EXTRA WEAPON - PRAYER!

(Eph 6:18) And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

This is an extra piece of armour that Roman soldiers probably didn't really understand nor comprehend. This armour is hidden inside the heart. PRAYER! The apostle Paul knew about this powerful piece of armour that while he was in prison, he was still touching heaven, changing earth!! The stronghold of the devil was crumbling even when the prison chains of Paul were unbroken! The enemy could chain his hands and feet but he could not chain his heart. A heart dedicated to prayer!!

Without a heart of prayer, friends, even we have the full armour perfectly worn, we can still be defeated. As time goes by, as we are successful in our life and ministry, we tend to believe we can do it all by ourselves. Slowly but surely, we begin to depend upon our own strength. We then become overconfident and throw away our sword. Unknowingly, we may also throw away our helmet, then our shoes, our breastplate, our shield and finally, our belt. We go to a spiritual sleep mode thinking we have done it all for God. And the enemy will eventually overpower us without even us knowing it! Therefore, pray and be alert! Pray unceasingly!

And pray for others too. Prophet Elijah thought he was alone in the battle with Satan. The Lord assured him that there were 7,000 in Israel that hadn’t bowed down to Baal. Today, the battle is heating up everywhere because the end is near. All the signs are here for the eventual return of Jesus to take control of the world. There are tremendous campaigns and efforts all over the world in terms of reaching out! This battle is not only involved you alone, but everyone who calls on the Name of Jesus.

Let the whole Church take up the full armour which must include prayer! Intercessory prayers plus physical groundwork are so powerful that they just rip the devil's works apart. Prayers prepare the ground for claiming more grounds from the devil's grasp as God's angels victoriously overcome the dark forces of the evil one. Many demons had vacated their places where once were their strongholds due to the prayers of the saints! Only after much prayers, we as full-armoured Christians then boldly proclaim the gospel everywhere. Reaching out to countless men and women who can receive their greatest gift on earth, the salvation of their souls!

The war is raging on today for souls of Christless men and women. Are you ready? Are you a full-armoured Christian?

Quoting one missionary’s words as my last words ending this Series, “It can be done! It shall be done! It must be done!”

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT

(Eph 6:17) Take.... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

This is the only piece of armour the soldier uses to fight and win war! (There are many other weapons in the time of Roman Empire but Paul only mentions the Sword) Without this, he will only be defending although he can advance. Simply put, he can run, shout, kick and jump but he will not accomplish much! Like a child sitting in a merry-go-round, he has lots of movement but always ends up in the same place! If a soldier goes around without a sword, he will eventually be defeated. Sooner or later, he will either be captured or killed.

We have to wield the sword to fight the devilish opposition in our victorious campaign! The Greek word for the "word of God" here is Rhema. Rhema is used by Jesus when He overcame the devil in the temptation passages of the Bible (Matthew 4). The Spirit of God gives the Word of God a POWER PUNCHline to whatever temptations that may come our way! Hence, Sword of the Spirit! A specific wisdom for a specific occasion!

The “Sword” (Specific Word from God or "S-Word") is not only used to overcome temptations set up by the devil to defeat us. Much more than that, the Sword is used to break the chains from people who are bound by Satan. And to set them free from bondage! This is another weapon for advancing into the deep territories of the evil one just like the shoes and the shield! But the Sword is the only weapon that produces result and victory as far as the gospel preaching is concerned! The Word of God is living and active and cuts like a double edged Sword (Hebrews 4:12).

Remember the belt of truth? It holds the sword. We know what God said about us generally but in the war we have to use Rhema when the time comes to fight. That’s why we must tighten up our belt first, knowing what God said about us in His word before we can effectively use the sword.

More often than not, Christians are not wielding their Sword! We are blessed by the Word but sadly, we keep the Word to ourselves. We may have a doctorate in biblical studies, confidently living a life of prosperity because we follow the Word. All these are good but the devil is not concerned! Knowledge and wisdom in the Word can produce a good Christian but it would do no good to the Gospel if we keep our Sword hidden inside the sheath, buckled under our Belt. The sword hung on the belt is useless in the war of influencing lives for Jesus! Peter, in Acts chapter 2, knew just how to wield the Sword. As he preached to the people, the Bible tells us that they were cut to the hearts (v37).

Oh.. there are so many “Christless” people who are hurt and filled with anxieties of life! And dare we not hide our "Sword" which can be used to heal and to bring them into the eternal life God promised to all those who believe and accept Jesus' work on the cross!!

Come on, Christians, take out your Sword!

