May. 17, 2008 - Discussion: Armor of God
Chickengirl gave me the idea for this discussion.
A lot of times, I don't think I really think about the armor of God as much as I should. It's something I've learned since I was young and used to have memorized, sadly, I don't anymore. But when she brought up this idea, I read the passage and realized there is a lot to think about and many areas there where I can grow.
Ephesians 6:10-18
"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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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."
Wow. That's a lot to think on. Here's some discussion questions to get us started, and please add more in the commentst if you think of them.
- Why do we need the armor of God?
- What are examples of how we struggle against the powers of this dark world?
- How can we put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit?
- Why should we pray "on all occasions"?
Can't wait to hear from you all.
Comments
May. 17, 2008 - lol
Posted by Emma92
I feel kina funny commenting on my own post. lol
But here are my answers:
Obviously, the Scripture answers the first question. "so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes", and I think this is sooo important.
I think there are many ways that we struggle with the world, the devil, and with our own sinful nature. Temptations to sin are obviously a big one.
The third question I think can only be answered by God. We can't do it without Him. Prayer and the Bible.
Praying "on all occasions" is very important, and God stresses that in other Scripture passages as well, saying to "pray without ceasing".
May. 19, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Psycho
we need the armor of God so that we can "stand against the devil and his schemes." Also, I have learned (the hard way) not to trust our human eyes. We can be easily decieved without knowing it and led astray. The armor of God will keep us from being decieved so easily.
i used to hate myself. i hated everything about me. i beleieved every horrible lie that the devil could come up with to tell me. now, God has revealed the many lies told to me, that i believed!!!!!
The armor of God also sheilds us, obviously! if you leave 1 part off, 1 part exposed, the devil will sneak behind you and attack you there. once he's got you there, he can sneak farther and attack you closer and closer into your heart and mind. only the FULL armor of God can protect you.
one example of struggiling against the dark world is given above, but another is when you witness to someone and they reject you or persecute you. Another is when you're in church and you stand up for something for God and your youth group shoots you down. That's the devil working through them.
We can put on the armor of God by read His Word and storing it in our hearts, that is, memorizing verses, reading devos, visitng blogs like this that talk about Him. also: praying "God protect us from all harm and all evil". Always remember that GOD is all powerful, that JESUS' name alone causes the devil to fear, and that Prayer Changes Things.
We should pray on All occasions because God is our Father and we are HIS children (and i know, i hate to be called a child, too!) and that we are ignorent (another thing i don't like to be called, but it's true). Once again, we have Human eyes, and human eyes are so easily decieved. But God is not ever decieved, it's impossible b/c HE knows everything! the devil can use little things to tear a big hole in your heart, plus, if God wants you to go to Walmart with your mom instead of staying home to watch tv, then go. who knows? maybe you will see someone in walmart, feel compelled to witness to him or her and the person will come to a saving knowledge and faith in Christ Jesus. and who knows who all that person would tell? God does.
sorry this is so long, there were a lot of discussion ?s.
~Psycho.
May. 19, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by LesandSmiley
Why do we need the armor of God? Yes, I have tried to remember to put on the whole armor of God every morning, I've memorixed Ephisians 6:1-21. I'm trying to memorize all of it, but it's kinda hard.
What are examples of how we struggle against the powers of this dark world? Well, firstly, the devil whispers in your ear and ppl around you's ears to put you in a spot were you break, and the devil heads for the part without armor.
How can we put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit? prayer. It's the only way, because we can;t do it without our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Why should we pray "on all occasions"? Because, we couldn't breathe without God, much less do things without His okay, I've learned that many times.
Hey! I'm Leslie, and me and Smiley are having our own webshow on this blog, and it would be cool if you could see it. Thanks
-Leslie
May. 20, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ChickenGirl
Why do we need the armor of God? To protect us from all evil of the devil and his little demons.
What are examples of how we struggle against the powers of this dark world? One time, I saw clearly how Satan was trying to lead us asrtay: We all went to the library (By the way is was summer in june,) and all of us had a book to do with evil stuff, my mom looked at all of them and I sat down to look at mine and we decided to leave those books and get new ones.....so you see how that works, and also through the "Golden Compase" in the end of book three and movie three (It'll come don't worry!) the kids kill godin the end, works of satan, as well as Harry Potter (please don't get mad at me! I read something about it!) The Sight, and many more.
How can we put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit? we can put on the belt of truth by being truthful all the time, and the same goes for righteousness, telling people about God (gospel of peace, sheild of faith by having faith in god, And i'm stiull thinking about the other two.
Why should we pray "on all occasions"? for one it'll help us and people around us, and bring us closer to God.
There you go all of them are answered!!!!
May. 23, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by brettmitchell
oh yay, i love the armor of God, i did a studdy with my friends and replaced the ones Paul uses with noe we know. (He use's the Romens armor becaus thats what the people at that time knew) but anyway to theQ's...
well we need the armor of God bcause we are his solgers and we most be equeped with all the things
God has seen fite to equip us with.
ways the devil snars us, well i think i'll tell you what i think his wepons are, acseptece is what i see him useing more than anything eles. if he can get use to acseped somthing we wount think much about it anymore and it become ok to do and then it become expected and then right in our eyes.
well puting them one we get by living what they are. belt of truth we put on by being truthfull, sword of the sperit by knowing and reading His word, the brest plate of righchuness by being righchuss and pure. and so on.
but a way to be awere of them is to say when you get ready in the morrningby really saying when you put your shirt on say your puting on the brest plate of rightchusness, by saying when your puting you shoes on that your fitting you feet with the readyness of the gospel of peace and so on.
now praying on every ocation, the reson i see is that we most stay cunected with our Lord just as a soldger needs to stay cunected with the comander and chef. prayer for us is like a Radio to the army. it is vitle if we want to know what our commander and chef (God or Lord) says.
Christ's Word
Brett
Jun. 7, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Meggy T
I just played a cooprative game with a friend of mine where this ultra-nasty evil guy that you can't kill was killing US. The objective was to take off his armor so we could get a sword through him. Once it was off, he wasn't hard to kill at all! It's the same way when we wear the armor of God. They can try to swing their swords around when we have it on, but nothing happens. All to often they try to take it off. You know the voices...
"Gee you're tired right now. You can have some Bible time tomorrow."
"There is no absolute truth"
"Nobody cares if you're good or not"
"God? You think there's a GOD?"
"You're a good person, you won't go to hell"
That's taking it off.
Who's saying that? Of course, Satan and his spiritual moranic jerks are always at us. But there are also PEOPLE who are gonna be all over our faith. Try going to college sometime. We need to superglue our armor against that which we can't see, and watch the friendships with those that we can.
Jun. 7, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Meggy T
Oh yeah, and here's a great tip for those trying to memorize this passage! Make up hand motions like drawing a sword, or blocking flaming arrows from the evil one with your shield! If you're worried about looking stupid, lock yourself in the bathroom or something and just don't put on a show! It's amazing how well it works: If 6-year-olds can memorize THE WHOLE STINKIN THING we can too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
