Learn to stay protected from the enemy's plans
The full armor consists of what would be the total armor of a soldier going into battle. Basically every part of the body was covered so that arrows could not penetrate any of the main parts of the body. Each piece of armor had a specific function and part of the body to protect. Then the shield was carried in front of the whole body as extra protection. The arrows were sometimes set on fire before they were shot to further try to damage someone. The Bible is actually saying that putting on the spiritual armor would be something like putting on physical armor. The only difference would be that the believer's armor would not be in a physical sense.
The three things the armor would do are:
1. Help you to stand against the enemy. 2. Help you to withstand attacks. 3. Help you to quench fiery darts.
The last thing in verse 18 says that we should pray always and to watch with all perseverance (STEADFASTNESS) and supplication (humbly and earnestly) for the saints. Prayer is the most important thing that holds the armor together. Without prayer, the Christian armor will be ineffective.
The watching in this instance, though, is watching with attentive alertness, with vigil, with sleeplessness. This word is used only four times in this sense. I think God is saying that we shouldn't let our guard down. If you are a general and you are fighting a real battle, you would know your enemy as much as possible and where his troops are stationed, how many there are of them, and if possible what the enemy's plan of attack is. This watching doesn't mean that you never get to sleep a natural night's sleep. It's just talking about paying attention to your life and your family's lives and always trying to be aware of places that you are vulnerable for an attack.
The next very important thing is to be able to listen to the Holy Spirit so that He can warn you about things that are about to happen or about things that you need to change in your life to prevent an attack from the enemy. As a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within you and is just waiting for you to ask him to guide you in every area of your life. He wants to help you defeat the enemy before he can even have a chance to attack.
What Is Satan’s Armor?
The only way to really continuously walk in victory as a Christian is to learn what Satan's armor is. In other words, we must learn about the methods that he so cleverly uses to rob us of the good things that God wants us to have. If we are aware of his methods, it will be much easier to catch him at work before he deceives us or tells us a lie that we believe without even bothering to check it out. Knowing his methods will just generally help us to be more on guard and more aware of evil.
Satan is the ruler of this world now and has power over those who don't obey God, whether they know it or not. Here are the pieces of his armor so you can become more aware of his methods:
1. THE VEIL - II Corinthians 4:4 - The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Satan blinds people's minds in the way of watering down what is said to them. You may be telling them the truth, but by the time it filters through preconceived thoughts and beliefs, often what they hear is only a fraction of the truth. We tend to hear a word being spoken by our own set of beliefs and truths that have already been ingrained into us. If it is very different from what we already believe, sometimes we just dismiss it and think of it as far-fetched or unbelievable. This is why when you are praying for someone to get saved or to get delivered from some kind of bondage, you need to be aware of the veil that Satan has placed before them and pray that the veil will be torn down so that the Holy Spirit can get in to do His work.
2. SPIRIT OF ERROR AND DELUSION II Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause (not receiving the truth of God) God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. (Parenthesis mine) Sometimes when people just keep on going down the wrong path and won't change, God just says that he will let them believe what they want to. I think that is if they are just hard headed and have grown very bitter against God and everything about God. I don't think it's just somebody who just hasn't seen the light yet.
3. SPIRIT OF THE WORLD I Corinthians 2:12 - Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. The spirit of the world is the flesh and everything connected with it. Satan would like for you to live this way as much as possible, because he knows you'll always go by your own feelings and desires and do what you think is best instead of waiting on and relying on God. He knows that when you go by your own feelings and desires, that you will mess up your life greatly and you'll be so busy trying to straighten it out that he won't have to worry much about you becoming the Christian that God wants you to be. He just wants you to stay as worldly as you possibly can. That makes it much better for Satan all the way around.
4. DISOBEDIENT SPIRIT - Ephesians 2:1-2 - And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Satan always wants you to be disobedient to God in whatever way he can. That's why God said that to obey him is better than to offer sacrifices. If Satan can get you to be disobedient, then he can defeat God's plans for you. If he can't defeat them totally, then he can at least keep you from having the very best plans that God has made for you. We should never settle for good when we can have the very best. When we get rid of the "OLD MAN" this disobedient spirit has to leave because it can only work in Satan's world.
Prayer It is not enough for the Christian soldier to know the enemy and to put on the equipment. We must have the energy to face the enemy and to use the equipment. This is where prayer comes in. Notice that immediately following the description of the armor, Paul makes an appeal for prayer in verse 18, he says: Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. Prayer is the power of the Holy Spirit that gives the Christian their strength. When we stop praying, we lose our energy to withstand Satan. Prayer gives us energy in 3 ways. A prayer gives us the way to put our armor on If we will look back on verse 18 we just read, it says: Pray at all times.
In the original Greek manuscript is actually reads this way: By means of praying. In other words, Paul was saying that the way to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, and the other pieces of the armor is by praying.
Prayer reveals the will of the god How does God reveal His will to us and accomplish His will in us? One way is through prayer. Before we put on the armor, we should present our body, mind, and spirit to God. Then, by faith, we should prayerfully put on each piece of the armor. I can not put your armor on you, and you can not put my armor on me. But once we have put on our own armor, something wonderful happens. We find that God has equipped and prepared us for battle that day. If we do not put it on, it isn’t on!
Prayer enables us to help the entire army of Christ win the war In Ephesians 6:18 we are instructed to pray for all the saints-not just for ourselves. Sometimes we think that we are the only ones fighting this battle with Satan. We are not alone. Every Christian is involved, and we need to uplift and encourage our fellow believers by praying for them daily.
Only the Holy Spirit can give us victory, and the Spirit’s power is released through our prayers. We are all encouraged when we know that other Christians are praying for them. Let us pray together now.
Concluding Prayer Heavenly Father, we come before you with thanksgiving for all you have done for us. Today we prepare for victory over Satan by putting on the whole armor of God, which you graciously give to us.
We put on the belt of truth. So that we may stand firm in the truth of your word, so we will not be a victim of Satan’s lies.
We put on the breastplate of righteousness so it will guard our hearts from evil. We put on the shoes of peace so we will stand firm in the Good News of the Gospel so your peace will shine through me and be a light to all I encounter.
We take the shield of faith so we will be ready for Satan’s fiery arrows of doubt, denial and deceit.
We put on the helmet of salvation so Satan will not have a stronghold on our thoughts. We take the sword of the Spirit so it will be ready in our hands to expose the tempting words of Satan.
We put on the armor of prayer as we pray all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen! "SATAN'S METHOD OR STRATEGY MAKING IT SUCH A PERFECT COUNTERFEIT OF TRUTH THAT ONLY THOSE EXPERIENCED IN TRUTH WILL CATCH IT.
That's just how sneaky Satan is. Learn his methods so you can recognize him and his ways and don't let him win in your life or the lives of your family and loved ones!!