Next Article: An extra weapon.....P.R.A.Y.E.R.....
http://psbible.blogspot.com/2009/08/extra-weapon-prayer.html

THE HELMET OF SALVATION

(Eph 6:17) Take the helmet of salvation....

This piece of armour works two ways. The primary idea is to protect the head of the soldier and secondly it is to signify to others, he belongs to a certain kingdom or nation. Without the helmet, it would be very difficult to survive. The head is usually the first thing the enemies go for. The dizzier you are, the more confuse you become. If your head is wounded, everything falls apart. If we want to have victory over Satan and circumstances in this battle for Christless souls, put on the Helmet of salvation.

Helmet of salvation has two-fold purpose in our warfare.

Firstly, we must know this very fact, that we belong to Jesus, our Chief Commander. He is the One who creates and owns this world. It is God who saved you and enlisted you into His army. A person who is successfully enlisted into the Army will have to wear the uniform, and especially the helmet! He must be proud of the armour to know that he belongs to that particular nation. The shirkers are some soldiers who quickly throw away their uniform when the enemies are attacking as they chicken-out in fear! But we belong to the army of God in His Victorious Kingdom which is always gaining ground, always victorious, always on the move. Hallelujah!

Are you at this moment, still afraid to tell people that you are a Christian?! Or are you ashamed of the name of Jesus, that you belong to? Remember, Jesus Christ was not ashamed of you when He died on the cross, overcoming shame, pain and even nakedness just for us.

Secondly, (Helmet of) salvation in the Bible can also mean “continue to be" saved, delivered and set free from all kinds of situation. In other words, God will always protect our head, hence helmet of salvation! God doesn’t save us and then leave us alone. He promised, "I will be with you always until the end of the age". The helmet of salvation is like a mark of God and that God will continuously deliver you. When you are down, He will lift you up! When you burn out, God will refresh you! When you are wounded, He will heal you! With this piece of armour, you will always fight with confidence and knowing that God is fighting the battle for you. Joshua knew this truth and the Israelites under his leadership always gained ground in the battle for the promised land!!

Is your helmet of salvation on your head? Are you associated with the most wonderful Kingdom of all in the universe, the Kingdom of God? And that God’s Kingdom cannot be defeated?

Jesus Christ, our Commander in Chief is coming back again to reign on earth!! Are you ready?

(Rev 11:15) ... "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."

Next....THE SWORD of the SPIRIT....
http://psbible.blogspot.com/2009/08/sword-of-spirit.html

SHIELD OF FAITH

(Eph 6:16) In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Remember the breastplate? They protect from "sword, spear and arrows" of the devil. The Shield carries the soldier one step further into the enemy's territory! This part of armour protects a soldier from fiery darts. This is one step further in the war with the devil in the Christian context! The evil one has to dig in for a more sophisticated weapon, the fiery arrows. We must shield ourselves from every eventuality. So that the gospel can advance even farther.

Faith is simply trusting God in every step of the way. Faith is the opposite of fear. Fear of man and of circumstances are sure stumbling blocks to the advancement of a Christian's life. It is often the Faith Factor that hinders us from advancing! Fears cause us to be unfruitful. The fearful Christians retreat but faith always looks forward to the things of God in anticipation and excitement!

Someone said this, "Fear knocks on the door and when faith answers, nobody's there".

FAITH stands for Forsaking All I Trust Him.

Trusting means to let Jesus drive your car. He knows all the curves and turns and He maneuvers excellently!! With the shield of Faith, you are able to block off all negative elements (fiery darts) the devil will bring against you. Going deeper into his territory means we have to endure his attacks even more ferociously.

Not only the devil will put doubts and fears on us but the greatest tool he will use is discouragement! Don't let the devil "Dis" your courage to go on! I urge you not to stop influencing people for Jesus. Take up the shield of faith! Taking up the shield of faith simply means believing what God said about you! Not what the devil, world or even friends said about you! If the devil brings an accusation against you and said you are good for nothing, then you counter him with the Word of God saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13)!

Advance! Don't retreat! Deal with your hurts by believing what God said! Move on! Trust that God had won the victory and you are called to claim them! Remember Joshua and Caleb? They did not shrink back in their quest for the promised Land even though the other ten spies cowed in fear. Remember, King David? He took on the giant when all the king's soldiers crouched in fear.

When the Roman soldiers in their war campaign arrived by ships to certain shores to conquer and fight, they burned their ships! No retreat! Victory or nothing!!

Are you ready to advance another step in your war with Satan? Bringing the gospel to even more people? If yes, then take up the shield of faith!

