without the other. If our feet are firmly planted, gripping the earth with the gospel, Satan cannot move us. If he can get us to question who we are in Christ, all else topples.
One word not yet discussed is readiness. The gospel of peace give us a readiness to fight. This comes from the warnings of Christ and Paul. Christ said the world hates us because it does not know us, and this because it did not know Him. Paul tells us that all those who are friends of the world are enemies of God and also that the Devil prowls around like a roaring Lion looking for someone to devour. Part of the gospel is knowing that to be a Christian is to have many enemies and thus the Spirit which dwells in us by the power of the gospel readies us for battle, teaches us, guides us, and shows us clearly the Devil's schemes and God's will. Also only when we know, believe and apply the gospel are we given any power over ourselves (our flesh), the world and the devil. Before we were saved, we were slaves to sin, ruled by death and Satan. When we were made free by the power of the blood of Christ, we became warriors in His kingdom, for we were bought at a price. We became wary of sin and the world and the schemes of the devil. We received knowledge not only of who and what to fight but also how to fight and what to fight with and most of all, who we were fighting for and why: we were made ready.

These three are grouped together, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Each of these three are foundational and essential. They are close to our bodies and guard our ability to be active and our ability to stand. They are the columns that support the head and arms. They protect what move us and make us able beings. They are what enable us to meet the enemy in order that we might fight.

Paul is not done here, there are yet four more pieces which must be donned for the completion of protection and agility.

The shield of faith:
Faith is our strongest and first line of defense. Faith must be in the word and promises of God. If we doubt God's presence in us or the authority He has given us, He will not be the victor, and therefore nor will we. The enemy shoots arrows from afar at us all the time. Our shield is our most used piece of armor, for most it is truly (though usually unnoticed) used every hour. In every situation, Satan is shooting arrows of temptation, doubt, pride, distraction etc. and each is easily extinguished by faith. Satan has two primary arrows that he shoots straight at our head. First, that he doesn't really exist or is not really active in the day to day business of the world. Second, that he is everywhere in everyone and is too powerful to deal with and so we should flee. Unfortunately, the world tends to believe the first and the church the second. To fight either position we must have faith in the word of God and in the truth spoken by the Holy Spirit. While Satan is quite real, present, and powerful, God is more real, more present and infinitely more powerful. Also God dwells not only with us but in us and so does His power. We must also have faith in God's moral standards. This is a second way that righteousness comes by faith. If we have faith that God's moral standards are best for us, we will then in faith, obey them and find them to be good. In the Corinthians when Paul was talking about food sacrificed to idols, he said "everything that does not come from faith is sin." By this he meant on issues of personal belief, for us it might be drinking or tattoos or gambling, we are to have firm faith in what we believe about those issues. But in all these things, we are not to cause our brother to stumble. We are thirdly to have faith in our prayers. We must be confident that the Lord hears our requests and answers them justly and according to His good, pleasing and perfect will. We must have faith that when we ask for things like peace or protection or discernment that God will answer. Prayers offered without faith stop at our skulls or our lips. Finally, we must have faith in our fellow warriors. We must believe in them and support them and have faith for them when theirs fails them.