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Armor Of God: Word Of God / Prayer / The Circumcision That Saves Us
Armor Of God: WORD OF GOD
(Kevin Heaton)
When you fight in a battle it is important to have armor to protect you from the attacks of your enemy. It is also important to have something to fight back with. A weapon. Something you attack with. You have to have a weapon to fight with or you are going to lose.
When we talk about the spiritual battle we are in against Satan and sin we not only need armor to protect us but also need a weapon to fight back with. Thus far in the previous articles we have looked at the armor we are to put on: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. The next thing we need to go along with our armor is a sword: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD” (Ephesians 6:17b).
Our weapon, our sword is the Bible. God’s holy Word. Remember, we are fighting a spiritual battle. Of the heart, mind, and soul. We are to be fighting against the evil of this sinful world with the truth of righteousness that we find in the Bible. Look at what the Hebrew writer said of God’s Word, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account”(Hebrews 4:12-13).
Read what Paul told the Corinthian Christians about our spiritual warfare: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). We fight against the devil and sin by using the knowledge God has revealed to us in His Word.
As we face the evils of this world we call it out for what it is. It is sin. The Word of God is plain and simple. Straightforward and true. With it we can defeat temptations. We can fight against false teaching. We can stand strong in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Remember this: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Armor Of God: PRAYER
(Kevin Heaton)
When you’re in a war you look to your leaders for commands, guidance, and strength. You communicate with them. You need their help. You rely on them. You trust them.
That is no different in our spiritual battle against Satan and sin. We have to communicate with our leader: Almighty God. When we have put on the armor of God Paul then tells as that we need to be “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). We need to be communicating with God in prayer. Constantly. Persevering. Asking for His help. His guidance. His strength. We cannot fight against evil without God. Not only should we have His Word, we should also be talking to Him in prayer. We also need to be praying for our fellow soldiers, our brethren.
Paul even asked for prayers that he could have boldness. He told them to pray “also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak”(Ephesians 6:19-20). Paul knew and admitted that the battle is hard. The fighting isn’t easy. We’re going to need boldness. Courage. Strength. And we have to go to God in prayer for that.
Pray to God and ask for His guidance. Ask for strength. Pray for boldness. Never stop praying. Trust in God. Rely on Him. He will lead you. He will help you.
The Circumcision That Saves Us
(Kevin Heaton)
In writing to the Colossian brethren, Paul chose to illustrate how we are saved today by giving the following: “In Him [Jesus] also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11).
Just as physical circumcision was the means of entering into the Old Covenant, so a spiritual circumcision must take place to enter into the New Covenant with Christ.
But what is the “circumcision of Christ”? How are we spiritually circumcised?
Paul gives the answer in the next verse: “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12).
Paul tells us that in being baptized we are spiritually circumcised, we are buried with Christ and put off the old man and are then raised with Him. Paul acknowledges that it is by the powerful working of God that we are saved through baptism.
Under the Old Covenant, the physically uncircumcised could not share in the blessings and promises of the covenant because they were not God’s people. In like manner, those who have not been spiritually circumcised today in baptism cannot partake of the blessings and promises found in Christ because they are not a Christian. To be a Christian, one has to be spiritually circumcised with the circumcision of Christ, which is done through baptism.
Have you been spiritually circumcised?
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