Next...Helmet of salvation...

http://psbible.blogspot.com/2009/08/helmet-of-salvation.html.

GOSPEL FEET!

(Eph 6:15) and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.


This piece of armour helps the soldier to run smoothly. This is really important because it helps him advance. It is unimaginable for a soldier to fight without protection for his advancing feet!

This is also an Old Testament picture of Isaiah 52:7, talking about the good news of captives in exile being released. The Israelites were being exiled for 70 years because of their sins. When the King of Persia, Cyrus, began to reign in Babylon, he released them back to their own land. He sent messengers ahead to tell the people. How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good news. They had a tremendous job. To cover as many grounds as possible so that all bound people must know of this freedom!

Today, Jesus has won the victory for us and for all those who are held captive by the devil. We have the message. We have the gospel truth. The torch and baton are in our hands! We are given the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus commands the believers to go and preach to all creation, and He will be with them until the end of the age. This is not an option.

God commanded Joshua on the same line to claim the land. Sometimes we have to know what are we fighting. What is the sole message that has been entrusted to us. God wants to show the world that He is the only God and that Jesus Christ, His Son, is the only Saviour of the world.

Spiritual warfare sometimes gets out of context. We make the devil looks so powerful. Yes, he is indeed much stronger than us and with our own strength, we will utterly fail. But God is on our side and that makes all the difference. We often forget that God is the Creator and satan is only a created being. Remember, in our spiritual war today, we fight on the standpoint of victory and not towards victory. Jesus has won the victory and God is fighting for us. But we need to put on the Gospel of peace shoes!

The shoes must also fit our feet in order to fight effecfively. In other words, the gospel must bring us peace before we bring peace to others. The devil tries diligently to lower our confident level so that we cannot fight vigilantly!

Do you know what are we fighting for?

We turn people to Jesus and influence them for Him! That’s what the war is all about! But sometimes churches are fighting the wrong battle, they keep on patching the wounds of the people, keeping the aquarium clean. Only feeding the church members until they grow fat with the Word, the head swell but the heart unmoved. We do the fighting in the church among members where we supposed to go out there and fight the devil. The job of the church is not to impact the church but to impact the world. Influence back the souls of Christless men and women!

Are your feet ready?

Are you ready with the message of the gospel?

Are you bringing answers to anyone who is asking you for the hope you are having?

This is already a part of armour that talks about advancing into enemies' territories!!

Nothing can be won by just defending!

Next Article: Shield of Faith....
http://psbible.blogspot.com/2009/08/shield-of-faith.html

BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

This piece of armour has two sides, one at the back and one at the front. It protects the heart and internal organs. It protects from sword, spear and arrows. Without this piece of armour, the body of the soldier is unprotected and his heart may be in danger. Once his heart fails, everything gives way. Remember this: THE DEVIL WILL AIM YOUR HEART!

The Bible calls this armour, Breatplate of Righteousness. When the Bible talks about Righteousness, there may be two meanings.

First, it is your position in Christ, you are righteous because of the Blood of Jesus. God took your sins and placed them upon Jesus when you accepted the Lord into your life. God accepts you now as a child of God. You must be sure of this! If not, maybe you have not heard the complete gospel. Maybe you have not fully known the power of the cross. But when you do know this truth, then you are ready to advance! You are ready for anything Satan throws at you! Your heart, the 'central organ' is protected!

Secondly, the Breastplate of Righteousness also means the righteous acts that flow out from that position. Do what is right in the eyes of God. Putting on this armour means you are willing to follow the orders of our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ! A soldier must follow orders. The letter of James says it plainly, Faith without works is dead!

(1 John 3:18-22)

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

Therefore, first things first, get right with God if you want victory, if you want to influence people for Jesus! In the thick of spiritual battle, the more you need the Breastplate! The more you need the confidence that God is pleased with your walk with Him. The conscience that is free! How many Christian became unfruitful because their conscience pricked them. Their past and present guilt rendered them ineffective.

Charles Spurgeon said, "Lose all rather than lose your integrity, and when all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. A rarest jewel indeed!"

So, guard yourself against sins especially those addictive ones like pornography, drugs, alcohol and gambling, lying etc. If you are addicted to a habitual sin, then find someone more spiritual to help. Admit your sins and your need for help! You cannot win the war with Satan if you walk out of the will of God. The sin we commit will slowly and surely hurt us and eventually kill our faith if we do not deal with it. Little by little, it will grow into destruction of our faith. Final aim of our number one enemy is to destroy our faith! And thus stop your influence of the Gospel.

