Ephesians 6:10-18
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

Ephesians 6:10-18

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Armor of God  

10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

11. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

12. For our struggle is not against [a]flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

14. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

15. and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;

16. [b]in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  

18. [c]With all prayer and petition [d]pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, [e]be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints Put on the Breastplate of righteousness.

When you look at this verse and the preceding instruction of "standing therefore" it gives the impression of one who has put on the armor, in this case the breastplate of righteousness first, before standing in faith.  This shows me that one of the ways to warfare against the enemies wiles and to succeed against him is by living right and making holy decisions. But it's not just living right, because the world has it's own ideas as to what is right.  The real righteousness is living God's way.  This is true righteousness  This is what righteousness is....right living in the Lord. It is to live according to God's wisdom.

Righteousness is our direction in life. A road map, if you will, about the way to go.  In every decision we make in life we have to ask ourselves .. What does that decision in that moment say about our character?  How is Jesus revealed in that moment?  Is this decision based on just getting our way?  These are only a few questions we need to be looking at in order to align ourselves with God's right living or (righteousness).

A pastor once said, "any power you use to get your way other than God's is witchcraft".  I believe this is true in that if we are not using God's way, or submitting to God's way, it is manipulation or lying or anger or any other tactic used to get what we want when we want it. 

Be blessed

Marni

Go on to: Ephesians 6:15
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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.