The devil knows our weaknesses and will do his best to make us sin against God. How then can we address sin or counsel people or share Christ with others when we ourselves are involved in habitual sin. Therefore, put on the breastplate of righteousness if you want to advance into the devil's territories and win the battle! Deal seriously with sin before it becomes a habitual sin. The earlier you talk it out with someone, the better you deal with it. I am not talking about perfection but living a commited Christian life!

Always refer to your position in Christ! That's the first meaning of the Breastplate of Righteousness mentioned above! The blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sins! When you know you are all clear, then you are ready to fight!!

(1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Note: Full Armoured Christians fight from the position of victory. With God's power and under the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are given the authority to preach the Gospel that will bring salvation and transform the lives of people! That may include our loved ones who have not received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.

Next Part of Armour - Feet fitted with readiness. Don't miss it!
http://psbible.blogspot.com/2009/08/feet-fitted-with-gospel-of-peace.html

ARMOUR OF GOD SERIES: THE BELT OF TRUTH

In this age of great moral confusion, Christians must brace themselves for the onslaught of a worldly system and its values being hammered onto us. In view of this barrage of ungodly 'poisons' by the evil one to fail Christians, PS Bible Ministry will take a closer and fresher look at the Armour of God. We have to know that these powerful, the six plus one-piece Armour that God wants us to PUT ON as we go and share the good news of God's love! This Armour provided by God for us is in view of mankind's number one enemy, Satan, who will do whatever he can to stop us advancing the the kingdom of God with the Gospel of Christ.

First of all, we must understand that only Christians who are prepared to do God's work need this Armour. A “soldier” who has quit the army does not need his uniform and his weapons. Anyway, the devil, our enemy, will leave these nominal Christians alone as they pose no threat to him.

Secondly, if we are serious with God, then we have to PUT ON the armour! In a war zone, it is unthinkable for a soldier to be in a fight without all the necessary gears and weapons! So many Christians are living defeated lives because they are ignorant of the spiritual Armour that is made available for them by God. They may gain victory at first but when the battle drags on, they lose their zeal and give up.

The letter of Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul in prison. All the time, there would be two Roman soldiers guarding him and since Paul had nowhere to go at that time, he could have watched carefully the Armour that the guards were wearing. Paul knew that the Christians’ fight for the sake of the gospel must go on to greater heights and to advance to greater territories. Satan is angry with Christians who bend on reaching the lost and he would do anything to stop the flow. The devil would battle with all his might to stop the advancement of the gospel at all cost.

(Ephesians 6:10-12)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

In these three verses, Paul wants Christians to be strong in the Lord! Why do they need to be strong? Simple. Because this Gospel of grace will go on stronger and the light of Christ shine brighter! Then he goes on to say that we need to fight!! We need to do battles! Battles with who? The terrorists? The Romans? NO!! But with the number one enemy, the devil!! And his plan to stop the gospel!! Therefore, we should STOP fighting people but do battle with Satan and his demons!! How?

We will discuss the first part of the full armour in this article.

Verse 14:- Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist...

What is the belt according to Paul? A Roman soldier obviously has a robe he wears and this garment flows down to his ankle. And he uses the first armour that is the belt to tie the robe to the waist from being loose and flowing about. Without the belt, it will be crazy to fight his enemy. Have you seen any soldier who holds on to his uniform and fights in a war?

The belt is not only to tie his flowing robes but also to hold the sword. It is the central piece of the armour. Without it, the soldier loses his stability so to speak. He will not only be ineffective, eventually be defeated. He will become easy prey for the enemy. How can he fight when everything falls apart?

The Bible calls this the Belt of truth.

This piece of weapon talks generally about God’s truth. But for the Word of God to be effective, it must be personalised in our lives. Many Christians today are having the belt but they do not put it on. Most of us have heard countless sermons and read God’s Word as a strict duty. We know what God said in the Word. We know about God, how mighty He is and How powerful He is. It would not help us much in our battle with Satan if they are just stored up in our head. The devil is not disturbed with that, mere head knowledge thing. But if it’s sliding down to the heart, you are ready for war.

What is God saying to you personally? Do you experience God’s Word in a special way? Does the truth of God bring joy in your soul? There are a whole lot of treasures in the Word. Therefore, PUT ON the BELT of TRUTH! The more God’s Word be within you, the more steady you are. The more you get that Word into your heart, the tighter the belt. You then are able to stand firm and be in position! When the day of evil comes, you are ready. You are ready to gain ground in your fight for the Gospel to be advanced. God's work will be accomplished in your life!

Next: The Breastplate of Righteousness!

http://psbible.blogspot.com/2009/07/breastplate-of-righteousness.html